The Gratis Factor: 5 Tips for Convincing Performers to Donate Shows

The Gratis Factor: 5 Tips for Convincing Speakers or Entertainers to Donate or Discount Fees (Note: The original version of this article appeared in February 2011.) Last week I had the opportunity to be part of a wonderful tradition here in Atlanta. Bert Weiss, host of Q100’s “The Bert Show,” created a foundation (along with […]

Turner Voted 2013 Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year: 3-Time Winner!

Joe M. Turner Voted Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year 2013 by Industry Peers Popular Corporate Speaker, Entertainer is 3-Time Winner   PRLog (Press Release) – Jan. 24, 2014 – ATLANTA — Atlanta speaker, mentalist, and magician Joe M. Turner has been named 2013 Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year by the combined memberships of […]

The December “Plus 1” Challenge

The December “Plus 1” Challenge Every day from now until Christmas, post a genuine compliment to one large brand’s and one small brand’s Google+, Twitter, or Facebook page. I’m a small business owner and a lover of small business and entrepreneurship. But I am not a fan of envy-driven activism or divisive campaigning. I’m weary […]

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 5: Hypersight and Vision

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 5: Hypersight The fifth of the Five Kinds of Amazing relates to another branch of mentalism effects which I’ll group under the umbrella term “hypersight.” This category is distinct from the prior one in that while it includes apparent psychic abilities, this specific type of inexplicable knowledge is not derived […]

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 4: Contact

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 4: Contact We all want our audiences to perceive our brands as “amazing,” and the “Five Kinds of Amazing” model provides a way to organize our approaches for making amazing experiences happen. In reviewing the first three elements, the magic metaphors all relate to primarily visual experiences. – Talent/Expertise: relating […]

Captain’s Log: NetFlix Customer Service Boldly Amazes!

4 Great Lessons from NetFlix’s Amazing Customer Service Interaction When I speak to conferences on how to create amazing brand experiences for their audiences, one of the key points is to create amazement within the very processes that your audience would normally consider the most boring or irritating. Tom Cheredar’s post on VentureBeat last week […]

Remembering John Calvert

Remembering John Calvert Last Friday the world became a little less magical. John Calvert, a man who was regarded in many entertainment industry circles as “a real-life Indiana Jones,” died on September 27 at the age of 102. Mr. Calvert – despite our friendship, I could never bring myself remotely close to calling him “John” […]

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 3: Mystery

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 3: Mystery In our previous articles we’ve established the “5 Kinds of Amazing” model for delivering brand experiences that create audience amazement. We’ve discussed the first two pieces of the model: – Talent/Expertise: relating to open and frequent knowledge sharing – Science/Process: relating to embedding unexpected positive experiences in standard […]

The Missed Opportunity

The Missed Opportunity for Sales and Branding A few weeks ago I learned firsthand the self-inflicted pain of the missed opportunity. Drawing on both my entertainment career and my formal education in science, I was asked to speak at a science museum on the subject of the relationship of science to the art of illusion. […]

7 Tips for Microphones and Meetings

Planning for and Using Microphones: 7 Tips Here are a few lessons learned about planning and using microphones at meetings and events, gleaned from my own experience and experiences from other meeting planners. I hope you find them useful!   If you’re a planner, consider the Rule of 30: If your event: – involves more […]