Evaluating the Quality of Unique Services
Most people have never experienced live magic or mentalism, and even fewer have had to book a performer or speaker for an event. Here are 6 tips for evaluating the quality of providers of unique services when you lack a large set of real-life “data points” from which to make your assessments.
Credibility Counts – Interview on Georgia Business Directory Network
Anyone can claim anything. How are you evaluating the credibility of the speakers or entertainers you book for your conferences and events?
Atlanta Speaker, Mentalist, Magician Turner to Perform at London Palladium
Atlanta speaker, mentalist and magician Joe M. Turner will perform at the London Palladium in September at a show benefiting several UK children’s medical charities. He is the sole American close-up performer on the bill. Atlanta-based speaker and corporate entertainer Joe M. Turner has been tapped to perform at a landmark event at the historic Palladium Theatre in London on September 19. Illusionists from around the world, including Las Vegas headliners Mac King and Jeff Hobson, will present an evening of stage magic and close-up sleight-of-hand as part of “Palladium Magic,” a gala benefit show supporting several UK children’s medical charities. Turner, a two-time Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year, is the only American slated to be part of the close-up magic performances. “It is an honor to have Joe as part of our event,” says producer Paul Stone, president of MagiCares, the charity behind the show. “His talents are well-known in America and we are proud indeed that he agreed to share them with us. Great magicians such as Harry Houdini, Chung Ling Soo, and Paul Daniels have performed in this historic theatre, as have most of the greatest singers, actors, and variety stars over the last hundred years. Joe will become part of a great show business tradition when he takes his bow on the Palladium stage.” Turner’s skills as a mentalist and sleight-of-hand expert have put him in high demand as an entertainer and speaker. His visual and psychological illusions have been featured on Good Morning America, Nightline, CNN HLN, and numerous other television programs at home and abroad. He has performed multiple times at the Hollywood Magic Castle, the Tropicana Atlantic City, off-Broadway at Monday Night Magic in New York, and at hundreds of corporate and private events in North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. Turner performed at the 2010 national convention of the Society of American Magicians and serves on the Executive Committee of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the industry’s largest organization. He is a member of the London Magic Circle, which awarded him an advanced performance degree last year. As a speaker, Joe frequently delivers motivational keynotes on subjects of creativity, leadership, and “doing the impossible” by leveraging one’s unique combination of talents and life experiences. He is a member of the National Speakers Association and was featured in their national magazine earlier this year. After the show, Turner will travel north to perform and lecture at another conference in Southport before returning home. Find out more about Joe M. Turner’s unreal entertainment and keynotes at https://turnermagic.com and https://www.turnertalks.com.
“One Enchanted Evening” in Vicksburg Sept 8
Mississippi Native Turner Brings Magic, Music From Atlanta to Vicksburg NOTE: Listen to a radio interview about this upcoming appearance! Interview by Annette Kirklin on The Directors Report, WVBG Radio, Vicksburg, MS (8/17/2011) Atlanta speaker and entertainer Joe M. Turner will perform “One Enchanted Evening” at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center on Thursday, September 8. Turner, a Brandon native, will present a unique show of sleight-of-hand illusions and music performances. The Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation takes immense pride in welcoming acclaimed international speaker, corporate entertainer, and Brandon, Mississippi native Joe M. Turner back to his home state for a one-night-only, one-of-a-kind theatrical performance on Thursday, September 8th at 7:00pm in the SCH Auditorium. Turner will present a multi-faceted evening of variety entertainment including unreal sleight-of-hand mysteries, uncanny psychological illusions, and unforgettable piano and vocal classics, all woven together into what some consider “a 21st-century one-man vaudeville.” Don’t miss this unique entertainment event! This limited engagement will sell out, so don’t miss out! Tickets are $25 for SCHF Members, $30 for Non-Members and $225 for a Corporate/Private Table. Ticket price includes heavy hors d’oeuvres, punch, a cash bar, and an unforgettable evening of magic, mentalism, and music! Tickets are on sale now at the SCHF Business Office, Paper Plus or charge by phone at (601) 631-2997. You can get tickets and directions online at https://www.southernculture.org Joe M. Turner combines seven years of corporate experience in training design and development, business communication, human performance development and change management initiatives at Fortune 100 clients with extensive theatre experience and magical talents to create customized magical presentations for his clients. Joe is a member of the National Speakers Association, the Academy of Magical Arts at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, the Society of American Magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, The Magic Circle in London (A.I.M.C. with silver star), and the Fellowship of Christian Magicians. He is also a popular speaker, onscreen and onstage talent, a professional pianist, an accomplished vocalist, composer and playwright. Visit his website at https://turnermagic.com Space is limited and an advanced ticket purchase is suggested. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the SCHF office at 601-631-2997 or email info@southernculture.org ### Based in Atlanta, Georgia, professional speaker, mentalist, and corporate magician Joe M. Turner delivers unreal entertainment and keynotes for corporate meetings, events, trade shows, conferences and private events worldwide. Category Entertainment, Event, Arts
Recent Interviews and News Stories
Atlanta speaker, mentalist, and magician Joe M. Turner is the South’s most-recommended magical entertainer and speaker based on LinkedIn and Google results. This post contains links to several interviews and media appearances in recent weeks.
Atlanta Speaker Joe M. Turner featured in NSA SPEAKER Magazine
The National Speakers Association publishes a monthly magazine, SPEAKER, that focuses on the ins and outs of the professional speaking industry. I contributed an article to the current (May 2011) issue describing an episode that took place at a corporate event a few years ago. The article appears in the “Turning Points” section (on page 34 in this issue). You can read the full article by clicking on the cover image at right. In summary, though, the thrust of my anecdote and article is twofold: Great speakers and performers can create moments that are both unforeseeable and unforgettable by exploring unexpected detours in some presentations, so long as… The speaker/performer has well-developed presentation skills, a knack for keeping cool under fire, and a deep knowledge of “outs” sufficient to bring practically any challenging situation to a successful conclusion. In the article, I briefly mention the concept of “outs” as it exists in the performance of theatrical magic and mentalism. An “out” in a magical context is an answer to the question “How am I going to get out of this?” The performer asks “what if?” and supposes a variety of challenges or changes that could affect the outcome of a routine, then devises responses to each of those situations that will still allow for a successful and entertaining conclusion to the presentation. This is not a new concept, of course. Contingency planning has existed since the first time a human being had to solve the same problem twice. Every day, millions of executives, managers, team leaders, and individuals ask themselves the same kinds of “what if” questions as they plan their own projects. What if these key personnel are unavailable? What if those shipments are delayed? What if we don’t get approval for that part of the project? An interesting paradigm shift happens, though, when you expand the thought process beyond reactive “contingency planning” to proactive “risk management.” In this context, certain risks are considered acceptable based on the knowledge and skill of the decision-maker. Investors and portfolio managers are well acquainted with the idea that some risks are easily worth taking because the potential benefits are large and the downsides can be minimized when approached with expert-level skill. The idea, of course, is to tilt the risk versus reward equation in your favor by using deep skills to devise the outs that minimize the downsides of risk. Mastering the concept of “outs” gives leaders, managers, and even speakers and performers the freedom to explore alternate paths with a vastly reduced risk of failure. That freedom, in turn, sparks creativity — by exploring alternate paths, you may find successful approaches that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about. Sometimes, as in the article, those paths may lead to serendipitous finales that cannot be repeated. Often, though, those paths can lead to observations, offhand comments, and new insights that can add texture and value to the presentation, and which can be permanently incorporated into the script. Anyone can be spontaneous, but the person who has done some advanced planning can be spontaneous with a higher degree of success, and can leverage that success repeatedly in the future. By the way, if it weren’t for Mandi Stanley then I wouldn’t have appeared in the magazine at all. Mandi is a good friend and an excellent speaker and trainer with a mountain of achievements to her credit. Her new book, The No-Panic Plan for Presenters, included my story and she recommended it for inclusion in the magazine. Thanks, Mandi! If you find yourself in front of a group of people who expect you to make a coherent, understandable presentation – whether daily, frequently or just occasionally – then you owe it to yourself and your audience to get a copy of Mandi’s book. Besides being an informative and helpful work, it’s also a fun read. Reap the insights and benefits of lessons learned by Mandi and many other speakers who have been down these paths before. Let me know what you think about the article and the book by leaving a comment here. Thanks again for your support and readership!
Your Hidden Skills
You have amazing skills and capabilities that you don’t even know about! These skills lie hidden in each of us, buried beneath layers of negative self-talk and false preconceptions about the nature of creativity. Why am I so certain? Because nobody else on earth has the specific combination of skills, experiences, and observations that you have, and nobody can replicate the combinations of those skills that only you can provide.
