Performing at Eton College - A Private Garden Luncheon Filled with History, Warmth & Mind Reading
There are certain events that stay with you long after the performance itself has ended.
Not because of the scale of the audience or the size of the production, but because something about the atmosphere, the people and the setting combine to create a day that feels genuinely memorable.
Performing Corporate Shows at Old Trafford, Manchester
There are certain periods in your career that quietly shape the performer you eventually become.
For me, one of those periods came through a series of corporate events held at Old Trafford in Manchester roughly a decade ago. The events were organised by a travel industry company called TIPTO, and over the course of around eighteen months I found myself regularly travelling around the UK performing at their “Super Shows” alongside comedian and compère Jed Stone.
Performing at the Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square, London
London always feels slightly different in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The city becomes busier, brighter and somehow even more cinematic than usual. Office buildings begin glowing against the dark winter evenings, decorations appear across the streets and luxury hotels transform themselves into these warm islands of gold light amongst the cold London air outside.
In November 2023, I travelled down to London to perform at a corporate Risk Summit hosted by Marsh UK Construction Practice at the Four Seasons Hotel at Ten Trinity Square.
Entertaining Aboard the Thames at Night
There are certain London events that feel almost cinematic whilst you are inside them.
The reflections of city lights across the water.
The low hum of conversations drifting between guests.
Tower Bridge glowing in the distance while the skyline slowly moves around you.
Several years ago I was hired to provide close-up mentalism and psychological entertainment aboard a private Thames cruise for senior international guests attending a corporate event in London.
Performing Alongside a Mentor at Gleneagles
There are certain moments in your career that feel quietly significant whilst they are happening.
Not because thousands of people are watching.
Not because cameras are rolling.
Not because the event itself is necessarily the largest you’ve ever performed.
But because somewhere deep down you realise you’ve arrived at a moment you once only imagined from a distance.
From Virtual Performances to Brussels - Returning to Live Corporate Events in Europe
Like many performers, March 2020 changed everything almost overnight.
One by one, corporate bookings disappeared from the calendar. Conferences were postponed indefinitely, gala dinners vanished and international travel came to a complete standstill. Entire industries suddenly found themselves trying to work out how to operate in a world where people could no longer gather together in person.
Live entertainment simply stopped.
Networking, Noise & Mind Reading at the OXO Tower
London networking events have a very particular kind of energy.
They begin politely enough. Small conversations over drinks. Name badges. Business cards. Groups standing slightly too formally around tables pretending not to scan the room for people they recognise.
Then slowly, over the course of the evening, the atmosphere changes.
People relax.
Conversations loosen.
Laughter becomes louder.
The room begins to breathe properly.
What BIBA Taught Me About Trade Show Entertainment
One of the biggest misconceptions about exhibition entertainment is that it exists purely to create noise.
Good trade show entertainment should do far more than simply attract a crowd.
It should create conversations.
Introduce opportunities.
Generate momentum.
And ultimately help companies connect with the right people.
That became particularly clear to me while working at the BIBA Conference and Exhibition in Manchester for Proximo Ltd.
The Night I Realised Mentalism Could Be More Than Entertainment
There are certain performances that stay with you long after the applause fades.
Not necessarily because they were the largest audiences or the highest fees, but because something shifted internally whilst you were there.
One such evening for me took place high above Canary Wharf during a corporate event for KPMG.
Even now, years later, I can still remember the feeling of standing inside that building looking out across London at night.
It genuinely felt like the city stretched on forever.
When Two People Experience the Same Performance Completely Differently
One of the most fascinating things about performing professionally for long enough is realising that audiences rarely experience the same performance in exactly the same way.
Two people can witness the exact same words, moments and demonstrations, yet walk away feeling entirely differently about what they have just seen.
Sometimes the difference is subtle.
Occasionally, it is impossible to ignore.
Performing at The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice Annual Ball
One of the strangest things about working as a performer is where enquiries sometimes arrive.
I still vividly remember receiving the booking request for The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice Annual Ball while sitting in a hotel restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.
Outside, the temperature was close to minus twenty degrees as I prepared material for a lecture at Penguin Magic in the United States. Meanwhile, several thousand miles away, an enquiry had landed in my inbox asking if I would fly to Scotland to perform at a major charity gala in Edinburgh.
What I Learned Running a Corporate Wellbeing Workshop
Most people associate my work with corporate events, conferences, trade shows and after-dinner performances.
So when First Response Finance approached me about delivering part of their internal wellbeing programme, it immediately caught my attention because it was something completely different.
Not just another performance.
A workshop.
And honestly, that excited me.
Performing at a Rooftop Corporate Event in Barcelona
One of the most surreal parts of working as a professional mentalist is occasionally finding yourself standing in places you never imagined work would take you.
For me, Barcelona was one of those moments.
Performing for Sheffield United’s Player of the Year Awards
Born and raised in Sheffield, supporting the Blades was never really a choice in our family. My dad was a Blade, which naturally meant I became one too.
So when Sheffield United invited me to perform at their 2015 Player of the Year Awards, the event immediately carried a very different kind of meaning.
The Night Local Business Finally Saw What I Did
One of the biggest misconceptions about performance careers is that bookings simply appear overnight.
In reality, most opportunities grow slowly through conversations, recommendations and relationships built over time.
Sometimes all it takes is one room full of the right people.
Man vs Machine: When Mentalism Met MRI Technology
For years, documentaries and newspaper headlines have claimed that advances in brain imaging technology could one day allow scientists to read human thoughts.
In 2014, I was invited to take part in a live public experiment exploring exactly that idea.
The project, titled Man vs Machine, brought together mentalism, neuroscience and MRI technology as part of Sheffield’s Festival of the Mind - a major cultural event organised by the University of Sheffield celebrating the relationship between science, creativity and human thought.
Designing a Bespoke Mentalism Performance for the Belvoir National Conference
Some corporate events require more than simply stepping onto a stage and performing a polished set. The most rewarding events are the ones built around a company’s identity, audience and message - where every moment feels tailored specifically to the people in the room.
That was exactly the case when I was invited to perform at the Belvoir National Conference.
What I Learned Performing at IFSEC - One of Europe’s Largest Trade Shows
Trade shows are exhausting.
That probably sounds like a strange opening line coming from somebody hired to work at them, but it’s true.
They are loud, relentless, crowded and mentally draining environments where hundreds of companies are all competing for exactly the same thing:
attention.
And after performing at IFSEC at London’s ExCeL Centre, I quickly realised that successful trade show entertainment has very little to do with simply “doing tricks.”
It’s about stopping people walking past.
Performing at Sheffield University’s Celebration of Enterprise Awards
There’s something very different about returning to your hometown to perform.
No matter how many events you work at around the UK, walking back into a city you feel deeply connected to always carries an extra sense of pride and pressure in equal measure.
The Day Theo Paphitis Chose My Business
Building a career in entertainment can feel strange in the early years.
You spend countless hours refining performances, travelling to events, answering enquiries and trying to build something sustainable from a profession many people don’t fully understand in the first place.
So when moments of unexpected recognition arrive, they tend to stay with you.