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.
The event had been over a year in the making and, given the uncertainty surrounding live events at the time, I felt extremely fortunate it was able to go ahead. Looking back, it became one of the most memorable and creatively satisfying corporate performances I’ve ever been part of.
A Chance Meeting That Led to a National Conference
The booking itself began in a fairly unexpected way.
Around 18 months earlier, I attended a property exhibition in Lincolnshire where I met a member of the Belvoir Estate Agents team. After giving a short demonstration, I was later introduced to Ian Maclean, Franchise Director at Belvoir.
We met for coffee shortly afterwards and discussed the company’s upcoming annual conference. Rather than simply hiring entertainment to fill space within the schedule, the focus was on creating something interactive, memorable and genuinely engaging for the delegates attending throughout the day.
The event itself was organised by Alan Baker and the team at Xprez, with the structure eventually evolving into three separate bespoke performance segments delivered across the conference.
That additional preparation time allowed me to carefully design each section specifically for the event, the audience and the wider “Vision 2020” conference theme.
Creating Bespoke Conference Entertainment
One of the biggest misconceptions about conference entertainment is that audiences simply want to watch a performance.
In reality, corporate audiences respond far more strongly when they feel involved.
The challenge with a large-scale conference is maintaining energy and engagement across an entire day of presentations, keynote speakers and networking. The entertainment needs to complement the atmosphere of the event rather than interrupt it.
For the Belvoir conference, the performances were designed to feel woven into the experience itself.
Each segment explored different ideas:
audience psychology
interaction
memory
influence
perception
decision making
All while keeping the tone light, entertaining and accessible for a room filled with franchisees and company representatives from across the country.
The Venue and Staging
The conference took place at St. George’s Park in Burton-upon-Trent - the home of England’s national football teams and an impressive venue for large-scale corporate events.
The staging setup was unlike anything I had previously worked with.
Rather than a traditional conference layout, the room featured multiple presentation areas including a living-room-style main stage complete with Chesterfield sofas, alongside additional themed presentation spaces used throughout the day.
The environment constantly evolved as speakers, presenters and performances moved naturally between stages, helping the conference maintain momentum and variety throughout.
It created a far more immersive atmosphere than many traditional corporate events.
Designing Three Distinct Performance Segments
The performances themselves were intentionally varied.
The opening segment focused on audience interaction and people-reading demonstrations, including revealing personal information without verbal communication and showcasing how easily human behaviour and decisions can be influenced.
A later segment explored memory and shared experiences, inviting audience members onto the stage to revisit moments from their school years while the wider audience watched their reactions unfold in real time.
What made the event particularly enjoyable was the willingness of the delegates to fully embrace the experience. Corporate audiences can sometimes be cautious initially, but once trust and energy build within the room, the atmosphere becomes incredibly powerful.
That was certainly the case here.
Building a Finale Around “Vision 2020”
The final performance of the day became the centrepiece of the event.
Because the conference itself was themed around “Vision 2020,” I wanted the closing section to revolve around perception and the senses.
A participant joined me on stage as I demonstrated increasingly unusual moments involving touch, suggestion and influence. At one point, audience members reacted audibly as the participant appeared to experience physical sensations despite me standing several feet away.
The routine then shifted towards visual perception.
A simple drawing experiment led the participant to believe she had seen entirely different instructions to the rest of the audience, creating one of the strongest reactions of the day.
Finally, the performance concluded with a large prediction sequence involving audience members, calculators and a freely generated seven-digit number.
The final reveal transformed the number into the word BELVOIR, bringing the entire conference theme and performance together in a single moment.
As a performer, those are the moments you hope for when designing bespoke material - where the entertainment feels completely unique to the event itself.
Why Bespoke Corporate Entertainment Matters
The most successful corporate performances are rarely about tricks alone.
They are about creating shared moments that feel personal to the audience and connected to the wider purpose of the event.
That’s what made the Belvoir National Conference so enjoyable to be part of.
The combination of thoughtful event planning, an engaged audience, immersive staging and a willingness to create something tailored specifically for the delegates resulted in an experience that felt genuinely collaborative from start to finish.
Client Feedback
“Looch was fantastic. He did a number of sets at our Annual Conference and was utterly amazing. The franchisees were talking in awe about him throughout the day and he added a completely different feel to our annual event. Book him, he is great.”
Ian Maclean - Belvoir Franchise Director
Planning a Conference or Corporate Event?
Whether it’s an annual conference, networking event, awards evening or corporate dinner, bespoke psychological entertainment can create memorable shared experiences that audiences continue talking about long after the event has ended.
If you’re planning an upcoming corporate event and would like to discuss how interactive mentalism could fit into the experience, please get in touch.
