Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for me. Over the past 33 years, I've entertained at countless Christmas parties, from small gatherings of colleagues to large corporate celebrations.
And while the magic I perform has developed and changed over the years, I've learnt that making an event successful involves much more than simply knowing a few good tricks.
I've seen Christmas parties that have run like clockwork and others where almost nothing has gone according to plan.
Every event teaches you something.
Over the years, I've had some wonderful experiences, encountered a few unexpected challenges and learnt lessons that have changed the way I work.
Some of those lessons have very little to do with magic itself.
So I thought I'd share a few stories from my career, along with some of the things they have taught me about making Christmas parties successful.
Why Booking Early Matters
One of the difficulties of being a performer is that I can only be in one place at a particular time on a particular day.
It doesn't matter how much I'd like to entertain at two events. Unfortunately, I haven't yet discovered a magic trick that allows me to be in two places at once.
I remember receiving an enquiry from someone organising their 40th birthday party. Unfortunately, I was already booked and couldn't perform for them.
Ten years later, they were arranging their 50th birthday and made sure they booked me so they wouldn't miss out again.
I've always remembered that.
It's particularly relevant at Christmas, when so many companies want to hold their parties on the same few evenings in December.
If there's an entertainer you particularly want, my advice is to make an enquiry as soon as you know your date.
You can make decisions about many of the other details later, but once a performer has accepted another booking, that date is no longer available.
When Things Don't Go According to Plan
During most of the year, I'm happy to discuss different booking durations, depending on the event.
However, December is different.
Because demand is so high, I generally book Christmas parties in blocks covering the evening rather than accepting lots of separate one- or two-hour engagements.
There's a practical reason for this, and it's something I learnt through experience.
One Christmas, many years ago, the weather was particularly bad.
Despite the conditions, I managed to get to the venue where I was due to perform.
Unfortunately, my client wasn't so lucky.
The weather had caused considerable delays, and by the time they eventually arrived, I had to leave for another engagement.
I'd made it to the venue, but I hadn't been able to entertain the people who'd booked me.
It was frustrating for everyone.
And the truth is, nobody had really done anything wrong.
You can leave extra time for travelling, plan your journey carefully and do everything possible to avoid problems, but there will always be circumstances beyond your control.
That experience was one of the reasons I changed the way I approach Christmas bookings.
By booking a larger block of time, there's more flexibility if guests arrive late, the meal is delayed or the evening runs differently from the original plan.
It doesn't mean problems can't happen, but it gives everyone a little more breathing room.
And after all, a Christmas party is supposed to be enjoyable, not another source of stress.
There's an Art to Performing Around Dinner Tables
I've heard quite a few magicians say that they don't particularly enjoy performing magic around dinner tables.
They find it difficult.
And I can understand why.
But I believe a great deal depends on the material you choose to perform.
Over the years, I've developed specific routines that I know work well in these situations.
They don't require guests to clear space on the table, they work in confined areas, and they don't interfere with the waiting staff.
That's particularly important to me.
The waiting staff have a job to do, and the last thing they need is a magician getting in the way when they're trying to serve dinner.
There's also an art to deciding which tables to approach and when.
For example, at a dinner with twenty tables, the waiting staff may begin serving at table one and gradually work their way around the room.
While they're serving the first few tables, I might be entertaining guests at the other end of the room, where the food hasn't yet arrived.
As service progresses, I can move around the room accordingly.
Of course, every venue and every event is different.
But understanding how an event works, and being able to adapt to it, makes an enormous difference.
I don't believe guests should have to choose between enjoying their meal and watching a magician.
And I certainly don't believe the waiting staff should have to work around me.
Knowing what to perform in a particular situation is just as valuable as knowing how to perform it.
The Years Behind the Magic
When somebody books a magician for an hour, two hours or an entire evening, it's easy to think they're simply paying for the time that person spends entertaining their guests.
But I think there's a little more to it than that.
After more than 33 years of performing, I've come to appreciate that some of the most valuable skills are the ones an audience might not even notice.
Knowing how to read a room.
Knowing when to approach a group of people.
Knowing when to change a routine because the circumstances aren't quite right.
And sometimes, knowing when not to perform at all.
These are things that are difficult to learn from a book or a video.
They come from experience.
People sometimes say to me, "But you're a magician, can't you just make it happen by magic?"
My usual response is that I've spent years learning, practising and developing my skills so that what I do looks like magic.
But behind those seemingly impossible moments are years of hard work, experience and an understanding of the principles that make them possible.
The magic is what you see. The years of work behind it are what make it possible.
And I think that applies to entertaining just as much as it does to performing a trick.
Two magicians might perform exactly the same trick, but the experience for the audience could be completely different.
The way you communicate with people, the way you handle unexpected situations and the way you make your audience feel are all part of the performance.
Of course, everyone has to start somewhere. I certainly did.
But there's an art to entertaining that goes far beyond the tricks themselves.
And sometimes, what you're paying for isn't simply the hour or two someone spends performing.
It's the years they've spent learning how to make that time special.
Entertainment Should Be Part of the Party, Not Take Over the Party
A good Christmas party is about the people attending it.
For some companies, it might be one of the few occasions during the year when everyone gets together in the same room.
For others, colleagues may have worked together for years without ever meeting face to face.
Magic can be a wonderful way of bringing people together.
It gives colleagues a shared experience, creates conversation and helps break down some of those social barriers that can exist in the workplace.
But I don't believe entertainment should ever become more important than the event itself.
There may be speeches, presentations, awards or other important moments during the evening.
There will also be guests who simply want to enjoy a conversation with their colleagues.
Part of my job is recognising those moments.
Sometimes the right thing to do is entertain a group.
Sometimes it's to move to another part of the room.
And sometimes it's simply to leave people to enjoy themselves.
For me, the aim is never to make the whole evening about the magician.
It's to make the evening more enjoyable for the people who are there.
A Little Advice for Christmas Party Organisers
If you're organising a Christmas party this year, there are a few things I'd suggest considering.
Think about when the entertainment will work best.
A drinks reception can be a fantastic opportunity for close-up magic, particularly if guests are arriving at different times or don't know one another particularly well.
Magic around the tables can also work beautifully, provided the performer understands how to work alongside the waiting staff.
Consider the whole evening rather than just the performance time.
Think about when guests will arrive, when dinner will be served and whether there are any speeches or presentations.
The more your entertainer understands about the event, the better they can fit into it.
Choose someone whose approach suits your guests.
A Christmas party should be enjoyable for everyone. Not everybody wants to participate in a trick, and that's absolutely fine.
Ask about experience, not just the tricks.
An impressive demonstration of magic is one thing. Being able to entertain a room full of people in an unpredictable environment is another.
And finally, book early.
Particularly if your party is taking place on a popular Friday or Saturday in December.
You're Only as Good as Your Reputation
There's a story from the early 2000s that has stayed with me.
I'd already accepted a booking when I received a telephone call from someone who wanted me to perform at their event on the same date.
I explained that I was already booked.
They then offered me £1,000 to cancel my existing engagement and work for them instead.
At the time, £1,000 was a considerable amount of money. In fact, it still is.
But I wasn't going to let down somebody who had already booked me.
I asked the caller a question.
"If I cancelled the booking I'd already accepted so I could work for you, would you ever book me again?"
Because I wouldn't.
If somebody is prepared to let down one client because another offers them more money, what's to stop them doing exactly the same thing to you?
Of course, there are occasions when circumstances genuinely make it impossible to fulfil a booking. I know that from personal experience.
On 15 October 2004, I was involved in a car accident and suffered an open fracture.
It was around 11 pm, and I had four performances booked that weekend, with the first starting at 11 am the following morning.
Before I even called for an ambulance, I telephoned someone I trusted and arranged for all four engagements to be covered.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to perform, but I didn't want four clients to be left without the entertainment they'd booked.
I spent the next few days in hospital.
Just four hours after being discharged, I was back performing, albeit wearing a plaster cast, sporting a broken nose and a black eye.
The funny thing was that people kept asking whether the plaster cast was part of the act!
Apparently, even with a broken nose and a black eye, people still thought it was all an illusion.
I suppose that's one of the problems with being a magician. People don't always believe what they're seeing!
Looking back, I'm not suggesting that returning to work so quickly was necessarily sensible, and I certainly wouldn't recommend ignoring medical advice.
But the experience reinforced something I've always believed.
You can't promise that nothing will ever go wrong. Accidents happen, people become ill, and sometimes life has other plans.
What you can promise is to take your responsibilities seriously and do everything reasonably possible to look after the people who have placed their trust in you.
For me, accepting a booking has always been more than putting a date in the diary.
It's making a commitment.
After 33 years, I still love performing at Christmas parties. There's something wonderful about seeing colleagues relaxing, laughing and enjoying an experience together.
And while the magic is obviously an important part of what I do, I've come to realise that the real skill is often knowing how to make it fit naturally into the occasion.
Every event is different. Every audience is different. And I don't think you ever stop learning.
If you're organising a Christmas party in Kent, London or elsewhere in the UK and think a little magic might make the occasion more memorable, I'd love to hear from you.
Because at the end of the day, no matter how good the magic might be, there's something I've always believed:
You're only as good as your reputation.
Bob Pound is a professional magician and television magic consultant with over 33 years of experience entertaining at corporate events, weddings and private parties.