Mr Hyde's Other Notebook

Who's the most famous person I've worked with?

I get asked that question quite a lot.

Over the last decades Lynda and I have worked and toured with such well known artists as - James Taylor, Mark Knopfler, Johnnie Ray, Whoppie Goldberg, KC & The Sunshine Band and Demis Rousos. But no mention of famous names gets more of a reaction when I tell people I worked with Mr Squiggle.

Sorry to hear of the death of Squiggles creator Norman Hetherington this week.

 

Corporate Xmas Party Sydney 2009

November and December is always a busy time for me with End of Year Party's, Awards Nights, Gala Dinners.

Coming up in the next few weeks I have engagements for Panasonic, Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation and ARICA (Australian Radio Communications Industry Association.)

Assignments include acting as MC for the events and/or performing my Mind Magic Show.These bookings are in both Sydney and Melbourne.

While most of these have been booked for months and we've had planning meetings / phone briefings, I'm still getting calls for assignments just a week away!

Some people are leaving things to the last minute. However there are still quite a few prime dates available on our calendar, so happy to help out if we can. Luncheon dates especially!

Phone the office on 02 4758 8961 or ask your local Speaker Bureau to contact us.

http://www.TimothyHyde.com

http://www.MentalistAustralia.com

Meeting Planners & PCO Ideas - Part 5

Continuing our series of Extracts from our "White Ideas Paper"

Seven Successful Strategies
to make your next Conference Job easier

 

An Ideas Paper for - Professional Conference Organisers
Meeting Planners, Association Executives, Conference Committees

Creating Fresh Ideas

 

Repeat clients are Gold for any business and particularly for PCO’s and Meeting Planners.  But with it come the additional challenge of coming up with fresh ideas for each new event.  Activities, Entertainers, Speakers, Venues, Themes, etc. This is an area your MC can also help with!

One disturbing trend I have noticed over the last year is that some events are booking their MC at the last minute, almost as an afterthought or perhaps waiting to see how delegate numbers stack up.

This however has been balanced by a number of clients who see the benefits of booking much earlier in the process.

Apart from the obvious of ensuring that their MC of choice is secured for the next event there are some other very valuable benefits.

MC’s get to work in at a wide range of different events. At these events we get to see first hand the different Speakers, Activities and Entertainers. We experience the Venue and know how the Banquet & AV staff are to deal with. ( I recently worked with the most appalling AV Team I’ve  experienced in over 25 years, at a  top Victorian Venue. I’m advising my contacts to seriously consider bringing in their own team if they are considering the otherwise terrific facility.)

Why not start tapping into that knowledge? Once you have the MC onboard start using them as an integral part of the conference team. Here’s a few ideas.

Ask them about Entertainers they’ve worked with recently who you may not have heard about. (At the recent IBNA/AustBrokers Conference, I worked with a singer  who I believe was one of the best acts I have ever seen. The reaction was phenomenal. I had never heard of them before and perhaps you haven’t either. Ask me if you’d like to find out who it is!)

Ask them for Speaker suggestions if you have a particular gap in the program. (I’ve been MC at the National Speakers Association Conference every year since 2003 and have worked with a huge range of Australian and visiting Speakers. I and other MC’s I know, are happy to share that knowledge, but we usually wait till we are asked.)

Forward the Schedule or Run Sheet to them and ask if they can see difficulties. Your MC can advise on how much “buffer time” you should program into the schedule for housekeeping announcements.

Ask how others have handled the logistics such as; Lucky Door prizes, Speaker Giveaways, Questions from the floor during Panel Discussions etc. Why reinvent the wheel?

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You can download the complete White Ideas Paper via our Resource Page.

 

Last Minute Jobs

What is it about people booking Entertainers and Speakers at the last minute!

I had an email query late yesterday just as I was about to shut up the office for the night.
They want a show next week!

Now, we can do it and I'm happy to rearrange a couple of things to get ready in time but why leave it till the last minute. This is a trend that has appeared over the last year or so and shows no signs of going away.

Here's a few reasons to book early.

• The act you want is probably going to be available.
• They will have more time to get to know you and your expectations for the event.
• They may be able to customise the presentation for you.
• They may be able to offer suggestions to make the event work better
• They may be able to help with publicity of the event.

So, plan ahead, make a confident choice and gain maximum benefit from booking a professional.

For full details on our Corporate  Entertainment &  Conference MC Services

Mentalist Australia

Australia's "Magician of the Mind" Timothy Hyde presents his new website "Mentalist Australia."

It's still a work in progress, but I like the sharp clean lines and lots of white space. Have a look and tell me what you think.

http://www.mentalistaustralia.com

By the way, if you use Wordpress yourself, check out the Thesis Theme that I used.

It has built in SEO, my new site was very quickly indexed by Google and now sits at Number 2 spot on some searches! That's very impressive.

The Amazing Lynda

People are asking, what is The Amazing Lynda up to now that she isn't being chopped into pieces, floated in the air etc?...

We still work together doing the Corporate Trivia Challenge. Lynda puts the music and questions together and runs the technical side on the night. She also helps out in the Team Building events.
 

and what else....Lynda does the graphic design for our Ebooks  Sleight of Mind, The Worlds Greatest Puzzles etc. and our newest The Secret Notebook of Mr. Hyde, which is written for Magicians. She has also put together a CDRom on Bird Identification, A Bird in the Hand and is collaborating on a Bird Care Manual.

But what about spare time..Last year Lynda and her friend Robyn started a stall at the Mitchell Rd. Antiques Design Gallery, Alexandria Sydney. Specialising in Funky 1970's stuff.

You can also visit her blogs   Hyde & Seek (Games collection) & Bird Hyde (It's not all about Bird watching)

The Big Boys of Magic

Timothy Hyde (far right) joined by Shawn Farquhar, Canada's 2 time World Champion of Magic. Raymond Crowe, South Australia's 2nd best export behind Red Wine and Phil Cass 2nd to none Comedy Magician, showing off their black suits at the Victorian Arts Centre. 

End of Year Assignments 2009

The busy Holiday show season is now over for me at least.

Each year my December is different. Most of my assignments are at Conferences and Conventions and these don't really happen so much in December. But this year I got a bunch of one off events.

Amongst them was -

 an Afterdinner show for Healthwood at the sparkling new Magenta Shores Resort just north of the Entrance

a Lunchtime "Magic of the Mind Show" for Bayer at Cockle Bay Wharf

a Lunchtime "Magic of the Mind Show" for The Association of Facilities Managers at The Waterfront Restaurant, tucked under the Harbour Bridge

an evening harbour cruise for Alsco

So, now it's consolidate, catch up, paperwork and start putting in place some big plans for "09.

Corporate Entertainment - Mind Magic

Yesterday we examined what you were likely to see in the Corporate Mind Magic Show.

Today, a quick run-down of just some of the companies who have used the show -

Motor Traders Association
National Insurance Brokers
Dairy Farmers
Canon
Autodesk
Association of Financial Advisers
Samsung
Apple
NSW Wine & Food Tourism
Zurich
TeleServices Association
Hewlett Packard
Malaysian Tourism
AMP
Australian Retailers Association

As well as these Corporate Clients, Timothy is often asked to perform this unique show on some of the worlds best cruise lines. He is fortunate enough to have worked on both the number one ranked Large Cruise line "Crystal" and the number one ranked Small Cruise line "Silversea".

To read more about this unique act please visit this site .

Corporate Mind Reading Show

So what can you expect to see in a show by Timothy Hyde and will it be suitable for our audience?

Timothy bills himself as a "Magician of the Mind", so not only will you see and experience amazing feats of Mind Power he will also change your perceptions about what the mind is capable of.

The Show is very interactive and very funny! Several routines use everyone in the audience.
Here's a few sample routines from the show.

5 spectators are selected to stand. They choose to tell the truth or lie. Through a series of questions Timothy shows how our body language, tone of voice etc  can reveal when we are lying.

From a large stack someone picks a book. They examine the book and turn to any page. They secretly concentrate on one word. Timothy tells they what word they have picked!

Two people stand. They verify they have never met or talked to Timothy before. They each think of someone else but don't tell who they are thinking of. Timothy reveals that persons Astrological sign.

A pack of cards is thoroughly shuffled by the audience. Timothy glances through the cards and memorises the order in just 60 seconds!

A phone number is randomly picked from the hundreds of thousands available. Incredibly Timothy has predicted which would be chosen.

That gives you an idea about the "wow factor" of the show.
We have a Sampler DVD available or you can watch an online video on the website.

DETAILS HERE