Kids Entertainer Podcast

John Reid tired of the cheap one liners that kids entertainers can carelessly use, you know the ones: give me your hand ... I meant the clean one! WAH WAH WAH ... and set himself on the road to highlighting the power of simple positive presentations...

We start off by asking John what he means by this statement “I don’t want to make people better performers, I want to make performers better people.”

In This episode we discuss:

Hear about John Reid's lecture that focuses on things that make his heart smile.

Hear about making first impressions and how important this is to making a connection with your audience within the first seven seconds.

If a tree falls in the woods if there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? If a magician is doing a trick and there is no one to watch it does any magic actually take place?

Do you allow time for pauses in your presentation? Do you understand the power of the pause?

When you front your audience, do you point your heart at the audience. This is such a nice way to remember to physically connect with the audience.

Find out about John's magic droppings ... little things you can do on a daily basis to put a smile on people's faces.

How to leave tips to make people's days a little better for such small effort.

Join in on John's mission to make ten million smiles.

Balloon twisters and face painters have an advantage over magicians in that they are naturally leaving a tangible memory with their audience. What can magicians do to leave more than just a fleeting memory.

Find out about the power of mouth coils, production streamers and throw streamers.

As Jeff McBride is fond  of saying 'confetti is the new fire' ... a small explosion of Technicolor ribbons that is safer than fire.

Are you creating your show, your routines through the filter that is your own personal beliefs and philosophies.

There are more books written on magic on any other subject other than religion. There is so much information available on magic. Is this tsunami of knowledge holding you back in your performing.

'A burnt customer is not a return customer' ... one of John Reid's early mentors told him this and it has influenced John's decision not to include fire in his family shows.

New York magician, balloon twister and now hypnotist Terry Parrett helped John start his balloon twisting career that culminated in John holding the world record for the biggest balloon twisting creation: a 50 foot tall robot using over 4000 modelling balloons.

Find out about Tannen's Magic Camp and how it brings together young magicians with others like themselves for a week of magic immersion.

Balloon Storyteller Annie Banannie uses the same creativity she puts into stage shows, school assemblies and library summer reading programs to lift her marketing and promotions to a higher level ...

Annie Banannie doesn't tell stories to her balloons - boom boom - but she includes balloons in everything she does.

Do you use business cards as a kids entertainer? Hear why Annie doesn't like or use business cards.

The idea of romancing your customers and how can portable bathrooms in Times Square help you create an appreciative following for your kids entertainer business.

You might not like bookmarks but kids LOVE them. Discover how you can leverage their popularity with your audiences.

Photo frames to encourage parents at private events.

On a budget? Ideas on using the free services that the internet offers.

Are you running an online kids club yet? Annie utilises this simple idea.

How to apply the creative process to your kids entertainment promotions.

Running a story contest to create interaction with children and the parents and teachers while promoting children's writing.

Finger puppets. Using puppets to let kids who can't write yet be able to enter in a story promotion you might run.

Staying focused, staying on-message with your branding.

Looking past your competitors to the strengths of big successful companies to get your marketing ideas.

Standing out with your promo merchandise at a PTA  convention (Parents Teacher Association)

Listen to how Annie Banannie has taken the old idea of the Fortune Telling Fish and re designed it into a modern balloon dog for 21st century kids entertainers.

Jay Jay the Balloon Guy was a juggler. One day his life changed and he could juggle no more. Discover how he grew a satisfying balloon twisting business from scratch ...

Jay Jay hails from South Africa where he was household name in his performing area. He now lives and works in Australia as a balloon twister, a balloon teacher and a balloon supplier. As famous motivation coach Zig Ziglar said, "help as many people get what they want in life and you'll get everything you want in life"

Listen and hear how Jay Jay has adopted this philosophy and find out about ...

The people who the best at balloon twisting usually come from performing backgrounds

It's not all about twisting technique, it's very much about making kids laugh.

BASE method ... Borrow And Steal Everything to create a vehicle for entertaining

From juggler to balloon twister .. why the change?

Should you be a jack-of-all-trades or should you specialize as a children's entertainer? Which is better?

Can you be a balloon twister without working through and agent?

How much money should you spend on advertising when you are starting out?

What to do if you aren't getting repeat bookings and referrals after one year of starting out?

The value of attending balloon twisting conventions?

How much do you charge for balloon twisting?

Keeping your booking process simple?

How to design your website to keep it simple and build your credibility?

How to create a balloon twisting teaching business?

Find out about the OzJam balloon twisting convention

How castrating lambs has helped balloon twisters

With over 9000 shows as a Disney Pop Up performer, Max Marshall shares performing tips, insights into creating your stage character and how legendary clown doctor Patch Adams taught him - with a rubber fish - how to make his audiences 'feel' the comedy.

Max Marshall is a variety performer in Hong Kong Disneyland. He has worked for Disney now for 6 years (and many more to go!) With 4 years with Cruise Line plus 2 years with Hong Kong Disneyland he has personally clocked over 9000 shows! That's a whole lot of laughter, a ton of happiness, literally millions of smiles and an uncanny amount of energy created 100% day in day out.

Max started juggling at 7 years old. Went to see street performers at the Edinburgh Festival and was inspired. Problem was he was shy, in his words he wouldn't say boo to a goose.

Having a desire to GIVE , to affect people, drives his performing career.

The static suitcase was a winner above all other magic and juggling and flaming torches.

Developing your stage character takes years.

The value of taking clown classes.

Working in 21 countries around the world makes you create many different characters. Street shows, theatre shows all require a different approach.

The importance of not 'hiding' behind your props

The importance of making people 'feel'

A silent act doesn't work as well as a unicycle, flaming torches. Why do you see the same acts, the same props all around the world. Cups and Balls. Because they work.

Pop up atmosphere performer is essentially a street performer without convincing people to put their hands in their pocket.

His Dad's advice about selling cheese and onion crisps on building a strong business as a variety performer.

Get to know a theme park first before you apply to them. Offer them something you think would work well for them, something that would become an attribute.

Theme parks have story lines while attraction parks have big rides. They are different things.

The Disney philosophy of treating every person as a guest.

The value of customer feedback forms.

9000 shows in 6 years working with Disney is possible because they design the costume, the working schedule, the microphones are always ready.

Character development

Sunny Magoo ... his kid's character brand that flopped.

The difficulties of performing surrounded by very famous mouse and duck characters.

Source a clown teacher. An acting clown course as opposed to an acting course. Comedy club improvisation workshops

Separate your self from your prop so people can see who you are

What makes people laugh? What is the psychology behind it? What is it that entertains people? Its not what you do, it's how you make the people FEEL.

Laughter workshop ..laughter yoga ...laughing for no reason

Hear Max's story of how on a two week tour of Russia, Patch Adams taught Max to entertain with nothing but a rubber fish. What does the rubber fish do?

Understanding different cultural sensitivities.

Read body language books and sales books.

In this podcast Colette Kelly shares how she doubled her bookings by varying what she was saying on the telephone. Colette shares, evidence based, tips and techniques that move our bookers from an analytical “how much do you charge” to a warm and fluffy emotive “oh my child is going to have a wonderful time with you”

It doesn't matter what type of kids entertainer you are, part of the booking process will mean speaking with a client on the phone to explain what you do and how you do it. This first episode of the Kids Entertainer Podcast shines a spotlight on the psychology of the phone call, what to say and when to say it and what message you can leave on your answer phone that will have bookers rushing to your website.

Colette ran an entertainment agency called Best Entertainment in South Africa and she now runs Magic 4 Children in the UK. Colette speaks with 10 to 20 people a day about kids entertainment and she tests out different strategies all the time to see what works best.

Colette shares crucial information about appealing to your customers emotions and what benefits you can offer them and how to do that.

She share what she has learned from her customers. Having an opportunity to qualify what they were looking for and if what she offers fits their need has been invaluable. Furthermore being able to ‘educate’ the customer about what she does has made a huge difference to the performances themselves. “Good business always leads to more good business.”

Colette has kindly agreed to share her ‘sales script’, voice mail message and what she says when leaving a message on a customer’s phone. This is a working document that guides you step by step to construct your own telephone script that will get your more bookings.