Following 2020 when all events (bar a short period in the autumn for small weddings) were cancelled, it was nice to be getting back to weddings and parties in 2021; and with zero Christmas parties the previous year, my diary for December 2021 was getting nicely filled. Until Omicron…
Because this Covid variant was showing signs of spreading quickly and potentially infecting those who had already been vaccinated the UK government put into place requirements that anyone who had been in contact with anyone who had a positive test would need to self-isolate for 10 days. This of course meant that no-one wanted to hold their Christmas party after the 15th of December, otherwise if someone was at the party who later tested positive they would need to isolate over Christmas (regardless of if they tested positive themselves).
(We’ll ignore that this announcement was made on the 16th of December…)
Naturally the remainder of my December diary emptied pretty quickly. Fortunately though many of the events weren’t cancelled, but postponed to the spring. In hindsight this was actually quite nice because were as the run-up to Christmas can be quite a frantic time with dark evenings, poor weather and the general stresses of guests balancing work, social and family commitments – attending the events in spring gave these postponed parties a bit of a twist.
One of these that had to postpone was Thrive Architects (www.thrivearchitects.co.uk) who are based just north of Romsey (near Southampton) in Hampshire, and their Christmas/Spring lunch was held at the lovely Kimbridge Barn Tearooms; which they postponed to mid-March.
Though there was a little rain on the drive it really was a lovely spring day, and definitely a contrast to the dark mid-December weather! The function space at Kimbridge Barn is, well, spacious, and the warm sunshine coming through the windows really gave the room a fresh and energetic feel. This was apparent with all the guests, who were eager to watch the close-up magic. With two long tables I worked my way around, alternating where I was standing for each trick to ensure that no one was miss out, and getting as many people involved in the magic as possible.
To round the afternoon off I finished by performing a short after-dinner cabaret show. This focusses primarily on the mental side of magic and included demonstrations of mind-reading, psychology and predicting – and definitely a lot more fun than it probably sounds as it’s really interactive. Having already performed close-up magic around the tables I already had rapport with many of the attendees, and that meant the fun level could be upped another notch.
Although it’s now a couple of months later I recently received a 5 Star review from Caroline at Thrive Architects:
We booked Robert for our staff Christmas Lunch 2021, but due to an outbreak of Covid at the venue we had to postpone and reschedule as a Staff Spring Lunch in 2022. Robert was very understanding of the situation and accommodating in rescheduling his diary.
WOW what can I say about Robert? “This man is unbelievably amazing.”
One particular memory comes to mind, we have a member of staff who is, shall we say, ‘a little loud’, but we witnessed her speechless! I would strongly recommend Robert for your event, you might be able to get someone slightly cheaper but I can guarantee he is worth every penny. Don’t delay….book today.
Caroline, Thrive Architects (www.thrivearchitects.co.uk)
Firstly it is great to get such a nice and positive review. Receiving a review really does make a difference; obviously from a personal point of view it’s lovely to hear that people do enjoy what I’m doing, and my presence at their event really does make a difference.
It’s also really nice to know that I created memories, and that Caroline – and hopefully other attendees – remembers specific things that happened. It is those sort of things that makes it a personal experience for each of them. I try to make it more than just a bunch of tricks, and it seems like I succeeded.
It is also nice that Caroline acknowledged that I’m not the cheapest magician out there, but when you are arranging your Christmas (or spring!) lunch then you want to know the magician you are booking is a good quality professional who can guarantee to deliver – and that by booking me you know you are getting quality which is worthy of the fee.
Although I don’t expect that many companies will be wanting to move their Christmas party to the spring voluntarily, I can say that the spring of 2022 was a little different for me, and make me think that perhaps more companies should consider holding more events this time of year.
