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The Magic Business
of Fairs and Festivals
with Kevin Heller
Opening up new markets for your magic by letting your mind get some fresh air and fresh ideas.
When you are talking about getting to know someone new you often hear it’s what’s on the inside that counts. If you want to take your magic into the festival and fairs market then it’s what’s on the outside that counts and by that we are talking about the weather.
Kevin Heller weather proofed his act and put his mind into all seasons thinking to create a business that capitalises on the fair and festival market for spring and summer and works equally as well when the weather turns him indoors.
In This Episode We Discuss:
- Just what is the fair and festival market
- What type of act works for the fair festival market
- Flash is Cash … a truism for this market
- The value of creating an outdoor act
- What a fair/festival audience looks like
- The types of stages you can expect to perform on
- How to turn your $300 kids show into a $1000 festival show
- How to take your and ‘tailor make’ show for this market
- Who books the acts for fairs and festivals?
- What is the importance of building long standing relationships in this industry?
- How many festival/fairs are there in your area? You might be surprised.
- What are Fair Festival Associations and Fair Manager Associations?
- How to stand out at your trade show booth while pitching to Festival Bookers
- How improve your VALUE in the eyes of festival bookers.
- What extra services you can offer to make yourself more attractive to festival bookers
- Understanding hoe fair managers think
- How to move away from ‘pitching’ merchandise to ‘performing’ merchandise
- The psychology of pitching merchandise
- Recognizing outdoor opportunities
- Outdoor Audience Management
- Mega-merchandising – “The Pitch” Selling the Experience!
- Adjusting and modifying your props and clothing to endure the unpredictable
- Preparing for “natures great heckler” – the weather!
- The Marketing – how do you get into this market
Links and resources discussed in this episode:
Kevin Heller’s performing site
Kevin Heller books and lecture notes mentioned in the podcast

Thank you for listening
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Thanks again, Ken and Julian