Advantage Play
David Ben struck the word impossible from his vocabulary. As a world-renowned magician, David has to make problems disappear. Problem solving, he believes, is everyone’s core business. Unfortunately, few people have been taught how to solve problems in an effective and efficient manner. David demystifies the problem-solving process by taking his audience behind the scenes of the world of magic and revealing the tricks of the trade – the methodology magicians, card cheats and psychics use to perform the impossible.
David also demonstrates that every activity is a sales opportunity. Whether people work in the field of behind the desk, success depends on how well they sell the skills, products or services they provide. Using magic as his metaphor, David also demystifies this process and provides a strategy for maximizing success. His common sense approach ensures that clients and customers receive exactly what they need when they need it in a manner that is efficient for both buyer and seller.
His presentations focus on assessing opportunity based on the needs of the customer, maximizing opportunity by discovering new applications for existing products and services, using negative people to advantage, closing the transaction, understanding the importance of the “after sell” and its role in developing new and repeat business, and inspiring confidence in colleagues and co-workers. Always interested in technology, David outlines his pragmatic approach to innovation and the use of technology.
Most of all, David demonstrates the true meaning of being proactive. As a magician, David has to make miracles happen. By performing magic and then explaining how the magic is created, people learn that success in magic and business is the result of the cumulative effect of many apparently inconsequential details most people take for granted. It is a unique approach to learning a few new tricks for the trade presented by a unique individual – David Ben.
Magic By Design
Audiences love the unexpected – in books, movies, magic and relationships. David Ben teaches how to engage, motivate and move your audience. He draws on his vast experience as an internationally acclaimed magician, theatrical producer and, yes, tax lawyer, to demonstrate how to orchestrate the unexpected.
David illustrates how performers make meaningful physical and emotional contact with the audience. Participants learn how to set the stage and usher the audience into the proper environment before making contact. David teaches the importance of invisible threads, how ‘less’ is more, and how to enhance communication by focusing on executing key concepts rather than confusing detail. David emphasizes the importance of listening to your audience as you guide them to the final destination.
David also discusses the concept of stage fright – on the stage and in business – and the techniques available to ensure that every performance is delivered in a confident and controlled manner. He teaches how to distinguish between real risk and perceived risk, and the power of process – how one constructs, practices, rehearses and performs. He examines the role of critics and criticism, how to profit from both the positive and the negative, the importance of chasing perfection and sharing secrets.
He peppers his presentation with humorous anecdotes culled from his performances at the Shaw Festival, the Charlottetown Festival and other high-risk and highly visible theatrical ventures. He also enchants his audience with tales from private practice including how he made the Stanley Cup magically appear at the National Hockey League’s annual awards dinner. The goal is to empower each participant with the will and way to become a proven performer.
Magic Hands – Workshop
As part of Magic by Design, David can orchestrate a special workshop, assisted by some of his colleagues, in which the group is divided into smaller units and then taught how to perform and present a special series of magic tricks. The tricks are designed for each group member to experience the process of mastering a new task in a short frame of time, developing a presentation for that task and then presenting it in a polished professional manner in front of their peers. The workshop is based on the program, Magic Hands, which David has developed for Magicana, a not-for-profit organization that uses magic as a metaphor for developing creativity. Magic Hands has been developed with special funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Maximizing Sales
David Ben’s creative approach to business problems is an outstanding fit for sales audiences. A skilled salesperson himself (he has designed product launches for Colgate-Palmolive, IBM, and Cannon Canada, and trade show presentations for Toshiba Canada, Amdahl, 3M, Panasonic and Ink Dezyne), David’s dynamic sales presentation demonstrates that every activity is a sales opportunity. Whether people work in the field or behind a desk, success depends on how well clients or colleagues are sold on their skills, products and services. Using magic as his metaphor, David demystifies the sales process and provides a strategy for maximizing sales. His common sense approach of strategic selling ensures that clients and customers receive exactly what they need when they need it in a manner that is efficient for both buyer and seller.
This presentation covers such critical topics as:
- Understanding customer needs;
- Maximizing revenue by finding new applications for existing products or services;
- Using “negative” people to advantage;
- Closing;
- The importance of the “after-sell”
In a presentation that is both fun and informative, David provides timely, thought-provoking and practical advice that your sales team will draw on often in the months and years ahead.
The Magic of David Ben
Planning a special event can be tricky, and choosing a speaker who will entertain your audience in a memorable and distinctive way is even more difficult. David Ben — hailed as “one of the finest magicians of our time” by The National Post — manages to fill that niche seamlessly. Whether it is a program of intimate magic for fifty people, or a full stage production for an audience of 1000, David captures the crowd.
In creating a private performance for your group or function, David draws on hours of material to construct the perfect program. He might program his computer to read the minds of audience members, have two women from the audience assist him in sawing a man in half, conjure a ghost to perform the impossible, or even suspend a member of the audience in mid-air. Although no two shows are the same, each performance has been designed to feed the mind with mystery, ignite the imagination, and provide a few laughs along the way.
