A Magician Reflects on the Economy

For what it’s worth, here’s a view of the U.S. economy through my narrow and limited lens as a magician and supplier for the meeting and events industry.

Tis the season for the company holiday party. In general, December is the busiest month of the year for those magicians who perform grown-up magic in the corporate market. I usually see an exhilarating spike in business in the first half of December.

December of 2008, however, was spike-less. A combination of uncertainty (with regards to the economy) and an unjustified stigma against even the appearance of fun within a corporate entity conspired to make it an underwhelming close to 2008.

So what of 2009?

Well, I received more inquiries this year than last, but buyers seemed to be extremely price conscious. I am aware of some gigs lost to lower priced alternatives. And instead of booking their December events 3-6 months in advance, many planners waited until the last minute (unsure, perhaps, of how much money would be available).

I also had more requests than ever before for shorter performances to help accommodate smaller budgets. And more holiday parties were held on week nights rather than weekends (to qualify for non-peak pricing on venues, one assumes).

From where I sit, the economy has not yet begun to recover, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about how businesses will make their numbers in 2010. On the positive side, however, it is no longer optically anathema for a company to have fun and show some love and appreciation to their hard-working employees.

So for my industry, I’m calling the glass half-full for the end of 2009.