Now booking a limited number of 2026 engagements
Attendees laughing during an evening reception at a conference where magician Josh Weidner is performing

Conference Magician · Receptions · Association Meetings

Conference magic for the part of the day nobody has energy left for.

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★★★★★ 5.0 · 63 Google reviews from clients nationwide

Trusted by teams at

Shimadzu Scientific InstrumentsCBIZSegraDatavantNorthPoint DevelopmentRTM Engineering ConsultantsArgos Family OfficeEssex IndustriesRichardson Manufacturing CompanyYMCAAmerican Family InsuranceGillette Abuse Refuge FoundationThe Number Project

For Conference and Meeting Planners

Hiring a conference magician for the evening half of the program

Your attendees have been in sessions since breakfast. By the time the evening reception opens, they have made every decision they intend to make that day, and the only real question is whether they stay in the room or head for the lift. Almost nothing on the agenda can change that. Entertainment can.

Josh Weidner is a conference magician who builds the set around a tired room rather than a fresh one. Close-up sleight of hand works table to table and group to group during the reception, asking nothing of anyone, and a clean comedy magic show gives the evening a centre without adding another thing to sit through.

He works welcome receptions, association meetings, annual conferences, user conferences, exhibitor nights, and closing dinners, from a single evening to a multi-day program. Send the dates through the form and Josh follows up personally.

Check Your Date See the Formats

Ready to book a conference magician?

Send the dates, the attendee count, and where the entertainment sits in the run of show. Josh handles every inquiry himself and will come back on whether the dates are open.

  • I. Awake through the evening, after a day that already asked a lot of them
  • II. Talking to the people they came to meet, instead of to their phones
  • III. Still repeating it in the sessions the next morning
CoveragePerforming nationwide, from a single reception to a full multi-day program.
InsuranceLiability coverage carried; Certificate of Insurance on request.

Get a Quote from Josh Weidner ↓

★★★★★ 5.0 · 63 Google reviews

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See Josh's Demo Video

Three ways to book a conference magician

Josh can carry one slot of your program or run the whole evening, depending on how much of the night you need covered.

Conference magician Josh Weidner performing close-up magic for attendees at a welcome reception
Welcome Reception

Mingling Magic

Sometimes called strolling magic, this is close-up work moved group to group while people arrive. At a conference it does a specific job: it gives strangers a reason to talk to each other, which is the entire point of a reception and the thing that usually fails to happen on its own.

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Attendees at a conference dinner watching a comedy magic show by Josh Weidner
Evening Program

Comedy Magic Show

A clean stage show, paced for people who have been listening all day. Nobody is asked to concentrate, follow a thread, or take anything away. It is the lightest thing on the agenda and reliably the part attendees mention in the feedback form.

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Conference magician Josh Weidner hosting an evening program from the stage
The Full Evening

Event Hosting

Josh can run the evening as host: opening it, moving between awards and announcements, covering the gaps while people find seats, and keeping a long agenda honest. Your team gets to attend the reception instead of running it from the back wall.

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See what past clients say

★★★★★

"We had Josh perform at our office/lab grand opening and he killed it. He captivated the crowd, had them involved and laughing, and entertained well beyond my hopes. This is the guy you want to hire."

Matthew Chaidez · Shimadzu Scientific Instruments
★★★★★

"We had Josh for our Holiday party in January. He was very entertaining. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed him. He did strolling magic during happy hour and a show after dinner. Not sure which we enjoyed more."

Lisa Debo · Argos Family Office
Corporate magician Josh Weidner revealing a written prediction on stage with a volunteer
Guests laughing at their tables during a black-tie gala
A packed crowd reacting during a comedy magic show
A donor raising her paddle during a fundraising gala
Guests reacting to close-up strolling magic at a company event
Guests seated at round tables watching a corporate holiday party magic show

The Slot

Where a magician fits in a conference agenda

The welcome reception is the most common slot and the easiest win. Attendees arrive knowing almost nobody, name badges do very little, and the room either warms up in the first twenty minutes or never does. Close-up magic gives people something to react to together, which is a far shorter route to a conversation than asking them to introduce themselves.

The second slot is the evening dinner or awards night, where a stage show carries the part of the program that is not presentations. The third is the exhibit floor, where close-up magic is used to hold traffic rather than entertain a seated room. Each one asks for a different pace, and the set is built for the slot rather than dropped in whole.

The Room

Why conference audiences are a harder room than they look

A conference audience has spent the day being presented at. They are polite, they are tired, and they have a very low tolerance for anything that feels like more content. An act that opens by asking the room to focus has already lost it.

The work is built the other way round. It starts small and close, it lets people opt in at their own pace, and it never requires anyone to have followed something earlier. That is why it survives day two, which is the day most entertainment bookings quietly fail.

The Program

Multi-day conferences and repeat audiences

On a multi-day program the same people are in the room more than once, which rules out running the same material twice. Josh changes the set between evenings so an attendee who comes to both gets two different nights, and the close-up work is different by nature because it is built around whoever is standing there.

Where a conference runs alongside an exhibit hall, the booth work and the evening show are planned together so the same faces are not seeing the same routine twice in one day.

Quick facts about booking a conference magician

Lead time2 to 4 months for most dates; longer for spring and autumn conference season.
Show lengthStage show 20 to 45 minutes; reception magic typically 1 to 3 hours.
InsuranceProfessional liability coverage; Certificate of Insurance on request, usually same day.
CoveragePerforming nationwide, single evenings through multi-day programs.

Is This The Right Page?

Who this conference magician page is for

This page is written for the person building a conference agenda who has the evening slots left to fill and knows that is where the programme usually goes flat. If you are booking for an association meeting, an annual conference, a user conference, or an exhibitor night, this is the right place. If your event is a company party or a gala rather than a conference, the corporate magician page covers that better.

Common questions about booking a conference magician

How much does it cost to hire a magician for a conference?+
Most conference bookings run $2,500 to $5,000. Where a date lands depends on the format, the attendee count, and how long Josh is on. Multi-day programs with more than one evening sit toward the upper end. The fee covers the performance, the planning calls, liability insurance, and material built around your organization.
Which slot works best, the reception or the dinner?+
The reception, if you only book one. It is the moment attendees know nobody and the room is most likely to stay flat. A dinner audience is already seated and already talking, so the stage show there is a bonus rather than a rescue. Most conferences that book both put strolling in the reception and the show after dinner.
Our attendees are exhausted by the evening. Will they engage?+
That is the room this is built for. Nobody has to concentrate, follow a narrative, or retain anything. The close-up work meets people where they are standing and the stage show is the lightest thing on the schedule that day.
Can you perform on the exhibit floor as well as at the evening event?+
Yes, and a lot of conferences book it that way. The booth work is a different job to the evening show, so the material is different, which also means an attendee who sees both does not watch the same routine twice.
Do you work multi-day conferences?+
Yes. Josh changes the set between evenings so repeat attendees get a different night each time. Where there is an exhibit hall as well, the floor work and the evening show are planned together.
Can the show reference our organization or theme?+
Yes, and it is most of what makes it land. Josh folds in the organization, the theme, the sponsors, and the running jokes the room has built over the week. That comes out of the planning call, so the more context you share, the more of it ends up in the show.
What size group does the show work for?+
Anywhere from a breakout room of 20 to a ballroom of 1000. Large rooms need staging and screens so the back tables see the same show as the front.
What if some attendees do not want to participate?+
You're not really hiring a magician. You're hiring someone whose job is getting your attendees interacting and enjoying themselves. Nobody is embarrassed, and nobody is pulled up in front of the room who isn't comfortable being there. The people who would rather watch have just as good a night.
Is the material clean enough for an association crowd?+
Yes. The whole act is built clean for a mixed professional room. The comedy comes from the magic and the people who volunteer, never from putting an attendee on the spot.
What do you need for setup and sound?+
Reception magic needs nothing but room to move. The stage show wants a performance area, a wireless headset mic, a handheld mic for volunteers, and a sound system the whole room can hear, plus about an hour before doors. Josh sends a full tech rider once the date is booked.
Do you carry insurance and provide a Certificate of Insurance?+
Yes. Most conference venues require a Certificate of Insurance before a performer is allowed on site. Josh carries liability coverage and provides a COI on request, usually the same day.
Do you travel for conferences?+
Yes. Josh performs nationwide, so a conference that moves city to city each year can keep the same entertainment. The quote is all-in before anything is signed.

Let's Talk

Want to book a conference magician for your next program?

Send the dates and where the entertainment sits in the agenda, and Josh will follow up personally to check availability and see if it's a fit.

Check Availability

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