Trade Show Magician | Josh Weidner
A booth magnet that stops foot traffic, gathers a crowd, and hands warm leads to your sales team.
Need to drive traffic to your trade show booth?
An empty booth is a wasted booth fee.
The problem on a trade show floor is not the pitch, it is getting attendees to slow down long enough to hear it.
Josh Weidner is a trade show magician who turns a busy aisle into a crowd at your booth: close-up magic that stops people walking past, holds them through a short routine, and warms them up so your sales team can step in and talk.
He works your product, your message, and your call to action into the act, so the entertainment doubles as a lead generator. Send the booth details through the form and Josh will follow up personally.
Check trade show magician Josh Weidner’s availability below!
See Josh in Action
How a Trade Show Magician Earns His Keep
It draws the crowd
Close-up magic stops attendees who would have walked right past, gathers them into a group, and a crowd draws a bigger crowd. Your booth goes from quiet to the busy one on the aisle.
It hands your team warm leads
Josh holds the crowd through a tight routine and hands them to your reps already smiling, far easier to start a conversation with than someone you flagged down. Your team spends the day talking to people instead of waving them over.
It carries your message
Josh writes your product, your launch, or your tagline into the magic, so the moment people remember is tied to your brand, not just a card trick. The hook is yours.
What Clients Say After Working With Josh
"We had wonderful experience with Josh at our corporate holiday party. He brought clean, magical fun to our event and everyone loved it. I highly recommend Josh and we will definitely use him again."
Troy Squires, American Family Insurance
"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."
Matthew Chaidez, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments
Common Questions About Booking a Trade Show Magician
How much does a trade show magician cost?
Most trade-show bookings run $2,500 to $5,000 for a day of timed sets on the floor, depending on the hours, how hard you want the booth drawing, and travel. Local Midwest dates sit lower since Josh drives in from St Louis; out-of-region expos that need flights run higher. Multi-day shows are quoted per day. The fee covers the performance, the planning call, liability insurance, and the routine built around your product.
How does it actually drive booth traffic and leads?
Close-up magic stops attendees who would have walked by, gathers them into a crowd, and a crowd draws a bigger crowd. Josh holds them through a short routine that ends on your product or call to action, then hands them to your reps warmed up and easy to talk to. The booth goes from quiet to the busy one on the aisle, and your team spends the day in conversations instead of flagging people down.
Can you work our product or message into the act?
Yes, and it is the whole point of booking magic at a booth instead of a juggler. Josh works your product, your launch, your tagline, or a key feature into the routine so the moment people remember is tied to your brand. The planning call is where that gets built.
How does scheduling work on the show floor?
Josh runs timed sets across show hours, a few minutes on, a short reset, then again, so the booth keeps pulling crowds all day without wearing out your team or the audience. The cadence is set with you based on your floor hours and goals.
What do you need at the booth?
Very little. Josh needs a few feet of space at or near the booth where a small crowd can gather without blocking the aisle. No stage required. On a loud floor, a lapel mic and a small speaker help draw bigger crowds, and Josh will tell you if your booth needs it.
How do you hand leads to our team?
The handoff is built into the routine. The set ends with attendees facing your reps and a natural reason to talk, and Josh can fold in a badge scan, a giveaway, or a sign-up as the next step. However your team captures leads, the magic feeds into it instead of competing with it.
Do you travel for trade shows?
Yes. Josh is based in St Louis and works shows nationwide. Drive-distance Midwest dates skip flights and price lower; expos farther out are quoted to cover travel and lodging. The quote is all-in before anything is signed.
How far in advance should we book?
Big expos book months out, as soon as you have your booth, since the best show dates fill early. Most other dates book six to twelve weeks ahead. If your show is sooner, it is still worth asking, since openings come up.
Do you carry insurance and provide a Certificate of Insurance?
Yes. Convention centers almost always require a Certificate of Insurance before a performer is allowed on the floor. Josh carries professional liability insurance and provides a COI on request, usually same day.
What should the booking contract include?
Josh sends a written agreement after the planning call covering arrival time, the hours on the floor, the total fee, and the deposit. Clear terms up front mean no surprises on show day.
Where a Trade Show Magician Fits
A trade show magician works anywhere exhibitors are competing for attention. Expo and convention floors are the core, where close-up magic turns a quiet booth into the busy one. Product launches and dealer shows use it to draw a crowd to a reveal. Franchise and partner conventions book it to keep traffic moving to a sponsor booth. Industry conferences with an exhibit hall use it to pull attendees off the session schedule and onto the floor. Anywhere a booth fee is on the line and foot traffic is the goal, the magic earns it back.
Why Exhibitors Pay Professional Rates for a Trade Show Magician
A booth at a major show costs more than the entertainment by a wide margin, and an empty booth wastes every dollar of it. The job of a trade-show magician is not to be cute, it is to make the booth fee pay off by filling the space with qualified attendees your team can actually talk to. The fee is a fraction of the booth, and a fraction of the staff hours otherwise spent standing in an empty aisle.
Most full-time trade-show magicians sit between $2,500 and $5,000 a day because the work behind it costs money to keep up: insurance, gear, a routine written around your product, and the floor experience to draw and hold a crowd without blocking the aisle or annoying the show. A quote far under that usually means a part-timer, or a number that climbs once the contract appears.
Josh trained the slow way, including time as a member of the Academy of Magical Arts at Hollywood's Magic Castle, and has spent close to two decades working corporate floors and rooms. That is what turns a booth into the busy one.
Quick Facts About Booking a Trade Show Magician
Pricing: $2,500 to $5,000 for a day of timed sets; multi-day expos quoted per day. Local dates land $2,500 to $4,000.
Format: short timed sets repeated across show hours to keep the booth drawing all day.
Setup: minimal. A few feet of space at the booth; a lapel mic and small speaker help on a loud floor.
Lead handoff: the set ends facing your reps; Josh can fold in a badge scan, giveaway, or sign-up as the next step.
Insurance and coverage: COI on request; based in St Louis, performs nationwide, drive-distance Midwest dates skip flight surcharges.
Who This Page Is For
This is for exhibitors and marketing teams paying for booth space who need it to pay off: trade shows, expos, conventions, product launches, and dealer or franchise shows. It is built to drive booth traffic and feed leads to a sales team, not to entertain a consumer crowd or a kids' event. If you have a booth and an empty aisle in front of it, you are in the right place.
Explore More
Find Josh in your city or browse by event type.
Ready to make your booth the busiest one on the floor?
Send Josh the details and he'll follow up personally to check availability and see if it's a fit.
Check Availability