All Set for F1 Night Race 2019 with Dunhill Century Launch Party

Last week, I was sent a bottle of Dunhill Century Fragrance and a request to perform at an F1 Party at the Grand Hyatt. This was a collaboration and celebration of the start of F1 and the launch of this fragrance for the modern man.

Perfect!

The bottle itself is inspired by a dice, and it embodies the sleekness and simplicity of the modern day gentleman. I designed a series of magic revolving around dice and shared them with the crowd.

It was a wonderful event with guests who were there to let loose in anticipation for the F1 weekend!

I hope you have a great time at F1 too!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He occasionally enjoys the smell of burning asphalt by the fast cars in F1

For any enquiries, do contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

Directing The Greatest Show with P&G Management Team

The challenge of directing a magic show for a management team extends more than just trying to teach the leaders how to execute the magic tricks.

To direct and craft a show requires in-depth knowledge of theatre, lighting and psychology. My team and I were tasked to craft a magic show casting the P&G management team.

Using the mood board given to us, “The Greatest Show(man)”, we crafted 5 acts for the management team and with the finale of their boss appearing.

The crash course on magic and performance took a span of 2 weeks, lesser time than we were comfortable with, but it worked out very well because these leaders really put their heart into the rehearsals.

Also, coupled with the fact that my team and I had the hands on experience of teaching management teams to performance magic (Senior Management Team from WIS, NTU SPMS Professors); all processes were streamlined and efficient.

It was a tremendously amazing process watching non-magicians perform feats of magic so well. They were indeed a part of The Greatest Show!

Here is a snippet of the finale!

Do you want to have something different, special and meaningful for your next corporate event?

With our operational expertise and experience, we can make that happen! Speak to us! We will be happy to discuss more!

Email me at:

alexander@ipadmagician.org

Signing off!

Alexander Y

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He enjoys watching artsy movies, his favorite directors include, Christopher Nolan, Spike Jonze, Michael Gondry.

For any enquiries, do contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

Egypt: iPad Magician in the Middle East

A land of mystic and magic, Egypt. The place where fallen kings are mummified and kept in tombs where they believe in the afterlife. Filled with 3000 years of culture and richness, Egypt houses one of the 7 Wonders of the world. 

That sounds like something you'd see on a travel catalog, doesn't it? But in March, the iPad Magic Team and I were flown all the way from Singapore to Egypt to witness the magic of Egypt. Actually we were flown to perform at a Technology Conference called Connect HYPE 2018. There were partners from the Middle East at the event including Cisco (Which you might remember that I was performing there 2 years ago for their event in Saudi Arabia. Read more about it here!)

We were housed in the lovely Kempinski Soma Bay hotel in Hurghada, It was a wonderful place next to the Red Sea. We had the time to swim inside the Red Sea and did other tourist things. But it was not all play as we had a show to deliver, and deliver we did!
 

On top of my regular iPad Stage Illusions, I crafted a customized performance for Connect to showcase their digital and online technology. The whole coding process of a customized performance took about 15 hours, and you can see it below:

Though the effort was immense, it was well worth it. The performance was well received, the client loved how we showcased their technical know-hows and their services. 

After the performance, we went to tour Egypt, seeing the Great Pyramids of Giza. the Sphinx and even the Valley of the Kings. 

Check out a short video here on the various sights and sounds of Egypt:

I hope you enjoyed the video because we certainly enjoyed showcasing our magic to the middle east and in Egypt!

Can't wait to be back!

Signing Off 

Alexander Y 

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He love the Sphinx and how it the word rolls off his tongue. SPHINX

Want to book Alexander at your international event? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

A MAGIC PLATEAU: TAKING A DIFFERENT STEP IN THE SAME DIRECTION

At some point in time, we all face burnouts in our career. It would feel like we have hit a point where things start to get stagnant; you come in to work, reply emails, send emails, wait for emails, craft proposals and then send more emails. This happens in all jobs, including mine. 

While the cycle for me to feel burnout is substantially longer, the last time I felt a burn out was in 2014, every time that it does hit me, I would take a step back to think, "What can I do differently, that will push me towards the end goal?". This question is important for me as an artist and a self employed entrepreneur. I cannot allow myself to detract too far from my artistic goals. The most common solution to a burnout is to take a long vacation, and that, I do not have the luxury of. 

In order to take a step back from the daily grind, (my routine largely consist of overdosing myself with coffee, replying a ton of emails, crafting a ton of proposals (in which most would be ignored or stolen by competition), coding my iPad Magic Apps (most of the time I am just pulling my hair trying to figure out that ONE thing) and the occasional meetings where I do enjoy), I had to make myself fall in love with the craft of magic again. 

I took on small directorial roles in creating magic shows. Last year, I designed a show consisting of 3 Magicians who performs together like a boyband: The Strangers. This show took over 8 months in terms of conceptualization, casting, rehearsing and troubleshooting. We had been very lucky to get the support of a large number of past clients and events partners for our show. 

While it is easier to coach and design a show for a team who sees you as their mentor, there were challenges to be faced. Overcoming these challenges prepared me for a project that I undertook in late 2017 [Cue Suspenseful Music]:

I took on a project to design and direct a magic show that cast the BOARD OF DIRECTORS of a company. 

I knew this was not going to be an easy feat since it would be different coaching a cast who were used to telling others what to do. Also, their interest in magic might not be as strong as the students under my wing. Another thing that hinted me that this was not going to be an easy task, was the fact that the main client (one of the director of the company), lamented that many other magicians had turned down this challenge (or opportunity).

The whole process began in November and the performance was to be in February. One of the challenges we faced was to find a suitable timing for rehearsal, since all of them have to allocate time outside of work for this, coming to a common time was tedious. Thankful, we were able to settle on a common regular timing. 

We utilized our studio space for our weekly rehearsals. With the help of my fellow trainers, the learning of the magic was one of the easiest part of the process. 

One of the biggest challenge we faced was to impart theatre techniques to them. Given that they were not in the performing arts, they were not well versed with movement, space and vocal effects. As a director, I had to balance between the drilling of these techniques while bearing in mind the limited time span and their capacity. At the end, everyone did exceptionally well and the show was very well received by their colleagues (If you don't believe me, see the video towards the end).

It was a tremendous joy to see the cast grow from shy individuals to charismatic performers on stage. Such skills are transferable to their careers when they are to do presentations or to meet clients. 

Here is one of the pieces performed that day which incorporates elements of their company's core values and magic:

Taking on this project also taught me the patience and given me the learning experience in crafting meaningful magic. Imparting performance skills to them, sharpened my own. They say that the best way to learn, is to teach; and that is definitely true.

Here is one of my favorite pieces of the show as it serves to inspire the audiences, motivate them to overcome adversity:

So to all that are feeling a little bit unmotivated at work, try something new, try something different. It might be harder at first, but at the end of the day, you will enjoy it!

After the event, we had a strong commendation letter from our client:

Hi, Alexander and Kim,

Sincerely, and on behalf of my colleagues, I thank Metaillusions team for the relentless coaching throughout the months of preparation.

It was a journey travelled with much challenges & frustrations at times from conceptualising to learning to the final moments, as we have members dropping out, we neglect and only to catch up with the practices at the 11th hour etc, and I witnessed how you and your team bore with us during this period and never stopped giving reminders again and again, only to make sure we succeed.

Thank you, Alexander, for the efforts in studying our personalities and customising the roles for us, I am impressed by this segment of the entire process.

There were a couple of genuine miscommunication and misunderstandings which I so appreciate our resolving them together.

Thank you, Kim, for patient guidance despite our constant forgetting of the lines and theatrical techniques.

There were just so many of us with different gaps during the training sessions, I really don’t know how you did it, but you did it.

Thank you, Anderson, Yuqi & Douglas for accommodating our rehearsal, and seeing to stage preparation.

Not easy, but you all made it work.

I am not sure if you still remember I once shared with you that another company actually gave us up after understanding our performing needs and diversified profiles.  Metaillusions took up this mission (which I thought was almost impossible) and made it a success.  Besides the concrete leadership, Metaillusions has a great team.  The young men are disciplined, humble and embrace accountability; as a HR practitioner it has been a long time since I last encountered such professional young generation from this new era.

Honestly, there were some slips during the actual performance, and I personally wished it could be better.  But well that was the best we ever could be at that very moment and I am 100% sure my team gave it all.

So once again, thank you, gentlemen.  On a personal capacity, you helped me see the other side and real side of magic, just like how the sun rises in the morning which is one magical moment that we all take for granted.  Indeed I appreciate magic is all around us so long we can see it.

Metaillusions, you create magic!

Here's wishing Metaillusions a fabulous 2018 & beyond!

Regards

Director, Corporate Services

Woohoo, and very touched!

Watch how the pieces are seamlessly and beautifully crafted into a performance, here!

Keen to learn magic? Want to have a show designed for your company's special night? Or even incorporating magic into your presentations? Look for the professionals, drop us a line!

HERE!

Signing Off 

Alexander Y 

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He enjoys watching artsy movies, his favorite directors include, Christopher Nolan, Spike Jonze, Michael Gondry.

For any enquiries, do contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

DHL'S 45TH ANNIVERSARY IN SINGAPORE: DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND MAGIC

It was delightful for me to perform for DHL's 45th Anniversary Singapore on the 24th October 2017 because I have always looked up to DHL as an innovative company that is eager to push the boundaries of technology to make processes and lives better.

My first working encounter with DHL was in the December 2015 where I was commissioned to craft and produce a digital magic act to launch their innovation center. Read the article here!

Moving forward to 2 years on, it brought me great pleasure to be back at their 45th Anniversary celebration, at JW Marriott Singapore.

I started the night with my iPad Roving Magic where I engage the audiences with my visually captivating iPad Magic. The audiences were enthralled as, for most of them, this is the first time they have experienced digital iPad Magic.

After the cocktail reception, I had to get ready for the iPad Illusion Show on stage. This show was tremendously well received as it embraced the company's vision of being technologically driven. 

Apart from my segment, the night was laced with technological artifacts like an interactive robot and a presentation on Drones.

Happy 45th Birthday DHL Singapore!

Signing off,

Alexander Y (Asia's Top iPad Magician) 

LUXURY TIME PIECE: ROGER DUBUIS X PIRELLI WATCH LAUNCH

Imagine the heat of the F1 race combined with the timeless charm of a luxurious time piece, what do you get?

Roger Dubuis x Pirelli gives you a hint of that. Using the Pirelli tyres of the winning F1 car, Roger Dubuis crafted the finest combination of adventure and elegance.

I was invited on both occasions to showcase the watch in a novel way that would intrigue the guests and tempt them to have a hands on experience with it. Telling the story of how the winning tyres were used in the crafting of the watch, I made the watch appear out of the IPad.

Alongside with this customized magic, I performed my other magic on the iPad as well as the night progressed.

The best part of this launch was that I was able to use my magic to effectively tell and curate the brand's story through the iPad. Doing that allows the guests to remember the brand and giving it a personality.

How would you tell a brand story?

Signing off,

Alexander Y

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India! He is often sought after by clients who value the finer things in life. Booked by luxury brands all over the world, he is the choice of luxury entertainment.

For any enquiries, do contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

Customized iPad Magic Showcase: Sky Premium

A challenge that most marketeers face is that they run out of ideas to showcase a non-tangible product. For example, how do you showcase security? (See here!) How do you showcase a concierge service (read below!)

When I was consulted to design a sequence for Sky Premium, I too had some difficulties in trying to bring forth the ideas to life. Hence instead of focusing on what the company can do, I focused more on what their clients will experience. 

The four pillars of their services pertains to:

1. Travel
2. Wine and Dine
3. Shopping
4. Wellness

With this in mind, I brainstormed activities that are most associated with these pillars. Next I thought about the type of magic that would be most appropriate for this. 

A specific request the client wanted was to connect my act to the next segment where the emcee would talk about the "Key" to "The Good Life". Bearing that in mind, I had to end with that tagline so that my act can segway seamlessly into the next. 

Enjoy the good life and check out the end result below!

Living the Good Life,

Alexander Y (Asia's Top iPad Magician)

Want to showcase your intangible services?

Hit me up: alexander@ipadmagician.org