Entertainment ideas for a corporate event in Dubai: what works and what doesn't

Every week someone in Dubai is planning a corporate event and typing the same question into Google or ChatGPT: what entertainment should we book? I have spent close to thirty years on the other side of that question, first as a performer and now also running an entertainment agency in Dubai with a roster of more than 250 acts, so I see both what clients ask for and what their guests actually remember. This is an honest guide to corporate event entertainment in Dubai.

The corporate event formats you are probably planning

Corporate events in Dubai come in a handful of shapes, and the right entertainment depends on which one you have in front of you:

• Networking cocktails and industry mixers
• Gala dinners and awards nights
• Product launches and luxury brand activations
• Private gatherings for VIP clients or a board
• Team building days
• End of year staff parties, and the New Year's Eve programmes hotels put on for their guests

The event industry here is professional. Sound, lighting and production are rarely the problem. The problem is usually subtler: a lot of event entertainment is pleasant and completely forgettable.

The difference between pleasant and memorable entertainment

A live saxophonist over a cocktail hour, a DJ at the right volume, a string quartet while guests find their seats: all of these do a job. They set a mood. But ask a guest a week later what they remember from the evening and the answer is rarely the background music. Nothing happened to them.

Memorable entertainment is something that happens to the guest, not near the guest. That is the whole case for close-up magic at a corporate event. Most people, including very senior and very well travelled people, have never stood a metre away from a professional magician. The novelty alone guarantees attention, and the intimacy of the format turns attention into a story they tell for years: the evening someone's watch left their wrist without them noticing, or the card that ended up inside a sealed envelope they had been holding since the start.

Active content versus passive content on social media

At the agency we describe the social media value of an act in two ways: passive and active.

Passive content is what you get when guests film a performer. A band on stage, a famous DJ, a dancer. It is nice footage, but the guest is not in it. They are an audience.

Active content is when the guest is the protagonist. In close-up magic the camera is pointed at the person reacting, laughing, covering their mouth, grabbing a colleague's arm. That is the content that gets shared and that travels, because people share themselves. For a brand activation or a product launch, where the point of the budget is reach, this difference matters more than almost anything else on the entertainment list.

When a band or a DJ is the right call

I run an agency that books bands and DJs every week, so this is not an argument against them. They work brilliantly in two situations.

The first is when the audience is going to dance. A staff party after the speeches, a wedding, a New Year's Eve countdown: a great band or a great DJ is the whole evening, and nothing replaces them.

The second is when the name is the draw. If the DJ is someone your guests would buy a ticket to see, people come for the music and stay for the music. In the reality of corporate events in Dubai, that is rare. More often the band plays to a room that is talking, and the music becomes expensive background.

The honest question to ask is: will my guests be dancing, or will they be talking? If they will be talking, book entertainment that works at conversation volume.

Why close-up magic suits networking events in particular

This is the point most planners underestimate. At a networking event guests do not know each other, and the real purpose of the evening is that they should leave knowing each other. Close-up magic is one of the few forms of entertainment that actively does that job.

I will bring two or three small groups of strangers together around one effect, give them five or six minutes of something they experience side by side, and then leave them. They now have a shared story, a reason to keep talking, and a natural opening with the people next to them. Then I move on and do the same with the next group. The magic is the excuse; the conversation that follows is what the client paid for.

A note on pickpocketing at corporate events

Pickpocketing is part of my act and, as far as I know, I am the only pickpocket performer based in the Middle East. In a corporate room it has to be handled with care, which is why experience matters. There is a thin line between a guest being delighted that their watch reappeared and a guest feeling exposed, and reading the room correctly is the job.

A few years ago I performed for a head of state on a visit to the Gulf. I was told I could not touch him, and I knew he had seen my act before but never the pickpocketing. The only person I was allowed to engage was his security officer. By the end of the set the officer's watch, car keys, phone and wallet were on the table in front of the president, who was delighted. The point is not the trick; the point is knowing exactly who the "victim" can be, and making sure everyone, including the victim, enjoys it.

The practical questions event planners ask

How long, and how many guests can one magician cover? It depends on the number of guests and the flow of the evening, and the best thing you can do is ask the performer when their interventions should happen, rather than fixing a slot in advance. As a guide:

• Under 25 guests: a single close-up parlour session where everyone watches together works beautifully.
• 25 to 30 guests: roaming between groups, around 75 minutes at a relaxed pace.
• Up to 60 guests: 90 minutes, or up to two hours if we want every table covered without rushing.
• Working at pace, the maximum realistic coverage is 60 to 70 guests per hour, depending on whether people are seated or standing, and whether they already know each other.

What does it need? Nothing. No stage, no sound, no lighting, no rehearsal with the venue. It works in a ballroom, on a yacht, in a villa or in a boardroom.

Can it share the evening with a band or a DJ? Yes, and it usually should. Close-up magic owns the reception and the time between courses; the band owns the dance floor later. They do not compete.

Permits? Entertainment in Dubai requires a permit, which a professional performer or agency arranges as part of the booking. If someone cannot answer that question quickly, that tells you something.

The short version

If your guests will dance, book the band. If your guests will talk, book something that happens to them at conversation volume. And if the evening is about people meeting people, book the thing that gives strangers a reason to start a conversation.

I am a Dubai based close-up magician, pickpocket and mentalist, Associate of the Inner Magic Circle, The Magic Circle's highest degree awarded by examination, and I have performed in more than 50 countries for royal families, heads of state, celebrities and luxury brands. If you are planning a corporate event in Dubai and want to talk through the format, I am happy to: felipemagic.com/dubai.