11 Jul Edgbaston Park Hotel Corporate Magic
An Edgbaston Park Hotel Corporate Day with NoBlue2
NoBlue2 booked the Close-Up Corner for an evening at Edgbaston Park Hotel. Here's how a 3-metre booth holds attention when other activities are competing for it.
Most of my corporate work comes through referral, and this booking is a clean example. One of NoBlue2's crew had been at a Christmas party where the Close-Up Corner made its debut - the UK's first dedicated close-up magic booth, three metres wide, the kind of setup nobody had really tried before. Months later, when NoBlue2 were planning their team day, they got in touch.
The brief was an evening at Edgbaston Park Hotel - a venue I've worked weddings at before, but never an outdoor team-building day spilling into evening drinks. Axe throwing, clay pigeon shooting, and a caricaturist were already booked. The Close-Up Corner had to slot in around all of that.
This post is about how the booth format earned its spot, what it actually looked like at 6pm when the day pivoted indoors, and why I think it's the right shape for any corporate close-up across Birmingham where there's already plenty competing for guests' attention.
A focal point, not a roaming act.
When other things compete for attention, the Close-Up Corner anchors the magic in one place.
The standard model is a magician walking the floor, table to table, group to group. It works at weddings and dinners where guests are seated and waiting for something to happen. It does not work as well at hybrid corporate days, where guests are pulled in five directions by activities that demand their hands and eyes.
The Close-Up Corner is the alternative. A 3-metre-wide branded booth that sits in the room and gives the magic its own anchored space. Guests choose when to drop in. There's no interruption, no ambush mid-conversation, no card trick squeezed between mouthfuls.
It also gives the reactions room to breathe. With everyone watching the same effect from the same angle, you get gasps, double-takes, and the occasional drink put down too fast. Reviewable on video, repeatable on the night, and the whole thing fits in a corner that would otherwise hold a buffet table.
Here's why a focal-point booth tends to win at days like NoBlue2's:
- Distraction-free zone - The booth has its own three-metre footprint. Guests come in to watch magic, not catch it sideways while doing something else.
- No unwanted ambush - Drop-in only. Nobody gets a card trick aimed at them mid-prawn cocktail.
- Maximum focal point - One stage, one performer, one shared moment. The reactions become part of the entertainment.
- Unfiltered reactions - Everyone's facing the same way. The faces are honest. The video is good.
If the format itself is the bit you want to dig into, there's a dedicated Close-Up Corner page with the full spec, photos and booking details.
A team day that ran into evening drinks.
Sun on the lawn, axe in the field, magic at 6pm.
Edgbaston Park Hotel sets itself up well for a hybrid day - lawns and grounds outside for activities, indoor function space for the evening. NoBlue2 had the full setup. The team spent the afternoon on axe throwing, clay pigeon shooting, and getting drawn by a caricaturist who's apparently very generous about people's best sides.
I got things going once the crowd had soaked up some sun and a bit of optimism from the bar. The Close-Up Corner opened at 6pm, slotted into the room as the activities outside started winding down. Guests wandered in and out between conversations, nobody felt cornered, and the laughter from the booth carried far enough that more people kept showing up to find out what was happening.
By the end of the night, plenty of business cards had been swapped, a few drinks had been spilled in shock at a card reveal, and NoBlue2 had a story they could tell on Monday morning that wasn't a quarterly KPI.
NoBlue2 came back a few months later and booked the Close-Up Corner again. That's the only review that really counts. If you're planning a hybrid corporate day where five things are competing for the room, a focal-point booth is the format that'll still be talked about on Monday.
Got a corporate day worth turning up for?
If you've got a corporate day, evening drinks, or any kind of hybrid event where attention is going in five directions at once - drop an enquiry. Reply back within hours, pricing PDF, and a real availability check for your date.
