‘John Hotowka brings the magic… …’
Hotowka is pronounced ‘Hot~Ow~Ka‘.
John is a fellow of the Professional Speakers Association and a member of the Magic Circle. He’s been entertaining and speaking to corporate audiences since 1989 and has an uncanny knack of simplifying a complex message and communicating it with magic, comedy and stories. The variety and humour in his presentations, has acknowledged John as being one of the best and, above all, entertaining and magical after dinner and conference speakers on the circuit.
Despite the fact he hasn’t won an Olympic gold medal or climbed the South face of Mount Everest in a pedalo the boy has ‘done’ good.
His parents were honest and proud hard working immigrants. His father was Polish, his mother Italian and you should taste his Ozór Wołowy Bolognese (on second thoughts, maybe not). After making many sacrifices they managed to send him to grammar school. Next stop Bradford College to study dispensing optics. It was here he took up magic. Why? To meet girls! Little did he know how big a part magic would play in his life. It wasn’t long before the magic bug bit deep and when he left college to work as a dispensing optician, performing magic was always close to his heart.
For eight years he was an optician by day and magician by night performing close up magic to the diners in the restaurants of his home town Bradford. He was one of the first close up magicians to perform restaurant magic in Europe and even lectured to magical societies on the subject. Having been made redundant from optics three times in the space of eight years, he decided to take up magic full-time and become a corporate magician.
Since 1989 he’s travelled the world from Manchester to Milan, Derby to Dubai, Hull to Hamburg and from York to New York performing his magic at corporate events, product launches and exhibitions - selling his clients’ products and services. He’s never sold snow to the Eskimos but did sell almost everything else his favourites include industrial heat exchangers, caravan chassis, greeting cards, commercial vehicle contract hire, lead aprons (don’t ask) and sewing thread.
Even though he was exhibiting at almost 20 shows per year at one point, he chose to evolve into a conference and business speaker. As for the close up magic (his first love), at dinners to give his clients extra value you’ll still catch him performing and having fun at the tables before he stands up to speak.
John has successfully flourished as a “mono-preneur”. (Mono-preneur - Noun - Someone who has one basic skill and has used it in many different and diverse ways). He’s survived business using his instinct, cunning, creativity, determination and common sense.
He’s a man who loves his work and the variety it brings. He’s performed and presented in some unusual locations including, the top of the Berlin Telecom Tower, a container ship in the middle of the Atlantic for 12 people, travelling at speed on the Orient Express and is a member of THE MILE HIGH CARD TRICK CLUB (ie performing card tricks and ONLY card tricks on a Boeing 747 in mid flight).
Now he’s a sought after speaker on the corporate circuit, working with the likes of PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Hallmark Cards and Initial Specialist Services, to name but a few. He’s also a popular speaker in education helping young people develop entrepreneurial and life skills.
Throughout his career he’s learn a lot from the companies he’s worked with, faced many celebrations and challenges keeping his business thriving while keeping himself motivated through the highs and lows of this joyride which is called “life”.
