On the first night of The New Yorker's annual New Yorker Festival last weekend, the magazine entertained advertisers and sponsors at a private dinner for 130 in the Metropolitan Pavilion hosted by publisher Louis Cona. Awash in soft hues of bold colors (some yellows and oranges) and furnished with transparent chairs and tabletops, the affair made a strong visual statement with the combination of a no-frills design and vivid visuals. The New Yorker's special events director, Melissa Meyer, worked with EventQuest to produce the dinner.

The most striking component was a projection, a colorful backdrop that covered an entire wall. Created in-house at EventQuest, the graphics (which included drawings of a dinosaur, a guitar, and a dressmaker's dummy) represented the festival's diverse content, from the talks and musical performances to panels on topics like costume design.

More pops of color showed up in the bases of the tables (essentially illuminated cubes topped with squares of glass), in the tinted stemware, and in the fabric of the napkins. Short and simple arrangements of tulips, roses, and calla lilies in pales shades of amber and pink sat atop the tables, lending a softer feel to the room.

To develop the night's menu, the magazine turned to Laurent Tourondel, the chef behind the rapidly expanding chain of modern American eateries including BLT Steak and BLT Market. Taste worked with Tourondel to execute the fare for cocktails and dinner, which included ginger lobster rolls with a soy lime dressing, hamachi ceviche, peppercorn-crusted Kobe beef, and peanut butter chocolate mousse.