Chicago Trends and Ideas for Food Preparation, Décor and Rentals, Event Inspiration, Business Entertaining, Gift Planning and Launch Parties in Chicago by BizBash

Chicago Event Planners for Trendy New Releases, Styles, Fashion and Display

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Trends & Ideas GIFT IDEAS What to Give Budding Wine Snobs 7 Noteworthy Pad-and-Pen Sets for Meetings A Gift to Motivate Staffers Planners' Picks From the New York International Gift Fair   FOOD AND DRINK IDEAS Rosenthal Group Launches Eco-Friendly In-Office Catering Option Boka Partners' New Catering Division Catering Company Focuses on Local, Sustainable Ingredients Afternoon Delights: 5 Springtime Lunch Entrees Health-Conscious Cookies   DECOR AND RENTAL IDEAS A New Source for Natural, Unfussy Flowers A New Take on Fancy Draping An Iconic Modern Chair, Now for Rent 10 Fancy Forks 10 Innovative Lighting Ideas   BUSINESS ENTERTAINING What Are Some Crafty Takes on Teambuilding? 5 Cutting-Edge Performers     ASK BIZBASH    11.16.09 8:00 AM How Do You Make Staffers Feel Appreciated—at Little or No Cost? Leo Burnett's employee art gallery Photo: Courtesy of Leo Burnett In a year of cutbacks and salary freezes, perhaps now more than ever, hard-working employees need to feel valued, even in small ways. Jennifer Savica, TD Bank’s vice president of event management, rewards her staff with little perks throughout the year, like taking everyone out for ice cream in the summer, treating people to their favorite drinks at Starbucks on a cold day, and occasionally allowing casual Fridays. “I try to show appreciation for my team every day by creating a true democracy—asking their opinions, including them in many of the department decisions, and empowering them to do their job,” she says. Boston Beer Company has a gift policy that prevents employees from keeping items valued over $10 given to them by clients and event sponsors. “If someone gets something over that amount, we raffle it off to the office as a thank you,” says Kristen Smith, the company’s travel and event planner. Past items have included tickets to charity events the company has sponsored, movie screenings, and Red Sox tickets. “It’s nice to raffle these things off and make them available to anyone—and at no cost to the company,” says Smith. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Leo Burnett, Publix, TD Bank, Boston Beer Company, Warner Brothers TREND SPOTTED    11.11.09 9:00 AM More Tabletop Trends From Diffa: Outdoorsy Settings, Asian Designs, Homey Interiors Stephanie Wohlner Design's table at Diffa's Dining by Design benefit Photo: Barry Brecheisen for BizBash At this year's Dining by Design benefit at the Merchandise Mart, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS presented 42 professionally decorated dining environments. Along with the animal-inspired decor and dark, moody hues that we mentioned in our full report on the fund-raiser, the dining environments displayed a few other notable design trends. Here's a look at tables with outdoorsy settings, homey decor, and Asian details. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Diffa Dining by Design, Diffa THE SCOUT    11.11.09 8:00 AM Creating a Video Lounge That Surrounds Guests With a Message Event Creative's video lounge Photo: David Wittig & Nancy Beale Event Creative's new video lounge creates a sleek, branded environment for events. The company hangs plexiglass panels from a truss structure that can be adapted to suit a venue's scale. The plexiglass surfaces serve as a canvas for projections of images made by the company to depict anything from new products to a corporate logo or photos of employees. Additional plexiglass walls can be added to partially enclose a space or form a lounge area, which Event Creative can fill with loveseats, benches, ottomans, and customized pillows. Event Creative can also provide atmospheric lighting and stock images of waving grass, fire, or waves, and the setup can incorporate fabric panels or decorative elements such as hanging chains or strands of sequins. Pricing for the lounge begins at $5,000, and the company prefers a three- to four-week lead time.   —Jenny Berg THE SCOUT    11.09.09 1:33 PM 8 Tabletop Looks From ISES's Design Competition Designs from the ISES tabletop competition Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash FROM NEW YORK On Friday evening, eight designers participated in the metro New York chapter of the International Special Events Society's 2009 tabletop design competition, held at La.Venue as part of the three-day "Cook. Eat. Drink. Live." expo. Members of the events industry including internal planners and owners of design and planning firms (as well as this editor) gathered to judge the tables, which were created with rental items from Broadway Party Rentals. Because the designers did not have to follow a theme, the looks ran the gamut from a sparkly winter-inspired setting by Marc Wilson Design to a table draped with woven palm fronds by Flora New York. Neuman's was awarded two round-trip airline tickets from Delta Airlines for the winning entry, a cornucopia-style design with a bounty of fresh produce, mossy accents, and an earthy color scheme. Blade Floral and Event Designs took home the second place award, and Floral Icon Events won third place. Here's a closer look at all of the participants. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS International Special Events Society TREND SPOTTED    11.09.09 8:00 AM A New Spin: 5 Cool DJ Booths A DJ station from the Bacardi B-Live music tour Photo: Rob Loud Photography MORE >> RELATED TOPICS DJ Booths, Bacardi, Target, Black Eyed Peas, Red Bull, Funny People, Luminato Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity, Armani FRESH FACE    11.04.09 9:00 AM Chicago Producer Looks to Keep Events as Eco-Friendly as Possible—Without Sacrificing Style Pivotal Production's Shannon Downey Photo: Candice C. Cusic After five years working in experiential marketing for Spalding Sports Worldwide and Jack Morton Worldwide, Shannon Downey packed it in—into a backpack, that is—and spent seven months traveling the world, visiting countries such as China, India, Egypt, and Spain. “It was one of those times in your life when you realize that you need to be doing something for the global good,” she says of her journey. Downey determined she would continue to work in events, but on her own terms. “I decided I should really be working for myself, and in a way that made sense to me,” she says. In 2007, Downey founded Pivotal Production, a full-service event design and production firm. Since its inception, Pivotal has designed trade show booths, produced exhibition openings at local art galleries, and handled logistics for events ranging from the Ravenswood ArtWalk to the Museum of Science and Industry’s Science Saturdays program, a yearlong series that invites the public on behind- the-scenes tours of venues such as Argonne National Laboratory. MORE >> THE SCOUT    11.02.09 8:00 AM 50 Budget-Friendly Ideas for Holiday Parties: Food, Gifts, Decor, and More MoMA's pop-up centerpiece Photo: Courtesy of MoMA Design Store 1-3. Skip cupcakes for a fresh, high-quality sheet cake. Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago makes spice cake with apples, brown sugar frosting, and streusel; a half-sheet for $130 feeds 45. Mäni’s Bakery in Los Angeles makes an organic carrot-raisin cake, which costs $160 for a half-sheet and serves 65. Miami’s Yummy Cakes and More can make its chocolate explosion cake, with a half-sheet (enough for 65 guests) starting at $65. 4. A low-tech, high-impact way to serve shots is to create your own ice shooters with Pure Modern's Cool Shooter shot mold, available for $12.95 each. 5-6. Forgo the frat-party look and stash cold drinks in a stylish ice tub, like one from Broadway Party Rentals in New York, which rents for $30 and up. Or, to dress up a plain bin and keep things cool, Classic Party Rentals provides the 6 Velon chilling wrap (prices vary). MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Corporate Holiday Parties, iStar Financial, Paul Wilmot Communications, The Economist THE SCOUT    10.26.09 8:00 AM Cort's New Line of Glowing LED Furniture Cort's Luna Lighting collection Photo: Courtesy of Cort Event Furnishings Cort Event Furnishings recently launched a new line of LED furniture called the Luna Lighting collection. Rental items include bars, bar-height tables, and pedestals that are lit from within by battery-operated LEDs that last up to eight hours. The lights come in eight colors (red, white, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and purple), and can be programmed to illuminate the pieces in a solid hue, or fade or flash from color to color. Brushed stainless steel tabletops and frames give the collection a polished look and help make the pieces sturdier. The modular design of the collection offers flexibility as well. The bar can be configured in circular, serpentine, or perpendicular shapes. Pedestals can be turned into tables with round or rectangular tabletops, and can also be connected to create glowing columns. The pieces are available throughout the U.S. and the company will deliver to Canada, depending on the size of the order. Prices range from $56 to $600.   —Lisa Cericola THE SCOUT    10.22.09 3:21 PM 6 New Products Spotted at the BizBash New York Expo Cloth Connection's new overlay Photo: BizBash FROM NEW YORK More than 200 exhibitors displayed a range of products and services for events at the BizBash Expo at the Javits Center on Wednesday. Here are some new items that caught our attention on the bustling trade show floor. 1. Cloth Connection just released a line of overlays called the Artistic Braided collection. The sparkly linens are available in an array of colors, including gold, silver, black, copper, red, turquoise, and purple. The linens are available throughout the U.S. and pricing varies, as the overlays are created to order. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Bizbash New York Expo THE SCOUT    10.19.09 8:00 AM New Company Offers Affordable Video for Events or Web Sites Video stills from Your Story Everywhere projects Photo: Your Story Everywhere Recently launched video production company Your Story Everywhere specializes in affordable minute-long films for Web sites, whether viral marketing campaigns or informative documentary-style pieces. The Columbus, Ohio-based company can also handle longer projects like tribute videos or footage for award shows, which are available on DVD. For short films, typically the time from shoot to finished video is approximately 14 days. The company sends clients periodic updates as a film is being edited so they can follow the video's progress and request changes. Unlike other video production companies, prices for projects are deteremined by the length of the video. A fully produced and edited 60-second video is $1,000, a 90-second video is $2,000, and a 120-second piece is $3,000. Longer videos are priced on request. Travel costs and a la carte options like high-definition cameras and motion graphics are additional.   —Lisa Cericola MORE NEWS Search for Suppliers Activities/Experiences Catering/Food Services Decor/Design/Flowers Entertainment Event Planning & Marketing/Meeting Planning/PR Event Production/Audiovisual Services Gifts/Premiums/Awards Industry Resources Invitations/Name Tags Photography/Videography Planning Tools/Software Rentals/Props Security/Fire Services/Insurance Signage/Banners/Printing Special Effects Staffing Trade Show Services Transportation/Parking Services Search for Venues By Type All Types Activity Venues Ballrooms (All Venues) Banquet Halls Bars/Clubs/Lounges Boats/Yachts Casinos Conference Centers, Convention Centers & Auditoriums Entertainment Venues/Performance Spaces Golf Courses/Clubs Hotels Independent Event Spaces Lofts/Photo Studios/Raw Spaces Mansions/Houses Movie Studios/Sound Stages Museums/Cultural Spaces Outdoor Spaces Private Clubs Quick Trips Religious Spaces Resorts Restaurants Retail Venues Spas/Relaxation Places Stadiums/Arenas Terraces/Roofs/Gardens (All Venues) By Neighborhood/Location All Neighborhoods West Town Andersonville Bronzeville Bucktown Chinatown Garfield Park Gold Coast Greektown Humboldt Park Hyde Park Lakeview Lincoln Park Lincoln Square Little Italy Logan Square Loop Magnificent Mile Old Town Pilsen Printer's Row Ravenswood River East River North River West Roscoe Village Rogers Park South Loop Streeterville Ukrainian Village Uptown West Loop Wicker Park Wrigleyville Evanston Lombard Naperville Oak Brook Oak Park Rosemont Schaumburg St. Charles Other Areas Show Only New Venues MOST POPULAR STORIES 1. Astronauts Greet, Galileo Tends Bar at Adler Planetarium's Celestial Ball 2. Fur Ball Offers Separate Amenities and Ticket Prices for Human and Canine Guests 3. 8 New Venues for Chicago Holiday Parties 4. Chicago Chefs Prepare Apple-Cider Bubbles, Whipped Salt Cod for Food & Wine Entertaining Showcase 5. New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves 6. Poll Results: Informal Nights Out Make Most Appropriate 2009 Holiday Parties 7. How Do You Make Staffers Feel Appreciated—at Little or No Cost? 8. MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute 9. 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