BizBash Las Vegas News

Vegas Uncork'd by 'Bon Appetit' Breaks Attendance Records, Drawing 2,500 for Grand Tasting

]]> It's been years since Las Vegas firmly dispensed with its old reputation as the home of the greasy $0.99 steak-and-eggs brunch, but each new restaurant opening backed by a big-name chef—for instance that of Gordon Ramsay Steak last week—puts another nail in the coffin of that outmoded distinction. Further advancing the city's new reputation as a bona fide, world-class foodie destination is the annual Vegas Uncork'd by Bon Appétit magazine, which just wrapped after taking over town from May 10 through 13, offering an array of meals, tastings, and even a poker tournament.

The centerpiece of the program is the event's Grand Tasting, now in its sixth year, which set new attendance records. Selling out in advance for the first time, the event drew more than 2,500 people who took over the Garden of the Gods pool at Caesars Palace, tasting items from the town's most notable chefs and restaurants. Included were chefs from Bellagio, Caesars Palace, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and Mandalay Bay. Making his debut appearance, Ramsay offered his beef wellington and sticky toffee pudding. Guy Savoy, José Andrés, Hubert Keller, Nobu Matsuhisa, David Myers, Scott Conant, Michel Richard, Costas Spiliadis, Todd English, Rick Moonen, Charlie Palmer, Mary Sue Milliken, and Susan Feniger and others also prepared favorites from their Vegas eateries.

“I’m thrilled that we not only had the most people ever attend the Grand Tasting but we also had more restaurants participate than ever before—making this a bigger showcase for Las Vegas than in any other year,” Bon Appétit editor in chief Adam Rapoport said in a statement.

Vegas Uncork’d kicked off the weekend with Wolfgang Puck hosting an intimate lunch with Rapoport at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in celebration of Spago's 20th anniversary. And the four-day culinary programming wrapped on Sunday with Mother’s Day brunches from Charlie Palmer, Guy Savoy, and Rao’s.

Tiger Woods Foundation's "Tiger Jam" Pulls in $1 Million With Auctions, Poker, Golf, and Bon Jovi

]]> Fourteen years since kicking off, the "Tiger Jam" fund-raiser again took over the Las Vegas strip, bringing host Tiger Woods and big-names including Jon Bon Jovi and Friends and American Idol-winner David Cook to the stage. Held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, the sold-out concert and accompanying events raised approximately $1 million for programs of the Tiger Woods Foundation. The foundation's Michelle Bemis oversaw this past weekend's events with her team, working with Mandalay Bay vice president of entertainment Chris Baldizan and his staff, along with Angel City Designs, to produce an array of the program's auctions and parties.

Kicking off the weekend, V.I.P. guests came out to the Cascata Golf Club for a private exhibition with Woods followed by a round of golf. Next, guests competed at an exclusive night of poker, against some of the game’s biggest names, like Phil Hellmuth Jr., who M.C.'d the event and took second place; Ben Lamb, who finished fourth; and Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, who came in first. Proceeds from the Texas Hold ‘Em-style charity poker tournament went directly to the foundation's college-access programs, and the winner received a foursome of golf with Woods. Next, the group gathered at Moorea Beach Club for a performance from The Bravery.

On Saturday, headliners Jon Bon Jovi and Friends took the stage, delivering a performance that included hits like "Livin' on a Prayer" and "You Give Love a Bad Name." Cook opened the show. Live and silent auctions preceded the music, with guests mingling over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the Tiger Jam reception. During the live auction, a weekend-skiing package that included a lesson from Olympian Lindsey Vonn went for $20,000, a Maui Jim fishing excursion went for $10,000, a getaway to Turtle Island in Fiji raised $19,000, and the "Ultimate Gastronomic Golf Getaway With Mario Batali" in New York went to the highest bidder for $10,000. After the main concert event, guests returned to the House of Blues for the after-party hosted by M.C. Hammer.

Vegas's Big New Culture Venue Opens With Star-Packed, Sold-Out Concert

]]> A vast lineup of performers from across the arts took to the stage on Saturday for the opening of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the buzzy new Las Vegas culture venue more than two decades in the making. Led by host Neil Patrick Harris, the show included surprising pairings, like country star Martina McBride and Train lead singer Pat Monahan teaming up for a medley including “Marry Me” and “A Song for You." Carole King and Mavis Staples performed “You’ve Got a Friend," and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard performed “Pancho and Lefty." American Ballet Theater’s Marcello Gomes and Luciana Paris performed a tribute to Frank Sinatra. And Jennifer Hudson, accompanied by a 70-member choir, closed the evening with a rendition of “Take Care of This House.” All artists were backed by an orchestra and musical director Rob Mathes. George Stevens Jr. and Michael Stevens, who handle the annual Kennedy Center Honors, produced and directed the show, which will be broadcast on national television at a later date.

Keep Memory Alive Gala Doubles as Muhammad Ali’s 70th Birthday Bash

]]> Keep Memory Alive’s 16th annual "Power of Love Gala" took to MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, bringing out some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment to celebrate Muhammad Ali’s 70th birthday and raise funds for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Muhammad Ali Center. Keep Memory Alive director of special events Anna Robins oversaw the event, with production for the televised portion from Bill Edwards Presents Inc. (the event will air on ESPN2 as the special Ali 70th From Las Vegas February 25) and for the live event from Diversified Production Services. MGM Resorts Events handled the extensive decor.

In keeping with its 16-year history, the gala showcased a big-name-chef-packed dinner with offerings by Tom Colicchio, Scott Conant, Michael Mina, and Wolfgang Puck. Guests sipped bubbly at a Dom Perignon reception and were able to bid on one-of-a-kind live and silent auction items, including the gloves Ali wore to defeat Floyd Patterson in Las Vegas in 1965—which alone went for $1.1 million—and a vacation for two couples on David Copperfield’s private island in the Bahamas. The event's final fund-raising tally is still being calculated.

HBO Screens 'Luck' in Vegas With MGM Marketing Blitz

]]> After debuting its new horse-racing show, Luck, with a premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and a party at the Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles, HBO took the marketing push to Las Vegas for a screening at the Mandalay Bay Theatre on Thursday. Senior vice president of program advertising Zach Enterlin oversaw the Vegas portion with the HBO marketing team.

The screening drew cast members like Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, and director Michael Mann—plus more than 200 of the nation’s top handicappers who were in town for the $1 million National Handicapping Challenge. The event began with a pre-screening reception adjacent to the theater, where guests scooped up movie fare like candy and popcorn in bags bearing the show's logo. In the theater, it was an in-the-know crowd: During Mann's introduction, the big-name stars got a warm round of applause, but the room erupted when he introduced well-known jockey Gary Stevens, who plays a role in the series. Afterward, the group headed upstairs—way upstairs, to the 64th floor—to the Mix lounge for a post-screening party, where logoed gaming chips and playing cards dotted tabletops.

10 Biggest Venues for Events and Meetings in Las Vegas

]]> Planning an event that requires the largest event space in Las Vegas? Here’s a look at 10 venues with the biggest capacity: hotel ballrooms, convention centers, banquet halls, clubs, auditoriums, conference rooms, and more. We’ve included total square footage and maximum capacity to help you choose the best big space for your super-sized event.

10 Las Vegas Indoor Event Venues for Summer Entertaining

]]> As the desert sun swelters, keep a group cool this summer with these indoor entertainment and activity venues, museums, restaurants, bars, and hotels. These spaces in the Las Vegas area are perfect for company gatherings, teambuilding activities and games, and other types of summer entertaining.

10 Las Vegas Teambuilding Locations for Events

]]> Want to motivate a team or go for a little group bonding time? Here's a look at 10 new spots in Las Vegas for group activities, staff parties, and teambuilding outings.

10 New Las Vegas Venues for Events With 50 or Fewer People

]]> Not all parties are oversized. When hosting cocktail parties, editor luncheons, product launches, meetings, or business dinners, check out these new hotel meeting rooms, restaurant private rooms, bars, lounges, and outdoor spaces.

5 Las Vegas Restaurants for Events From Big-Name Chefs

]]> Vegas is no stranger to big-name cooks. Here are five new places to feast on their food.

1. Michel Richard opened Central Michel Richard at Caesars Palace in September, making it the first-ever round-the-clock restaurant to be helmed by a James Beard award-winning chef. The eponymous eatery’s signature dishes include a charcuterie tower, goat cheese Caesar salad, and lobster burger. The 9,600-square-foot restaurant seats about 300 and includes a patio that can be booked for private events.

10 Ideas for Meeting Breaks in Las Vegas

]]> Perk up meeting and conference attendees with ideas for snacks, gifts, activities, and entertainment.

10 Group Activities and Teambuilding Ideas in Las Vegas

]]> To get corporate groups out of the office and interacting in 2012, here are 10 new group activities that can work for teambuilding, meeting breaks, incentives, and other kinds of corporate outings.

10 Ideas for Company Holiday Parties in Las Vegas

]]> The company holiday party season has arrived. If you’re still searching for entertaining ideas for corporate groups in Las Vegas—whether you're hosting an office party, after-work drinks in a bar, or a big blowout—check out these resources for food, entertainment, gifts, event decor, rentals, group activities, and more.

1. The Venetian and the Palazzo Las Vegas have introduced "Winter in Venice," which offers 49 days of holiday festivities throughout both resorts from November 21 to January 8. The program kicked off with the opening of an ice skating rink above the Venetian’s outdoor Grand Canal. Surrounded by decorative snowflakes, holiday lights, and a 65-foot LED holiday tree sitting atop the Doge’s Palace fountain, guests are entertained by strolling candy-cane stilt walkers, puppets, jugglers, and magicians. The skating rink is available for buyout for events.

Sun Buggy's Amargosa Big Dunes Excursion Offers an Adventurous Teambuilding Option

]]> At more than 500 feet high, the Amargosa Big Dunes are the tallest in North America—and they're only two hours from the Strip. For an outdoorsy adventure or teambuilding excursion, Sun Buggy Fun Rentals is now offering dune tours, packaged as a daylong activity for groups. After staffers show the group how to operate the buggies and navigate them over the sand razorbacks, participants are free to explore on their own, though special teambuilding events like time trials can also be arranged.

The package includes a round-trip shuttle to and from the group's hotel, or groups can opt to travel by helicopter, which the Sun Buggy team will arrange for an additional $1,000 per person. Lunch is also included in the package price, as is cold bottled water.

10 Las Vegas Teambuilding Activities for Corporate Groups

]]> Looking to get a corporate group out of the office and interacting? Here are 10 new group activities for that can work for teambuilding, meeting breaks, incentives, and other kinds of corporate outings.

1. Grand Canyon Coaches launched its new fleet of premium mini-coaches in August, consisting of nearly 30 new vehicles, each seating as many as 13 passengers. New tours of the Southwest depart from both Boulder City and Phoenix. For Southern Nevada travelers, all tours will originate from Papillon Aerocenter in Boulder City, and tours include round-trip shuttle transportation from most Las Vegas hotels and casinos. Tour options include West Rim Eldorado Canyon, Hoover Dam, or Grand Canyon.

MGM Mirage Events Chooses A&D Scenery

]]>King Dahl is executive director of event design at MGM Mirage Events. He oversees all marketing events for clients, as well as promotions tied to holidays and in-house celebrations.

Photography: “Kelly McKeon is the top photographer here. Just recently we did a huge event for 3,500 people at the Mandalay Bay pool, which was very challenging because the pool is several acres, and Kelly had to capture everything.”

Entertainment: “For dance troupes or high-profile entertainment acts, we turn to Farrington Productions or Always Entertaining.”

Best of 2011: 10 Top Las Vegas Event Industry News Stories

]]> As part of our Best of 2011 look back at the year, we asked our local editors to share their—admittedly subjective—take on the most important things to happen in their markets this year. Here's what west coast editor Alesandra Dubin had to say.

At IMEX America: 5 Things the Meeting Industry Is Talking About Right Now

]]> The organizers of IMEX in Frankfurt brought the first IMEX America to the United States this week, sprawling the show over the Sands Expo, amid an atmosphere of optimism and steadily flowing business. (Indeed, the closing press conference revealed 30,000 meetings took place during the show.) The massive exhibition focusing on incentive travel, meetings, and events brought almost 2,000 exhibitors—substantially more than expected—representing 140 global destinations, 2,000 hosted buyers from around the world, and 1,700 non-hosted attendees.

The programming kicked off with "Smart Monday," a full day of professional education, including a speaker lineup from partner Meeting Professionals International, and continued Tuesday through Thursday with nearly 100 educational events. In the classrooms, on the show floor, and in meeting rooms at the Venetian/Palazzo, an array of recurring themes indicated some of the industry’s hot topics. Here are the top five:

At IMEX America: How to Advocate for the Meetings Industry

]]> Revent L.L.C.'s Roger Rickard started his session at IMEX America on Wednesday thusly: “If you have your phones on, keep them on. If you get a call for business, great, do business.” The message was that meetings—like the giant meeting industry powwow at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, where Rickard was speaking—are important economic engines with essential value.

"We all know that we had a perfect storm two years ago. Yes, there was a recession, yes, things hit our industry. But for the first time, government attacked us. We were told, 'Don’t go to Las Vegas, meetings are boondoggles,'" he said. "We were not prepared at that time to stand up and protect ourselves. Not shame on them, but shame on us for not being able to do that." In a session on advocating for the meetings industry, he explained that now there are better tools that can be used—and must be used—by the industry to justify its economic significance.

At IMEX America: Competition and Supply-Chain Analysis Among Factors Driving Sustainable Meeting Trends

]]> Among the big topics this week at IMEX America is sustainability. (Indeed, the conference itself has a detailed sustainability plan that covers the trade show venue, hotels, catering, print material, signage and carpeting, general service contractors, and transportation.) In the "Sustainability Center" on the trade show floor at the Sands Expo, Meeting Professionals International's manager of corporate social responsibility and sustainable events, Roger Simons, addressed the ways in which sustainability trends are shaping the meeting industry.

For hosts and planners still exploring sustainability, Simons suggested that emissions is a solid place to start, since it's a tangible topic that people can grab hold of, measure, and try to reduce. "People are looking at their business travel, and thinking how they can reduce their emissions," Simons said. "Though we’re not very sophisticated or mature yet as a group." Simons said that $9 billion is spent each year on travel for mission-related business around the world, and that 93,000 federal employees—that's just in government alone—are using 24 million room nights of hotel space in 8,000 locations. That means a big opportunity to work on emissions.

New Smith Center Announces Debut Season Programming Plans

]]> The Smith Center for the Performing Arts just announced its Broadway Las Vegas series as part of the premiere season for the much-anticipated performing arts center. The series will offer the best of Broadway, bringing The Color Purple, Mary Poppins, Million Dollar Quartet, and Memphis to the stage. Wicked will open the Smith Center’s first full-length season in August 2012. Tickets will begin to go on sale this summer.

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a public-private partnership that will bring cultural events to Las Vegas. The five-acre cultural campus will have three performance spaces: the 2,050-seat main performance area in Reynolds Hall, and Boman Pavilion’s 258-seat cabaret theater and 250-seat studio theater. The Smith Center broke ground in May 2009, in downtown’s 61-acre Symphony Park urban development, and is slated to open in March 2012.