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1. Scripted Models Play Up Key Notes at Victoria's Secret Fragrance Preview

2. MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

3. Ad Age Looks to Boost Conference Interaction With Beer Tasting, Lounge Seating

4. Nintendo Launches New Mario Game With Look Back at Franchise History

5. Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle Open Stores With Musical Performances

6. How Do You Make Staffers Feel Appreciated—at Little or No Cost?

7. 3 New Hotel Restaurants for Business Entertaining, Private Groups

8. New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

9. Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast

10. Poll Results: Informal Nights Out Make Most Appropriate 2009 Holiday Parties

FROM LOS ANGELES

Us Weekly Takes to Voyeur With Scantily Clad Models, Burlesque Feel

6 New Venues for Los Angeles Holiday Parties

New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

$4 Million MOCA Gala Breaks Fund-Raising Records

Chrysalis Benefit Cuts Ticket Prices in Half, Draws Same Crowd

MOCA Gala Spawning Arty Online Auction—Including Gehry's Hat for Gaga—Through November 30

Wende Museum Closes Wilshire for Cold War Anniversary Celebration

3 Ideas for Stylish, Eco-Friendly Events

3 New Restaurants for Autumn Alfresco Dining

With Help From Lexus, Cedars-Sinai Gala Breaks Fund-Raising Record

FROM WASHINGTON

P.C.M.A. Honors Wardman Park, Fairmont at First Nighttime Annual Meeting

8 New Venues for Washington Holiday Parties That Won't Break the Bank

MSNBC and Rodale Fete Jeff Corwin's New Book and Documentary at the Occidental

Againn: A Modern Gastropub in Penn Quarter

Café Milano Offers Corporate Catering

More Photos From Fight Night/Knock Out Abuse: Stogies, Laser Shows, and a VW Bus Bar

Fight Night/Knock Out Abuse: Joan Jett for Men, Shirtless Hippies for Women

Award-Winning Washington Mixologist Offers Custom Cocktails and Classes

Birch & Barley: Neighborhood Restaurant Group's New Beer-Themed Venue With Private Dining

Long View Gallery: New Location in Warehouse Space for 400

News Archive for Contracts

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 09.05.07 4:37 PM

Stealing Ideas: An Industry Epidemic?

For a New York fashion show in 2005, Lara Baldwin, executive vice president of business development at Landmark Event Services, was approached by another decor and production firm to design and build set pieces. Baldwin and her team spent hours laboring over one-of-a-kind designs to camouflage columns in the event venue and to create an intimate V.I.P. area, with movable walls and upholstered bench seating, in the otherwise cavernous space. But after four site visits and 11 proposal drafts, all executed with only a verbal agreement in place, things turned sour. “All of a sudden the [other company] just dropped off the face of the earth,” Baldwin says. She tried to get in touch with the company by phone and email, and then sent a letter reminding them that all designs were copyrighted. It didn’t help.

“We went to the event and saw that all of our ideas were stolen. We designed all that and somebody else got the credit,” Baldwin says. “It felt really crappy.” Oh, and that letter she sent? Returned unopened. “They know what they did, and they did it in a very deceitful way.” MORE >>

Stealing Ideas, Legal Trouble, Contracts

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 08.23.07 10:28 AM

How Venue Contracts Are Changing

Illustration: BizBash

If you haven't taken a close look at venue contracts lately, you might be in for a surprise. Venue owners and their lawyers are throwing in new clauses and tweaking existing ones all the time, and—of course—those changes are more likely to benefit the venue’s interests than its guests’. Check out this overview of recent trends, and then look at the fine print on the contracts on your desk.

Privacy of guest data is under fire. More hotels have begun using contracts to lay claim to guests’ personal data, so when an event brings a big group to a hotel, it’s up to sharp-eyed planners to strike or amend those clauses—or risk having their attendees’ info get used in ways they weren’t expecting. Last year, Starwood Hotels & Resorts added a clause to its standard contract that lets it use guest data for future marketing campaigns. The initial verbiage of the clause (later amended) even let them sell guest data to third parties and stipulated that the event host would be legally responsible if that information fell into the wrong hands. MORE >>

Contracts