| EVENT REPORT 04.26.07 6:01 PM |
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| AOL Hosts Packed Matrix Awards |
| The online company toasted female media heavies in the Waldorf’s bursting ballroom. |
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| Many of the fiercest women in media gathered at the Waldorf-Astoria on April 23 for the New York Women in Communications 2007 Matrix awards. Some got an award (Joan Didion, Cindy Adams, Arianna Huffington), some presented one (Hillary Clinton, Martha Stewart, Nora Ephron), and some looked on during the two-hour ceremony over a lunch of Chinese chicken salad. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | The focus of the Matrix awards is the presentation of the awards by high-profile people, who this year included Anna Deavere Smith and Rupert Murdoch. |
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 | | Hand-applied translucent violet and frosted silver vinyl decorated glass vases filled with orchids and topped with wheatgrass. |
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 | | The lunch menu included Chinese chicken salad and blueberry kiwi parfait. The dessert’s hue was a reference to AOL’s signature color. |
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 | | M.C. Rosie O’Donnell minced no words, dishing out plenty of salty language and begrudgingly introducing News Corporation C.E.O. Rupert Murdoch. |
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 | | Dessert included AOL-branded chocolate. |
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About 1,600 people attended, a turnout that necessitated some new logistical additions. A west foyer viewing room adjacent to the main ballroom showed the proceedings on large monitors. Custom-cut cloths topped tables seating as many as 14. And the creative angling of tables helped squeeze as many people as possible into the space. (For those who didn’t fit, bloggers covered the event live, and Women in Communications produced a podcast.)
AOL, the event’s main sponsor (Women in Communications calls this role the “host”), became involved in planning the awards more than a year ago. With a new host every year, “each year has a different flavor, culture, and personality,” said Jennifer Brisman, a board member and chair of the organization's awards arrangements committee. The message from AOL was one of celebrating change, in the form of both the women who change the world (the event’s theme) and adapting to new marketplace realities (as the company reminded the audience it has done). A simple, streamlined set occupied the event’s stage, the majority of which was dominated by a 45-person dais.
—Mimi O’Connor
Photos: Courtesy Maryanne Russell Photography (tabletop, vase, chocolates), Courtesy MB Productions (stage images)
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