| EVENT REPORT 05.12.09 8:00 AM |
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More Correspondents' Weekend Coverage: Bloomberg and Vanity Fair's Exclusive Party, Atlantic Media's Dinner, McLaughlin's Brunch, and More
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As in years past, parties of every kind and color—from movie screenings to exhibit openings to hangover brunches—surrounded this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Here’s a wrap-up of the weekend's attractions:
Bloomberg and Vanity Fair's After-Party
Capitol File may have hosted the weekend's biggest party, but the most exclusive honors went to Bloomberg LP and Vanity Fair, who hosted an impossible-to-get-into shindig for 250 on Saturday night. Taking over French ambassador Pierre Vimont's turn-of-the-century home in Kalorama, the party drew big names from politics and Hollywood, among them Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Glenn Close, Eva Longoria, David Axelrod, Desiree Rogers, and the ubiquitous Captains Chesley Sullenberger and Richard Phillips. The party took over the mansion's interior rooms with bars and buffets, and spilled out into the backyard, where the many trees were uplit in blue, pink, and green.
David Bradley's Private Dinner
On Friday night, Atlantic Media owner David Bradley and his wife, Katherine Brittain Bradley, hosted an indoor cocktail reception followed by an outdoor seated dinner at their Embassy Row home. Sponsored by Toyota and Robert Mondavi Winery, the annual event was twice as large as last year, thus requiring for the first time a 40- by 40-foot HDO Productions tent, which Frost Lighting technicians draped with white rope lights.
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RELATED TOPICS
White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Capitol File, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair, Atlantic Media, Toyota, Robert Mondavi Winery, Barack Obama, Haddad Media, White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Creative Coalition, DC Magazine, The McLaughlin Group, Time Inc., People Magazine, Time magazine |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.11.09 1:33 PM |
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Warhol-Style Portraits, Serpentine Modern Lounge Highlight Jam-Packed Correspondents' Dinner Pre-Parties
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 | The Thomson Reuters cocktail party prior to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner
Photo: Tony Brown/Imijination Photography for BizBash |
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Members of the White House press corps, Washington elite, and A-list celebrities literally rubbed shoulders in a steamy mass of humanity at the cocktail parties preceding the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night at the Hilton Washington. Hosted by media organizations and taking place from 6:00 to 7:45 p.m., the pre-parties went from mellow and civilized at the start to decidedly uncomfortable as guests surged into the concourse leading them to security checkpoints and the black-tie dinner. More than one guest muttered “Where’s the fire marshal?” as the likes of Kerry Washington, Al Sharpton, and Donatella Versace fought their way through the crowd.
Secret Service agents, on hand for the arrival of President Barack Obama, and Hilton staff members maintained order the best they could, given the 2,600 dinner guests and hundreds of extras who came solely for the cocktail receptions. Otherwise, there were few decor surprises at the individual parties and the usual smoked salmon and roast beef bites were on offer.
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White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Barack Obama, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Thomson Reuters, Atlantic Media, National Journal Group, The Atlantic, ABC, Time Magazine, People Magazine, CNN, Fortune |
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| BEST OF 2008 11.24.08 8:00 AM |
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Profit Centers
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 | Elizabeth Baker Keffer
Photo: Hector Emanuel for BizBash |
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Elizabeth Baker Keffer has had a busy year. Last December, she took over Atlantic Live—the event arm of Atlantic Media, parent of The Atlantic, Government Executive, and National Journal. She had already worked for owner David Bradley for 24 years, most recently as publisher at The Atlantic. Now she’s developing new event models, such as salon dinners that bring advertisers such as Allstate, GE, and Microsoft together with journalists, policy makers, and Atlantic editors on a particular topic. Along the way she’s increased revenue for Atlantic Live by 10 percent.
How have your years with the company set you up for this position?
What I’ve seen is the intense interest that clients, sponsors, and advertisers have in big ideas and in integrated programs that create more of a three-dimensional message. If done effectively, it can help us stand out from other companies.
How do your events contribute to the company?
Atlantic Live delivers added-value programs for advertisers, so we produce events that are earned through an integrated advertising platform. We’re contributing close to a quarter of the advertising revenue, and that’s well into the seven figures. We’ve moved from having a loss at Atlantic Live to a profit.
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Atlantic Media, The Atlantic, Aspen Ideas Festival |
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| EVENT REPORT 04.28.08 5:35 PM |
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Modern Lounges Accent Correspondents Dinner Preparties
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 | Thomson Reuters's stark white setting and pink lighting
Photo: Lara Shipley for BizBash |
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The cocktail parties before the White House Correspondents Association dinner, held at various sites throughtout the Washington Hilton terrace and lobby, kicked off a long night of shoulder-rubbing and celebrity sightings (with hundreds of tourists and locals waiting outside to get a glimpse) on Saturday evening. News outlets competed to get the best crowd into their rooms, relying on sparse decor, heavy branding, and the tabloid-friendly roster of celebrities they were able to lure—everyone from the Jonas Brothers and Perez Hilton to The Hills' feuding starlets Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag made the rounds.
Thomson Reuters suffered from crowd-flow issues due to a bottleneck (and the large check-in table) at the adjacent Newsweek fete. That said, the company did put some thought into this year's decor scheme. “After having done this event for a couple of years, we knew we wanted a fresh, clean lounge,” said Thomson Reuters marketing communications executive Iris Puerto, who worked with New York-based Watson Productions to create an all-white space, from the short shag carpeting to the low leather seating. Flat-screen monitors showed off the company’s brand-new orange and white logo, while pink lighting gave off a girlish hue.
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RELATED TOPICS
White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Newsweek, Thomson Reuters, People Magazine, CNN, Time magazine, Fortune, Time Inc., Atlantic Media |
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| EVENT REPORT 01.30.08 1:05 PM |
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The Atlantic Gathers New Yorkers for State of the Union
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 | The Atlantic's State of the Union gala in New York
Photo: Courtesy of Patrick McMullan |
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FROM NEW YORK
Politicians, business executives, and entertainers in New York didn't have the opportunity to attend Monday night's State of the Union address in Washington, but they did gather to view it at a gala hosted by The Atlantic along with Microsoft and social couple Boykin Curry and Celerie Kemble. (How's that for a mix of cohosts?)
While the political magazine's recent 150th anniversary party raised some eyebrows by inviting guests to watch a V.I.P. cocktail party on stage, this event has been held in New York since 2004; its Washington counterpart is in its fifth year. Held at the recently reopened grand ballroom at the Plaza—Chanel held the first event there, on Wednesday, January 16—the party drew 113 invited guests including Mariska Hargitay, Alan Patricof, and Frederic Fekkai, who took in cocktails and dinner.
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The Atlantic, Atlantic Media, Microsoft, State of the Union |
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| NEWS 01.29.08 5:59 PM |
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Atlantic's State of the Union Night Offers Food, Drink, and Politics
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 | Atlantic Live took over the Library of Congress.
Photo: Max Taylor Photography |
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Last night, Atlantic Live—the special events arm of The Atlantic—put forth its fifth year of State of the Union functions, in Washington and in New York (at the newly reopened ballroom of the Plaza hotel). The evening in D.C. started on the mezzanine of the Library of Congress, with a pre-address reception for politicians and administration types to network and kill time before the big speech. “The whole concept is to have a kind of greenroom for members of Congress,” said John Fox Sullivan, group publisher and chief executive of Atlantic Media.
Aiming for simple elegance, with more focus on political murmurs than extravagant decor, the event fit right in to the library's historic color scheme. Red tablecloths and gold chairs circled the mezzanine, while a jazz trio from Wright Music and tables of comfort food—including sliced chicken, sautéed green beans, and pecan bars—from Susan Gage Catering set the tone.
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RELATED TOPICS
Atlantic Media, State of the Union |
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| WHO'S DOING WHAT 12.18.07 12:59 PM |
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Atlantic Media's Keffer to Head Up Events Arm
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 | Elizabeth Baker Keffer
Photo: Courtesy of Atlantic Media Group |
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In the midst of many changes at Atlantic Media comes news that The Atlantic Monthly publisher Elizabeth Baker Keffer is stepping down to head up Atlantic Live, the company’s new-ish events arm. An 18-year Atlantic veteran, Keffer was in marketing and sales before helping launch the events programs (run as part of the advertising department) when David Bradley bought the company in 1999.
“The events business has been at the center of a lot of advertising growth over the past 10 years,” Keffer told us. “Three quarters of our top advertisers have a strong event relationship with Atlantic—a big part of their annual commitment to us involves events produced by us. The event revenue is now about 20 percent of the total advertising-supported revenue, and it's growing quickly. It’s seven figures and it’s profitable. It signals that we want to have a real focus on continuing to grow events.”
The Atlantic Live division launched last year, and until recently was run by Jennifer Swint. Keffer decided to take on the position because she had helped found the department—and because a move to New York with many other Atlantic Media employees wasn’t in the cards.
Atlantic Live produces three types of events: branded events that purely entertain business partners or readers; added-value events that tie into an overall advertising commitment; and fee-based sponsorship events that are produced for clients who don’t advertise with the company but who want access to Atlantic Media’s audience and content. Clients include Maybach, G.E., Booze Allen Hamilton, DHL, Lexus, and Boeing.
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RELATED TOPICS
Atlantic Media |
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| NEWS 11.09.07 4:44 PM |
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Just About Everybody Hates Atlantic Party With V.I.P.s on Stage
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FROM NEW YORK
Upon hearing about The Atlantic Monthly's plan to hold its 150th anniversary party for a group of V.I.P.s on stage at an NYU auditorium, with regular folks watching in the audience, you may have thought, How can that possibly go well? Now the first reports from last night's party are in, and they're not good—from either side of the stage/audience divide.
On his blog, James Marcus, who bills himself as a "writer, translator, critic, and editor" (he's been published in The Atlantic), called the anniversary "surely one of the most dispiriting parties I've ever attended." Describing his time in the audience, he wrote, "For about two minutes, this scenario had a certain Pirandellian charm. That quickly evaporated."
P.J. O'Rourke, who served as the M.C. of a discussion during part of the evening, told the guests who weren't offered any free drinks, "Us having a party up here, while you watch it from down there, is stupid."
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RELATED TOPICS
Atlantic Monthly, Atlantic Media, New York Observer, New York Magazine, Gawker |
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| NEWS 10.29.07 4:39 PM |
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Atlantic Monthly Plans "Cocktail Party as Performance Art"
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The Atlantic Monthly is planning an unusual approach to its 150th anniversary party. According to WWD, "The V.I.P. guests—who so far include the likes of Tom Wolfe, Arianna Huffington and Moby—at the magazine's party will be on a stage. The audience will be the general public, invited to register for free to watch them imbibe, network, and maybe offer some wisdom. 'It's the cocktail party as performance art,' said Atlantic Media consumer media president Justin Smith."
The planned logistics include having several microphones and P.J. O'Rourke on hand to help direct the conversation. A musical performance is in the works, along with a potential mingling of the V.I.P.s and the paying public, perhaps at a book signing.
RELATED TOPICS
Atlantic Monthly, Atlantic Media |
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| MY FAVORITE VENDORS 07.05.07 2:00 PM |
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Atlantic Media Relies on HDO
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Molly Clancy is Atlantic Media’s senior events manager. She plans roughly 25 events a year, ranging from executive dinners for 25 to panel discussions and award shows for 500.
Tents: "HDO Productions has great customer service and tent designs. For a reception held prior to the White House Correspondents Association dinner, they gave us up to a few days prior to the event to gauge the weather for tenting. In terms of flexibility, they are fantastic. For their high-quality work, they are affordable."
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RELATED TOPICS
Atlantic Media |
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