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

Washington DC Event Planners for Trendy New Releases, Styles, Fashion and Display

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Trends & Ideas GET INSPIRED A Look at Viral Marketing and Media Culture From the Creator of Flash Mobs Creating (and Sending) Video Messages With MeTV Maya Lin's Techno-Landscapes Show Opens at the Corcoran The Shepard Fairey Effect on Marketing and Event Design Talking to Doug Jaeger, the Adventurous Marketer Who Ticked Off MoMA Last Week   BUSINESS ENTERTAINING Trapeze School Offers High-Flying Teambuilding A New Option for Group Culinary Outings Making a Corporate Group Into a Rock Band Ideas for Entertaining Summer Associates in Washington Firms Are Scaling Back and Re-Thinking Programming for Summer Associates Importers Debut Provençal Wine Tastings Chef Offers Dessert-Based Teambuilding Challenges Cheap, Kid-Friendly Ideas for Take Your Child to Work Day Where Can You Find Up-and-Coming DJs? Cooking Classes With a Top Chef Alumnus   DECOR AND RENTAL IDEAS For Rent: Where to Find Stylish Sofas A 3-D Way to Launch a Product Colin Cowie Launches a la Carte Floral Service Corcoran Ball Trend: Settings That Mix Textures and Patterns Ring Leaders: 5 Ways to Finish Off a Place Setting Interactive Projections That Double as Decor and Content   GIFT IDEAS Organic, Locally Made Cookies for Gifts or Favors Edible Gifts at All Price Points How Do You Thank Speakers or Presenters? A More Sophisticated Gift for Snackers A New Gift for Out-of-Towners Design-Conscious Desktop Gifts For Useful Gifts, Brides Goes Postal   FOOD IDEAS Low-Cost, Crowd-Pleasing Catering An Outing to the Farmers' Market to Source Cocktail Ingredients Pastry Chef Gears New Bakery Towards Corporate Clients Fancy Entrées, Cheap Desserts: Mix-and-Match Menus A Local Deli With Philly Flavor Cute, Budget-Friendly Desserts A New Source for Homemade Goodies and Gift Baskets An Old World Chocolate-Making Class Cutting the Hors D'oeuvres? Try These Inventive Bar Snacks     ASK BIZBASH    11.16.09 9:00 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 THE SCOUT    11.11.09 9:00 AM Café Milano Offers Corporate Catering Heirloom tomato soups Photo: Pepe Gomez Earlier this year, Georgetown's Café Milano opened a full-service catering offshoot called Embassy Row Catering. Fabio Salvatore, Café Milano's executive chef, creates custom menus with an upscale Italian feel, similar to the restaurant. Dishes include a trio of heirloom tomato soups with crispy phyllo spoons, risotto alla Milanese, pasta with sage butter sauce, and tortino di mocha, chocolate cake topped with dark chocolate, mocha mousse, and mocha custard. Embassy Row serves the metro Washington area and can also provide rentals, staffing, decor, audiovisuals, and other event-related needs.   —Lisa Cericola THE SCOUT    11.09.09 2:33 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 9:00 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 Award-Winning Washington Mixologist Offers Custom Cocktails and Classes Derek M. Brown Photo: Jim Webb Derek M. Brown is a font of bartending information. He can talk at length about how the Tom Collins got its name (from a joke, not a man), the first bartender (Jerry Thomas), or why, in his opinion, cocktails are one of America’s greatest contributions to the world, next to baseball and jazz. A certified sommelier who trained at the Beverage Alcohol Resource Program, Brown was named the 2009 Bartender of the Year by Washington City Paper for his work at the Gibson, where he still pours a few nights a week. Looking for a way to combine his love of cocktail history and his knowledge of spirits and wine, he started Better Drinking early this year, offering private classes and bartending services for events. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Mad Men, FreshFarm Markets THE SCOUT    11.02.09 9:00 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 9:00 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 4:21 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 9:00 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 THE SCOUT    10.14.09 9:00 AM Art, Food, and Wine Activities for Groups Screenprinting classes at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center Photo: Courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center These group-friendly activities help bring employees together while teaching new skills. 1. Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring offers hands-on art classes for groups. Ranging from collaborative bookmaking to papermaking and screenprinting, sessions for as many as 15 people may be held in the facility's art gallery or on in a classroom. Pricing is based on the number of participants and the activity chosen, but half-day classes for 15 students typically range from $300 to $500. Catering is not provided but participants can bring in their own food and beverages. 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