decor

Los Angeles-based artist Jorge Pardo created special-edition lanterns to hang above the tables at the Hammer Museum gala.

For a birthday party, Kristi Amoroso Special Events designed a vodka shot bar that displayed bottles in a sculptural arrangement of textured ice spheres.

Brooklyn-based Instaprint printers print out Instagram photos taken at a certain location or marked with an event-specific hashtag.

Shpare adds an extra layer of networking assistance by offering a personalized list of the 20 people each attendee should meet at an event. The process begins when the planner imports attendee information into the online system. Shpare then pulls public information from each person’s Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts to create a profile for each attendee. A few days before the event, each attendee receives an email explaining the service and inviting them to edit their profile—for example, by adding keywords of specific products or services they are interested in. The system analyzes tweets going back three months prior to the event, as well as likes on Facebook and LinkedIn information (including prior work experience) to generate a list of the 20 best matches. The system does not share personal contact information; instead, attendees click on the “matches” they want to meet, and the system sends a meeting request to that person.Shpare is intended primarily for events with exhibitors and sponsors, who each pay a fee (typically 10 percent of their booth cost) to receive leads generated by the system. That revenue is shared by the planner and Shpare. The matching between attendees is included free of charge as long there are a minimum number of exhibitors and sponsors participating.

Topi's analytics tab allows planners to track attendee interactions down to the hour.

Audience Metrix designs custom event measurement programs for company such as SAP, which is currently hosting Sapphire Now and SAP TechEd in Madrid, Spain.