Event Design

Multiple venues around the property for simulcast viewing included an array of seating groups, including more traditional chairs and desks and armchairs—and even beanbags.

Don't find beanbags quite comfy enough? The main simulcast venue, the theater, also had several bed-style lounging groups complete with TVs overhead for cozy viewing of the TED Talks.

A picnic lunch Wednesday offered picnic baskets for groups of seven—so each person had to meet six new folks with whom to chat and chow.

The main stage backdrop got an appealing but spare look from wooden pallets—visually interesting, but not enough to distract from the high-level conference content.

Meant to offer attendees a low barrier to entry for creative expression, Paper Punk offered a station where attendees could use prefab templates to create small art pieces—think origami meets Lego—and affix them to an evolving wall.

In a thoughtful use of the environment surrounding the sprawling host hotel, individual seating groups invited attendees to gather and collaborate in cleverly arranged settings that themselves served to inspire.

Talk about a fully immersive experience: The conference took over some of the venue's Spanish tiles for its own brand messaging. The special tiles also served to guide attendees' path along the walkways to the various event venues on the sprawling property.

Guests were encouraged to bring their own T-shirts, totes—whatever—and Hit & Run customized them live according to guests' own personal TEDActive experience with a range of designs.

Sponsor Lincoln decked out one of the property's casitas with a space that was subtly branded and also offered guests a chance to walk through a series of functional art pieces on exhibit.

TEDx planners from around the world expressed themselves on an interactive chalkboard wall.

Ever heard of flying a kite as a meeting-break option? TEDActive made one available for the taking, offering it adjacent to a casual seating cluster in the event's main outdoor space, known as the quad.

Held at Paramount Bay, a luxury condominium complex in Miami, the launch of Ferllen Winery Special Edition Art Series put artwork in the pool.

To promote its position as a sponsor of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Evian hosted the Wood Racquet Cup event in August. Held at the West Side Tennis Club in Queens, the event invited fans in attendance to silk-screen their own tote bags as take-home gifts.

In 2010, tequila brand Don Julio hosted a summer kickoff series at Chicago's Skylight Studios, where Black Market Caviar, a silk-screen and clothing shop, branded T-shirts on site for guests.

At the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival this year, Ford presented 3,000 festival attendees with silk-screened T-shirts. The designs were inspired by art from mural artists painting at the festival.

Levi's and The Fader's promotion during the 2009 run of South by Southwest had silk-screen artists Hit & Run create custom posters, which served as music-inspired souvenirs for festival-goers.

Target hosted a five-hour street fair outside the High Line when the New York park opened in 2009. Staffers produced silk-screen T-shirts with designs by artist Michael De Feo.

Last year, Bon-Ton celebrated its partnership with Australian clothing brand Mambo by hosting a party for surfers and skaters at New York's Drive In Studios. At the event, attendees could choose from one of four Mambo-designed graphics for a custom silk-screen T-shirt made by Underground Press.

When Absolut Vodka launched its berry-flavored liquor in 2010, the brand hosted a party at the W Chicago City Center. Guests were treated to free T-shirts, which they could customize with the product's logo and images of fruit vines and feathers.

About 1,000 guests came out for the T-Mobile and Google launch for Google Music.

The party took over the cavernous La Brea studio space of the artist known as Mr. Brainwash.

Art and color, both brand oriented and not, splashed on internal and external walls.

Drake performed for the crowd at the music-centric event.

Interactive stations allowed guests to test out the features of the new service.

Guests meandered amid the art and logos inside the studio space.

The T-Mobile Music Store was among the party's stations.

“The 2008 Robin Hood Foundation gala is one of the most memorable events I’ve come across. What stands out to me is the simplicity of the concept—taking donated items and turning them into large-scale installations that could, in turn, be given to the charities the nonprofit serves after the event. Going green was just becoming popular in the event industry and it was a great example of how sustainable decor could be more than hemp tablecloths and biodegradable tableware.” —Anna Sekula, news editor

"The 2011 opening of the new Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, made a lasting impression. Grand Events of Florida created decor that clearly brought the artist’s surreal works to life, and yet it was minimal enough to allow the beauty of the building to be the focal point. My favorite decorative elements were the two skeleton-clad bicyclists on either side of the entryway, eerily portraying Dali's 'Sentimental Colloquy.'” —Mitra Sorrells, Orlando bureau chief

The OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa hosted the first Electric Run November 30, a trippy nighttime 5K run/walk set to electronic dance music that saw more than 10,000 participants dressed in glow-in-the-dark costumes surrounded by a million watts of lights.

The Children's Defense Fund's 22nd annual Beat the Odds award ceremony December 6 honored five Los Angeles high school students who overcame personal obstacles and achieved academic excellence. To incorporate the teenagers into the night's visuals, the organizers used a gallery of black-and-white portraits as the backdrop for the stage at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Art Arellanes produced the event; Revelry handled the scenic production and Richard Taylor provided the lighting design.

An inventive ploy for on-the-spot donations, Charity:Water invited guests at its seventh Charity:Ball in New York to buy helium-filled balloons for $5 a pop. The attendees at the Monday-night event then could release the inflatables in a net shaped like a giant jerry can—an image the nonprofit uses to symbolize its mission of bringing clean water to developing countries.

Design Industry Foundations Fighting AIDS hosted its annual Dining by Design event at Chicago's Merchandise Mart November 1 to 3, offering nearly 35 dining room vignettes decorated by interior designers, major brands, and all types of artists. Project Interior's table was one of the most interactive: Guests grabbed a pair of large golden scissors to snip affirmative statements written on small pieces of paper from an overhead canopy. The statements included phrases such as "Act With Love" and the Matisse quotation "Creativity takes courage."

Last week Champagne house Krug held a series of events inside its experiential site, Krug House New York. Created inside an existing townhouse on West 15th Street in New York, the multilevel space produced by Shiraz Events included a gallery showing how the bubbly is created, a chandelier decorated with comment cards from visitors, and dining space in the garden (pictured).

In the basement space of 82 Mercer, the New York City Wine & Food Festival's casino sponsor the Borgata created a lounge space that let attendees paint an interactive graffiti wall, which included chocolate "paint" and "spray paint."

HBO hosted its 10th annual party at the fountain plaza in West Hollywood's Pacific Design Center. Working with HBO's Cindy Tenner, Nancy Lesser, and Michael McMorrow, longtime collaborator Billy Butchkavitz designed a splashy party based on the theme "A Glorious Garden." Bart Kresa and Images by Lighting supplied the event's lighting, including a vibrant wall of HBO logos and floral motifs.

To celebrate its 15-year partnership with the James Bond franchise and to launch its "Crack the Case" Facebook game, Heineken hosted a Bond-themed soiree September 24 at the Brooklyn M.T.A. Museum. The space—a retired subway car—was decorated in a casino theme, sprinkled with faux diamonds, and of course there were models dressed as Bond girls.

On Wednesday night, Pepsi and Billboard hosted the third installment of the Summer Beats concert series at New York's Gotham Hall, where a wall at the entrances allowed guests to contribute their own messages, drawings, and signatures. Graffiti-style designs by Artkek Creative surrounding the series' logo served as the eye-catching starting point, which attendees added to throughout the event.

Entertain a crowd post-sunset with an alfresco movie experience. Utah-based Open Air Cinema is an outdoor cinema equipment supplier and event producer, with rental affiliates throughout the U.S. The company can provide screens up to 40 feet wide, as well as snacks such as popcorn and hot dogs. (The theater systems can also be set up for video games or karaoke.) Event production costs start from $2,000, and Open Air Cinema can help obtain a public performance license for movies, which can cost between $300 and $500.

Bicycle action performer Trevor Bodogh performs gravity-defying tricks on two wheels while traversing a portable set of obstacles like ramps and platforms. The 25-minute set features Bodogh executing moves like climbing up a six-and-a-half-foot-tall “Devil’s Staircase” on his seatless bike. Bodogh can perform outdoors on a variety of surfaces, and he brings his own equipment, music, and sound system. Based in Toronto, Bodogh travels across the U.S. and Canada; fees start from $1,500.