More than 350 guests filled the Grand Hyatt's Manhattan Ballroom for BiZBash Media's second annual Event Style Awards, which honor innovation and creativity in the special event, meeting and trade show industry. Two big winners of the evening were event production company EventQuest, which won Best Fresh Idea and Best Overall Decor categories, and Karlitz & Company, which was awarded for both Best Gift Bag and Best Incentive Trip or Meeting. The event was sponsored by Visual Word Systems, Audiovisual Techniques, the Sensory Project and Absolut, and produced by Mark Steele of Steele Productions.
The show combined a soothing decor scheme with high-tech features. Designed by Philippe Muller of the Sensory Project, the ballroom had three separate environments with corresponding food and entertainment. A red, Asian-themed area featured a variety of sushi and noodle dishes, and a Kabuki dancer and drummer performed. A bellydancer jiggled near the yellow, Mediterranean-themed area, which offered dishes like stuffed grape leaves, couscous and miniature pita breads with hummus and baba ghanoush. A cool, blue-themed area featured Ice Art's giant ice raw bar with shrimp and lobsters frozen inside. The bar was topped with an abundance of shrimp, lobster and mussels. Low, square cocktail tables draped with shimmery green cloths from Cloth Connection and topped with small flower arrangements from Floralia were set around the room, surrounded by cube seats from Cort Event Furnishings. To keep guests abreast of the happenings during the event, Visual Word Systems placed eight plasma screens throughout the event's three rooms.
BiZBash president Richard Aaron and Grand Hyatt general manager Gary Dollens welcomed the crowd, and BiZBash CEO David Adler introduced Robert Isabell, the 2003 inductee to the BiZBash Event Style Hall of Fame. Then BiZBash editor in chief Chad Kaydo announced the award winners in 11 categories. Following the awards presentation, Jim Dale, senior catering manager of the Grand Hyatt, invited guests upstairs, where Cort made the second floor meeting rooms feel more like an intimate lounge with plush, jewel-toned furniture, and the hotel served coffee and a scrumptious buffet of delicate-looking desserts and confections by Michael Hu of Pearl River Pastries and Chocolates. The drapes that surround the ballroom then opened to reveal the ballroom's floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue.
—Suzanne Ito
See the list of winners...
Read more about the Manhattan Ballroom...
The show combined a soothing decor scheme with high-tech features. Designed by Philippe Muller of the Sensory Project, the ballroom had three separate environments with corresponding food and entertainment. A red, Asian-themed area featured a variety of sushi and noodle dishes, and a Kabuki dancer and drummer performed. A bellydancer jiggled near the yellow, Mediterranean-themed area, which offered dishes like stuffed grape leaves, couscous and miniature pita breads with hummus and baba ghanoush. A cool, blue-themed area featured Ice Art's giant ice raw bar with shrimp and lobsters frozen inside. The bar was topped with an abundance of shrimp, lobster and mussels. Low, square cocktail tables draped with shimmery green cloths from Cloth Connection and topped with small flower arrangements from Floralia were set around the room, surrounded by cube seats from Cort Event Furnishings. To keep guests abreast of the happenings during the event, Visual Word Systems placed eight plasma screens throughout the event's three rooms.
BiZBash president Richard Aaron and Grand Hyatt general manager Gary Dollens welcomed the crowd, and BiZBash CEO David Adler introduced Robert Isabell, the 2003 inductee to the BiZBash Event Style Hall of Fame. Then BiZBash editor in chief Chad Kaydo announced the award winners in 11 categories. Following the awards presentation, Jim Dale, senior catering manager of the Grand Hyatt, invited guests upstairs, where Cort made the second floor meeting rooms feel more like an intimate lounge with plush, jewel-toned furniture, and the hotel served coffee and a scrumptious buffet of delicate-looking desserts and confections by Michael Hu of Pearl River Pastries and Chocolates. The drapes that surround the ballroom then opened to reveal the ballroom's floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue.
—Suzanne Ito
See the list of winners...
Read more about the Manhattan Ballroom...
The BiZBash Event Style Awards were held in the new Manhattan Ballroom at the Grand Hyatt New York.
Amy Scott from Creative Intelligence, Maris Segal from Karlitz & Company, James Brodsky from Sharp Communications and John Schwartz from EventQuest posed for pictures after accepting their awards.
Ice Art's giant ice bar had giant shrimp and lobsters frozen inside.
A drummer hired by the Sensory Project performed after the awards presentation.
