RE/MAX Illuminates Awards Gala

RE/MAX hosted more than 1,600 real estate agents at Westin Harbour Castle for its 2006 awards dinner. Marianne Thompson, the company's director of special events and marketing, chose a Baroque decor theme combined with a mixture of period and modern entertainment and ultra-high-tech lighting and staging.At the start of the evening, entertainers from Elwood Saracuse Productions dressed in gowns and powdered wigs welcomed guests to the ballroom. Throughout the event, entertainers from Elwood Saracuse Productions and Carol Priest Entertainment performed as court jesters, jugglers, dancers, and contortionists. Liteworks contributed to the Baroque theme by using 24 projectors to beam colourful, ornate images onto the walls. Thompson said she views lighting as an effective device to create visual and emotional impact, adding she felt she needed to incorporate unexpected decor and entertainment elements to keep the large audience involved in the proceedings from beginning to end. The images moved and changed hues during the awards ceremony, which was conducted on a large, round stage custom built on-site by AVW-Telav. As the final honours were being presented—following a performance by electric rock violinist Dr. Draw—Air Magic put on a pyrotechnics show that included a minute-long fireworks display with the top winners on stage. Jostens supplied most of the 760 awards handed out, with Sandra Ainsley Gallery chipping in a handful of specialty awards designed by Canadian artists.

Following the awards presentation, black lights flooded the ballroom providing camouflage for technicians to unveil 40 moving lights and 200 static lights—in addition to the 24 projectors. When the lighting was switched on, it transformed the stage area into a glitzy nightclub setting.