Design Ideas/ Favors

At Stella McCartney's Resort 2013 presentation, a large cart overflowing with roses and peonies stood near the entrance to the venue. As guests left, they were given small bouquets or single stems as festive gifts.

Chevron-patterned linens were also used on cocktails tables, and sunflower bouquets served as centerpieces.

Searching for modern-looking, green-minded centerpieces? Britton Neubacher-Caligure of Tend Living often eschews florals in favor of succulents, air plants, and cacti, to create organic-looking arrangements. Neubacher-Caligure also offers how-to workshops.

At this year's TED, the world-famous conference known for its 18-minute talks, Target hosted a social space called "A Mind for Design," which had seating inspired by brain waves. The reactive space changed colors as guests interacted with it, and it had a live Twitter stream that showcased real-time Tweets from conference attendees.

TED content was simulcast in Palm Springs at the event known as TEDActive. Held at La Quinta Resort and Club, the conference let attendees watch content from the comfort of so-called "Ted Beds."

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. Steelcase provides much of the furniture for the TED conferences.

The edgy conference, which focuses on creativity and commerce, had its first run at Montreal's New City Gas building last May. Communal seating areas let guests perch on swings hanging from an arty canopy. Around the space, couches flanked with lamp-lit end tables lent a cozy, residential atmosphere.

In the courtyard, Adirondack chairs topped with umbrellas presented a laid-back area for networking and breakout sessions.

Guests sat on haystacks covered with bright orange blankets and chevron-patterned pillows at a Belvedere-sponsored party during the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. Though the pictured seating configuration is more suited to causal dining, haystacks in rows or in the round could make for fun  conference seating during the warmer months.

Based in California, Shelter Co supplies luxury tents—and can coordinate planning details—for corporate meetings and retreats. The European-style tents can be filled with couches, tables, and decorative rooms to create intimate gathering spaces.

Federico Delrosso for Corinthian Capital Group built a dining room inside a fabricated rooftop-style water tower. New York City rooftop views were projected onto the walls inside.

David Stark returned to create an installation for paint company Benjamin Moore. The entire room—from the floor to the chandeliers—was painted in a kaleidoscope of colors, and on the back wall, an LED screen looped a video montage of Stark's team designing the space from start to finish.

Orange was popular color choice this year. Marc Blackwell painted an entire wall in the hue, covering it with an eclectic collection of china. Nearby, a giant tree-stump table displayed a oversize drum shade lamp as a centerpiece, surrounded by orange and white tulips. A charming touch: porcelain birds at each place setting made chirping noises.

On June 26, the Paris Opera Ballet performed Giselle at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Drawing on the ethereal, ghostly set of the famous ballet, designer Bill Heffernan of HMR Design Group brought a moonlit-forest look to the tent that housed the ensuing gala in Millennium Park. Large, transparent cubes decorated with projected branch patterns hung overhead in the dining space, while ferns and white freesia topped the tables.

On July 13, ArtHamptons celebrated the centennial of Jackson Pollock's birth—and raised funds for the Jackson Pollock Lee Krasner Study House—with an event that included a performance art installation of a couple getting paint thrown at them.

On July 28, some 1,200 guests headed out to the Watermill Center in the Hamptons for the art organization’s annual benefit, one of the season’s biggest draws for philanthropists. Inside the dinner tent a chandelier positioned over the dance floor was made up of plastic recycling bags and pink fabric streamers.