For the 18th annual Give Kids the World Black & White gala, Joan Reines, manager of corporate development for Kissimmee-based nonprofit organization Give Kids The World, worked with Eddie Maddox, the director of catering at the Peabody Orlando Hotel, who produced the event. Maddox brought in Creative Show Services, a division of Audio Visual Innovations to bring to the gala to life.
Guests entered the convention area of the hotel by walking through a wall of beaded curtains, then past six plasma screens showing music videos from the 1970s by artists such as B.B. King and The Kinks. Before the main festivities began, guests enjoyed an open bar and perused the numerous silent auction items, while performers dressed as hippy chicks and groovy costumed stilt walkers entertained.
Hello Florida's Mark Wells dressed the more than 130 tables in either sparkly gold or green linens, with coordinating satin napkins in a bold floral print.
Standout features of the event included four 20- by 32-foot soft LED curtains that flanked both sides of the stark white stage. This electric canvas was branded with the gala's flower power logo, which was done in pink and dark brown. Steps attached to the stage led down to the dance floor, also snow white until lit from underneath with different colors.
The idea of taking something old and making it new extended into the world of technology. Creative Show Services took four six- by eight-foot projection screens, arranged them in a square, and suspended them from trusses overhead, which were themselves suspended from the ceiling. When lit up with projections from the front, they created a cube screen effect similar to those seen in sports arenas.
Guests enjoyed a three-course meal catered by the Peabody Orlando. Appetizers included a spiny lobster cocktail with golden pineapple-poblano chutney, a chopped salad and crispy flatbread with caramelized onions, morels, and manchego. As an entrée, there were potato-yucca crusted lamb, seared petite pilet, and veggies. The beautifully arranged dessert plate included a "decadence trio": almond beignet with peach filling and macerated berries, chocolate layer cake with Tahitian vanilla sauce, and mango crème brulee with passion fruit sauce.
Hardrive Productions provided the entertainment, which included several numbers from "Chanilow" (aka Chris Chan of Chris Chan Entertainment Company), who sang a collection of Barry Manilow hits.
—Matthew Porter
Guests entered the convention area of the hotel by walking through a wall of beaded curtains, then past six plasma screens showing music videos from the 1970s by artists such as B.B. King and The Kinks. Before the main festivities began, guests enjoyed an open bar and perused the numerous silent auction items, while performers dressed as hippy chicks and groovy costumed stilt walkers entertained.
Hello Florida's Mark Wells dressed the more than 130 tables in either sparkly gold or green linens, with coordinating satin napkins in a bold floral print.
Standout features of the event included four 20- by 32-foot soft LED curtains that flanked both sides of the stark white stage. This electric canvas was branded with the gala's flower power logo, which was done in pink and dark brown. Steps attached to the stage led down to the dance floor, also snow white until lit from underneath with different colors.
The idea of taking something old and making it new extended into the world of technology. Creative Show Services took four six- by eight-foot projection screens, arranged them in a square, and suspended them from trusses overhead, which were themselves suspended from the ceiling. When lit up with projections from the front, they created a cube screen effect similar to those seen in sports arenas.
Guests enjoyed a three-course meal catered by the Peabody Orlando. Appetizers included a spiny lobster cocktail with golden pineapple-poblano chutney, a chopped salad and crispy flatbread with caramelized onions, morels, and manchego. As an entrée, there were potato-yucca crusted lamb, seared petite pilet, and veggies. The beautifully arranged dessert plate included a "decadence trio": almond beignet with peach filling and macerated berries, chocolate layer cake with Tahitian vanilla sauce, and mango crème brulee with passion fruit sauce.
Hardrive Productions provided the entertainment, which included several numbers from "Chanilow" (aka Chris Chan of Chris Chan Entertainment Company), who sang a collection of Barry Manilow hits.
—Matthew Porter