Premiere Events

Senior vice president, special events, Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution, Culver City, California, 44
Big innovation: Recognizing the need for premieres to stand out amid the crowded event landscape. Bossert’s team creates “camera candy—that set design that makes your red carpet so unique, the press eats it up.” Past work has included a recreated subway station, including a real New York City subway car for The Taking of Pelham 123, and crystal-clad acrobats hanging from chandeliers above the carpet at Michael Jackson's This Is It premiere.
Claim to fame: The premiere for The Da Vinci Code. "We built a 10-story pyramid in Cannes harbor."
Career highlight: The 2011 premiere for Moneyball, which brought an A-list crowd to Oakland and recreated a baseball field in a parking lot.
Quick tip: "Before booking a venue, check the restrooms. Their cleanliness, or lack thereof, is a good indication of how the kitchen is kept."

President and event designer, Shiraz Events, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, 37
Launchpad: After helping an ex-boyfriend launch an event staffing company in 2001 in New York (the ex quit after three weeks), Tertner took over and turned it into a catering company, later adding production and design departments and building a reputation for supplying more than just pretty servers. He added a Miami branch with partner Yaniv Cohen in 2005, winning contracts for Art Basel, and opened an L.A. office in 2011.
Claim to fame: Tertner has worked with clients including Dior, Bentley, Ferrari, and Microsoft, offering food in striking presentations, like a menu inspired by a stuffed Everglades alligator created for Art Basel’s anniversary in 2011.
Work philosophy: “I try to truly get into my clients’ heads and understand how they are thinking, what their goals are, and paint the vision that I have in my mind afterwards. My path is full of learning. I can always do better, grow, and I make sure to feed that appetite in me: travel, see, feel, taste, read, and sometimes just be still and let the inspiration come to me.”
Style signature: “Modern, clean, sophisticated, finished.”
On Twitter: @shaitertner, @shirazevents

Principal, Kim Graham & Associates, Toronto, 42
Launchpad: Before starting her own PR firm, Graham worked for lobby groups and as a consultant to the city of Toronto. “I can’t imagine a PR campaign without an event and I can’t imagine an event without PR.”
Claim to fame: Serving the Canadian design, architecture, and real estate niche, KG&A is known for organizing events in unlikely locales, like a decommissioned subway station during the Toronto International Film Festival or a working bread factory for the Raw Design industry party. These non-event spaces often come with red tape and require extra vision to pull off.
Style signature: “Our events tell a story. We follow through with a message. Cocktail parties are lovely, but the event must yield results beyond the actual event experience.”
Hidden talent: “Turning a no into a yes.”
On Twitter: @kga_pr

President, Precision Event Group, Beverly Hills, California, and New York, 35
Claim to fame: Production of live events and experiences across the U.S., encompassing complex logistics and technical execution, as well as design and hospitality.
2011 highlight: Precision produced ESPN’s ESPY sports-achievement awards after-party at the Hollywood Palladium in July and Self magazine’s Workout in the Park.
Launchpad: He was a coordinator in the Athletes’ Village at the 1995 U.S. Olympic festival in Denver, which led to a staff position for the 48-state Olympic torch relay in ’96.
Career highlight: Event production of multiple Super Bowl halftime shows.
Event philosophy: “When someone walks into the event, they better immediately know the message and point of the project. Do what you promised to do, and then some.”

President and owner, Chad Hudson Events, West Hollywood, California, 34
Big innovation: For the Twilight Saga premieres, the producer worked with Summit Entertainment to expand the fan participation from a throng of gawkers to a five-day, studio-sanctioned camp-out, worth millions in PR value. Hudson also finds ways to simultaneously save money and execute bigger projects by sharing costs between multiple events.
Career highlight: Booking major events at the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis, including DirecTV’s Celebrity Beach Bowl and the party hosted by HD Net and Peyton Manning.
Work philosophy: “Give credit where credit is due. Treat your clients like gold and your staff like platinum.”
Mentor: Warner Brothers’ vice president of publicity and special events, Courtney Saylor Rogge. Hudson worked in her department for eight years before starting his firm in 2008.

C.E.O., A Vista Events, Beltsville, Maryland, 46
Launchpad: “I used to design my own invitations for the fashion PR office I ran in London, and when I came to the U.S., a friend introduced me to a stack of people in the events industry and showed them my artwork portfolio.” Before long, Senatore was designing events, setting up her own business after eight years working at production company Hargrove in Maryland. Staffed with 12 employees, A Vista works on about 300 events a year.
Claim to fame: Last year, she produced the Trust for the National Mall’s benefit luncheon and its Ball on the Mall, events just two days apart and both located on the grounds of the historic park. Inspired by Japan and the Mall’s cherry blossom trees, the daytime event had a live tea ceremony, while the nighttime affair included white origami cranes and paper parasols suspended from the ceiling. Senatore is also known for the annual Oscar viewing party hosted by Starwood Hotels, for which she has created Best Picture-inspired environments and a fashion show.
Up next: “Launching the new revised company and a product coming out in spring.”

Owner and chief creative officer, Todd Events, Dallas, 44
Claim to fame: Fiscus’s boutique event design firm produces more than 600 events annually, including weddings for big names like Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, as well as for clients like the Dallas Museum of Art, Audi, and Lexus. In 2011, Fiscus and his team were on the Super Bowl Host Committee and produced 52 events related to the big game, including the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee Kickoff.
Big innovation: Todd Events is one of the few vertically integrated event companies in the U.S., doing flowers, design, delivery, and installation, as well as designing all of its own furnishings under its Suite 206 rental line. Sister companies include the Switch Lighting Group, which handles event lighting and design, an event venue and restaurant, both in the Dallas area, the PR firm Rest & Revolution, and Avant Garden, a boutique floral and gift store and event space.
Up next: Fiscus is working on a book on the topic of events held inside tents, and he’s developing a product line of tabletop items for event designers.
Major life goal: “To be a part of something that impacts my industry in a big way, [but also to] leave time in my life to smell the roses—not just arrange them.”
On Twitter: @toddlovesorange

C.E.O., IDG World Expo, Framingham, Massachusetts
To-do list: Dolaher oversees exhibition management company IDG’s annual expo events, including MacWorld, MacIT, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Anime Expo, and Enterprise Mobile Next.
2011 highlight: E3 in June at the Los Angeles Convention Center occupied a million square feet and drew a whopping 45,000 attendees—“and that’s the show where we have growth limitations and we close off attendance, because we don’t want it to get too large,” says Dolaher.
Big innovation: Bringing an insider event to the masses. Last year, Dolaher helped roll out E3 Insider, a Web portal that offers glimpses of the trade show floor to electronic entertainment fans unable to attend the show, which is open to industry pros only. With news anchors, game demos, and a so-called “heat-seeking” map that illustrated the most attended areas of the show floor, the portal was “like bringing Entertainment Tonight to the E3 Expo.”
Up next: Dolaher will aim to revive the MacWorld Expo, which has seen decreasing attendance in recent years, by branding it as MacWorld/iWorld. “We’re having tremendous success in making [the show] the place to be if you’re an Apple enthusiast.”
On Twitter: @E3Expo

At the opening of its Chicago flagship store on November 29, Burberry made it rain—literally. To evoke the famously rainy weather of its native England on the clear night, the brand placed umbrella-wielding models on the beige carpet that lined the entrance to the Michigan Avenue shop.

Lords South Beach hotel turned its entire property into a public art installation sponsored by Perrier. Artist Desi Santiago created the Black Lords, a wicked wonderland in which the all-white hotel was painted black and a massive dog named Gypsy looked down over the property.

The eye-catching entrance pavilion to Design Miami consisted of inflated tubes bundled together to resemble a topographical landscape in suspension. The work, called "Drift," is from New York-based Snarkitecture and inflatable structure manufacturer Inflate.

On the weekend that saw the year’s first sustained rain storms in Los Angeles, M.A.C. Cosmetics still managed to draw crowds of shoppers for its largest consumer event of the year: "Glamour Daze" at the Grove. Teasing out the theme of '60s glamor from M.A.C.'s collection, the event took the form of a show built on a glammed-up stage outside of the brand's store, complete with tufted designs meant to evoke a boudoir. ELS handled the lighting, sound, and carpet for the show.

To promote its partnership with (Red) and a limited-edition vodka bottle, Belvedere turned New York’s meatpacking district into an outdoor nightclub on November 29. Framing the event at Gansevoort Plaza were 20-foot tree-shaped lights that changed color during the performance by DJ duo Chromeo.

The Trevor Project honored Katy Perry and Audi at its Trevor Live event Sunday at the Hollywood Palladium. To further the organization's mission to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning young people, MSN Wonderwall and Getty Images provided an official photo booth for the event in the green room, complete with props in the form of chat bubbles bearing inspiring messages like "be proud of who you are," and "you are not alone."

Performa paid tribute to Francis Picabia and Erik Satie by recreating their surrealist ballet of 1924 at its gala November 29 in New York. Artist Ryan McNamara reinterpreted the original Paris production with a performance that saw him raised overhead, and the organizers built a stage backdrop that consisted of 460 vinyl discs.

Joslin Diabetes Center's High Hopes gala took place at the Westin Boston Waterfront in November. With a Rat Pack theme, the event’s setup evoked old-school dinner clubs with tufted white benches from Domenic Cambrio at each dinner table. Altieri Events designed the gala.

Dinner at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington December 2, catered by Restaurant Associates, started with a trio of winter salads: pear, Idiazabal, and walnut; blood orange, goat cheese, and hazelnut; and beet, potato, and smoked trout.

At its tribute to Quentin Tarantino on Monday night, the Museum of Modern Art used a commissioned sketch of the iconic filmmaker as the backdrop for the celebrity arrivals area. Placed in rows, the step-and-repeat wall was designed to imitate a film strip.

The producers of the gala that followed The Phantom of the Opera's 25th anniversary performance on Broadway created a dramatic look for the event's entrance at the New York Public Library. A projection of red light formed a virtual red carpet on the grand steps, surrounded by hundreds of LED candles.

The San Francisco Ballet's annual gala took over San Francisco City Hall on January 24, bringing a striking look and bold color palette to the historic space. Set up for dinner, the rotunda was washed in colorful lighting projections, and lotus-shaped silk chandeliers hung overhead.

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the Mint Agency and its sister agency the Branding Bee hosted a series of premiere parties in a pop-up at 614 Main Street in Park City, Utah. As a subtle way to incorporate branding and signage from sponsors into the speakeasy-style decor, the production team used three bookshelves as step-and-repeats.

As part of a campaign to promote its brand to parents potty training their children, Pull-Ups put a 10-foot flushable toilet in New York's Times Square on Tuesday. To draw more attention to the oversize latrine, cheerleaders, stilt walkers, and jugglers staged a celebratory performance every time someone flushed.

At the P.G.A. Merchandise Show in Orlando January 24 to 26, Nike played off the name of its new Covert golf driver with an enclosed booth that created a sense of intrigue by requiring attendees to step inside to learn more.

As a contemporary interpretation of the Streamline Moderne style of the 1930s, the event team behind Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards designed the ceremony's stage with elements like a broken proscenium arch and vertical steel tubing that evoked the organ pipes of vintage movie theaters.

Designer and producer Tony Schubert of Event Eleven gave Sunday's People and Entertainment Industry Foundation SAG Awards After-Party in Los Angeles a romantic look inspired by the 1930s and 1940s. That included using soft antique white drapery, red roses, and two massive custom Deco chandeliers.

Beck's is promoting its new Sapphire Beer with arty pop-up activations in vacant retail spaces across the country and previewed the Chicago version on January 24. The brand gave the former Escada space on Michigan Avenue a sleek, black look, with a jewel-like installation from German designer and engineer Moritz Waldemeyer in the center.

Canada’s largest design fair brought more than 300 exhibitors to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre January 24 to 27. On opening night, Emily Quinn placed two half-dressed models with suggestively disheveled hair into a bed in its booth, a cheeky stunt that helped drive traffic.

Karla Conceptual Event Experiences used patterned linens and hanging lanterns as part of the Moroccan theme for the Humane Society of Greater Miami’s annual Pawpurrazzi fund-raiser. The January 25 event at Jungle Island benefited the Adopt-a-Pet program.

At the post-Oscars party at Hollywood & Highland on Sunday, two oversize Oscar statues stood sentry at the entrance. Mark Held of Mark's Garden matched the overall aubergine color scheme using orchids, artichokes, calla lilies, kale, and fern shoots as part of the floral decor.

MacFarlane hosted an Oscars after-party at the Lot in West Hollywood on Sunday. Inspired by old Hollywood, the event included a 30-foot chandelier and a 72-piece orchestra. The musicians played onstage under a dome meant to evoke the Hollywood Bowl.

At the premiere of 21 and Over in Los Angeles February 21, a 60-foot arrivals wall comprised some 3,700 red plastic cups. Stationed alongside the red carpet, the cheeky fixture served as a backdrop for press photographs of the film's stars.

A Fortune 500 telecommunications company hosted an incentive program in Miami last year. For the closing-night bash, Fourth Wall Events created centerpieces that froze individual roses in 75-pound blocks of ice.

For a Jordan Farmar Foundation benefit in Los Angeles February 7, Nathaniel Neubauer of Contemporary Catering designed a seven-course menu of foods inspired by childhood classics. Because the foods didn't require much silverware to eat, guests only had forks; other cutlery was playfully suggested with colorful blue drawings on the place mats.

Following the ING Miami Marathon January 27, Target sponsored a lounge with a 40- by 20-foot wall consisting of more than 12,000 motivational pins. The pins were printed with inspiring words such as "Champion" and helped promote Target's line of C9 by Champion athletic apparel.

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival took place February 21 to 24 in Miami. Evian's #EvianEats photo activation—which invited guests to "live young"—was a popular first stop in the center of the fest's Grand Tasting Village.

The charity held its annual "Big Night" event at House of Blues in Boston on February 9. The event included performances from two bands, so servers from the Catered Affair wore signage that labeled each item in case verbal descriptions couldn't be heard over the music.

As a catering idea for upcoming summertime events, Dandelion Ranch Events in Los Angeles produced an eye-catching spread with catering by Cooks County. The summery menu items included chopped salad, tarragon egg salad sandwiches with watercress and radishes, and ricotta pound cake with Meyer lemon curd and whipped cream.

In October, Chicago's Field Museum hosted the Maharaja Ball to celebrate the opening of the exhibition "Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts." The sumptuous invitation and envelope had preexisting designs—typically used for Indian wedding invitations—that the museum purchased from a firm in Jaipur, India.

For an event hosted by the Travel Channel, Levy Lighting provided a surround-sound video that let guests feel like they were doing what the channel does best: traveling. "The idea was to take guests to four locations around the world through projection," said Ira Levy of Levy Lighting. A floor-to-ceiling, wraparound screen formed a circle around the reception space at Center548 in New York, and the custom video shown here projected footage from Paris, India, Brazil, and New York City. Mary Giuliani Catering & Events handled production for the October event.

Van Wyck also provided decor for another fashionable event on March 13: the Vogue Eyewear launch. Held at a private manse in Beverly Hills, the event had a wall of colorful Mylar balloons that served as an unmissable step-and-repeat.