AMNH GALA

Zkipster is a service to manage guest check-in on iPads at private events. It launched last year in the United States following a European debut in 2011. Users upload their guest list on a Web platform and then access it at the event through an iPad app; it takes an average time of two seconds to check in a guest at an event with 750 people. Hosts can edit the guest list in real time and send email and text alerts when specific guests arrive. After the event, the system can generate data such as the time that people arrived, which can be helpful when planning staffing for future events. Clients include Hearst, HBO, Hugo Boss, and the Whitney Museum. Future updates will allow each guest to be identified with a photo rather than just a name. Pricing can be done on a per-event basis for $75 or as a subscription for $750 for four months or $2,000 per year.

Blyve is a platform for live online events. The system is intended for companies to host interactive online events: for example to launch a new product, share educational information, or conduct training. Walgreens has used Blyve to host an interactive chat on beauty tips, with the link to the chat embedded on the Walgreens Web site. The system has interactive features such as polls and moderated Q&A functions. A Twitter widget allows hosts to search for tweets about the online event and then invite the people who tweeted to join the conversation. The platform can also integrate media from Ustream, YouTube, Instagram, and other services. Hosts can use the platform to generate revenue by including ads or offers from sponsors. Pricing is either per event or, for recurring events, based on the number of participants.

Postano is a tool used to display social media feeds online or at an event. The system aggregates content from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, and more based on specific account names or hashtags. Hosts can monitor the content before it is shared through the system or have it instantly displayed. The Postano display can be designed with custom colors, logos, and animations, and it can be shared through Facebook, a Lightbox widget, on a large screen, or on a touch-screen monitor. At Dell World in December the company used Postano to display a live feed of content from several conference hashtags during remarks from C.E.O. Michael Dell and elsewhere at the event. Additional Postano clients include Tiffany & Company, Microsoft, and Nine West. Pricing starts at $5,000.

Emobile is the newest product in the suite of event management software from Etouches. The tool allows users to design, test, and publish their own Web-based mobile app through a simple drag-and-drop interface. The product is integrated with other software from the company so planners can import data such as agendas and directories of speakers and attendees. In addition, attendees can use the app to communicate with one another. For now, Emobile creates a Web app that can be downloaded by scanning a QR code. In April it will become available as a mobile app for iOS, Android, and other platforms. The product is a $500 add-on to the Etouches software package.

When EventMobi launched in 2009 as one of the first do-it-yourself app creators, it was primarily a digital show guide. Since then it has been updated with interactive features. The latest updates, which begin rolling out in February, will give planners the ability to communicate with subsets of attendees—for example, to invite V.I.P.s to a private dinner or send an alert to all exhibitors. EventMobi is also adding a private real-time chat function for attendees so they can use the app to initiate meetings or networking.

The Web app Eventstagram creates a real-time slideshow of photos taken at an event and shared on Instagram. The product launched last fall, and both the Los Angeles Auto Show and the Houston Auto Show have used it to share photos from their events on large screens. Planners create a free account on the Eventstagram Web site, indicating the event dates, its hashtags and location, and the desired speed and animation of the photos. At the event the Evenstagram feed can be displayed on monitors or large screens. It’s free to display as many as 100 photos for a total of one hour (the time can be allocated in increments). For $50, planners can display 1,000 photos for six hours and also have moderation capability. Eventstagram will soon offer an option that accommodates more photos and time, a higher degree of moderation, and an online editor so users can fully customize the display with logos and sponsor slides.

Giant balloons suspended from the ceiling served as the focal point at the DX Gala. What's more is that the color-washed room was updated with a new hue with each course.

Menu cards at an event designed by Canvas & Canopy were held by ceramic hands.

Decor at the Children's Aid Foundation's Teddy Bear Affair came in the form of season-inspired vignettes—for spring, guests saw clear umbrellas with glittering beads as rain.

Los Angeles-based artist Jorge Pardo created special-edition lanterns to hang above the tables at the Hammer Museum gala.

For a wedding at Union Station in Los Angeles, Sterling Engagements displayed escort cards printed to look like train tickets inside vintage suitcases.

At a Los Angeles event, guests were invited to create their own custom fragrances at a flower-dotted scent bar.

For a birthday party, Kristi Amoroso Special Events designed a vodka shot bar that displayed bottles in a sculptural arrangement of textured ice spheres.

Designed by Bold American Events & Catering, upside-down centerpieces of tulips and glass globes hung overhead at a wedding at the King Plow Event Gallery in Atlanta.

Inspired by an English picnic and styled with rustic elements, the V.I.P. area of this year's Power Ball in Toronto had loading pallets that served as banquette seating and cocktail tables. Tufted velvet couches and colorful pillows rounded out the mix.

To match the Mexican hacienda-inspired look of its New York event in May, Don Julio used authentic tequila barrels as part of the decor, including tables set up in the outdoor terrace.

Colorful and family-friendly games, including hopscotch, were offered at a block party held by Sunglass Hut to celebrate the opening of its largest outpost in Miami.

In keeping with the carnival theme, the Stella McCartney Resort 2013 presentation in June put mac and cheese bites on a miniature ferris wheel.

The 2012 color of the year, orange, was paired with hay and chevron patterns at a Belvedere-sponsored event during the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

For summery, garden-inspired events, LoLo Event Design offers hand-painted handkerchiefs that can serve as table numbers and be paired with potted centerpieces.

For a beachy vibe, LoLo Event Design created message-in-a-bottle place cards.

The festive, laid-back setting for Univision's Deportes launch earlier this year came courtesy of a taco truck and wooden picnic tables.

Luxe Event Rentals & Décor's handmade paper-flower walls, showcased at last year's BizBash New York Expo, can be customized in different colors and function as room dividers, stage backdrops, and back-bar displays.

Hanging beach balls formed a colorful chandelier at a party created by Swank Productions.

To help guests get to know one another, Mélangerie makes customized wedding genealogy charts that double as seating maps.

Brooklyn-based Instaprint printers print out Instagram photos taken at a certain location or marked with an event-specific hashtag.

The tables at a graffiti-themed bar mitzvah designed by David Stark Design and Production, held at Center 548 in New York, displayed arrangements of daffodils and ranunculuses sprouting from cinder block planters.

Mélangerie Inc.’s customized wedding genealogy charts detail the relationship of the wedded couple to their guests with the help of a relationship key. Guests browse the chart during the cocktail hour to learn about their tablemates.

To create a splashy entrance, Dearfoams mounted large posters of its new marketing images.