SmartHunts are iPad-based activities offered by Best TeamBuilding. Teams perform challenges, solve clues, and answer trivia questions, which can all be customized for the group. Participants also capture video and photos throughout the activities that can be shown at the conclusion of the event and shared through social media. SmartHunts feature two-way messaging so teams are connected with the hunt coordinator, who can track players using GPS and download photos and scoring. Themes include Amazing Chase, Mission Possible, Da Vinci Code, and an Event Kick-Off SmartHunt for conferences. Each hunt takes about three hours.
TeamBonding offers five “Smartphone Scaventures,” in which players use the company’s mobile app to search for items, complete tasks, and snap photos. Teams earn points based on activities completed and the quality of photos. Hosts can create a mission list from a bank of more than 100 options—such as asking participants to play “human limbo”—or they can design their own activities. Teams can compete against one another from multiple locations, whether in different cities or different countries. Each hunt takes about three hours to complete.
Go Game uses smartphones to guide players through a series of challenges. Teams of as many as 10 players are sent on a course to solve puzzles and complete tasks within a game zone, which could be a few city blocks or a convention center. Players complete missions by submitting digital photos and text answers through the phones. Examples include a National Mall game in Washington that asks players to locate specific buildings and answer questions about memorials. Go Game also provides costumed actors that interact with participants throughout the hunt. The game ends with a presentation of the photos and videos, which the host also receives on a USB drive.
Wise Guys Events offers “Clockwise,” a cell phone scavenger hunt played with QR codes. Teams of as many as 10 players race against the clock to discover and decode 12 QR codes hidden within the game zone, usually a few city blocks. The codes may be located on a bike parked on a city street or on matchbooks players receive after giving a password to a bartender. When players scan the QR code, they get a password worth points at the end of the game and also instructions on how to complete an optional challenge for bonus points. Each hunt takes about four hours.
GooseChase is a D.I.Y. scavenger hunt platform. Hosts can choose from options in the “mission bank” or create one from scratch. Each mission has a set point value and can have images and links attached to it. Participants submit photos through the app as proof of completing each mission, which could include convincing a stranger to demonstrate a favorite yoga pose. Organizers can monitor the activity through the “Hunt HQ” on the GooseChase Web site and award points based on the submitted photos.
SCANVenger hunts are played using QR codes that can be placed throughout a venue, in an exhibit hall, or among a few city blocks. Players scan the codes and answer questions to earn points. Questions can be customized, for example, to quiz players about content learned at the event. Participants can also view the leaderboard on their devices, adding to the competition. SCANVenger also offers an interactive game wall—an 8- by 10-foot display of 30 QR codes—for hosts that want to offer a game without a physical hunt.
Wildly Different offers a hunt known as “Recess Anyone?” as well as custom hunts based on a client’s theme. Signs with riddles are placed throughout the hunt area. Teams or individuals use their smartphones to scan a QR code on the signs that leads them to a Web site with additional clues to answer the question. Hosts can determine how to set up the hunt: as a break between education sessions, a networking tool during a reception to encourage interaction, or as a way to get people moving around a trade show by placing clues in exhibitors’ booths.
American Outback’s “Wild Goose Chase” scavenger hunt sends players on missions that vary from wacky—like kissing a lobster—to customized to match the event’s theme, location, or objectives. Teams access the missions using the company’s app, and the list can be completed in any order. The hunt can be played in a few hours or over several days during a conference. Players can view a leaderboard in the app to increase competition.
Stray Boots offers trivia-based walking tours of popular meeting destinations around the country, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, and Las Vegas. Players use their cell phones to complete challenges, solve riddles, and take photos, and they earn points along the way. Each activity includes interesting facts about the destination. Tours can be played via the Stray Boots app, text message, or on a mobile browser. For multiple teams, the game can be arranged so teams experience the same tour but take different routes.
The 20-foot lighted fountain, known informally as the "mushroom," provided a cool break from the heat of the day, as well as a place to shower. There was also a Ferris wheel that offered attendees a fun ride and great views.
At the opening party for the Canadian Special Event Show last March, Bucket & Whisk created a carving station with five-pound gummy bears instead of beef. In flavors such as “Rare Cherry” and “Well Done Cola,” the giant candies had cheeky signage that advertised features such as “organic-raised” and “hormone-free.” The event was produced by the Idea Hunter.
Over the summer, Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa in California launched the Lemon Break. The catering package includes a lemonade display replete with lemon tarts, lemon sorbet, lemon candies, lemon confit, lemon drops, lemon shooters, lemon chiffon cakes, lemon crème brûlées, and more thematic treats.
At the Chicago AIDS Foundation's World of Chocolate event in 2009, the Signature Room at the 95th served vanilla-and-cinnamon-spiced hot chocolate in pipettes.
At the James Beard Awards in New York in 2007, Allison Vines-Rushing served banana pudding brûlée with cat's tongue cookies in mini glass jelly jars.
To promote the final season of Dexter last year, Magnolia Bakery concocted a gory treat to honor the show's namesake sociopath. The Killer Cupcake topped red velvet cake with spattered caramel "blood" and "glass" shards made out of sugar.
At a Lollapalooza party in 2009, Limelight's passed desserts included mojito-flavored lollipops and an array of glittery confections dubbed "Bedazzled Bonbons."
Boston’s Roxy’s Grilled Cheese can park its truck outside meeting venues. Or, the staff can set up an in-office build-your-own grilled cheese bar with toppings that go beyond childhood basics like sliced tomatoes—think roasted chorizo, applewood bacon, and guacamole.
For a camp-theme event last year, KG Fare Catering & Events offered a mess-free take on s'mores by displaying the gooey treats on clothespins.
At Stella McCartney's Electricity-Free Carnival in New York in 2012, a mac 'n' cheese station was set up as a two-part offering: guests could either select a mini serving on a spinach cone from a Ferris-wheel-shaped stand, or opt for a full cup that could be customized with toppings such as veggie bacon bits, truffle oil, jalapeños, scallions, or sriracha sauce.
At Washingtonian magazine's AT&T's Best of Washington party in 2012, Amaryllis designed the space to evoke the ambiance of a vintage ice cream parlor. Ted's Bulletin offered samples of its homemade Pop-Tarts—cinnamon and brown sugar, strawberry, and chocolate—that the company displayed in tall glasses filled with each flavor's ingredients.
At the Washingtonian event, Patrón served boozy desserts like whoopie pies and cake pops at its customized bar.
Spin-Spun (which was formerly called "Spun") is a Chicago catering firm that specializes in cotton candy. Using organic sugar and either organic or natural flavors, founder Seth Bankier spins the treat in nearly 20 flavors including bacon salt, salted caramel, lemon-coconut, and truffle oil.
To celebrate a year of partnership, Honest Company and Target hosted an event together in Los Angeles in April. Caravents produced and designed the event in a residential-like space, where even products as unsexy as diapers got an elegant presentation in the form of wreath-style wall art behind a seating group where Jessica Alba gave interviews.
In February, while Chicago was in the throes of winter, event space Hub Studio Loft hosted a grand opening party that created a summery environment capable of inspiring guests to venture out in the cold. A section of the event space included a tiki bar offering up "Puka Punch,” which guests sipped amid miniature palm trees, umbrellas, and Astroturf for mind-over-matter warmth. Flowers that evoked a tropical climate sat upon tabletops covered with sand and seashells.
Heal the Bay hosts a fund-raising gala each year, but it had identified a past problem with losing guests’—and donors’—attention in a disconnected environment. So this year, for its 30th anniversary, the environmental nonprofit worked with Events by Fabulous to tweak the layout so it would feel more intimate and inclusive. That meant a new stage design and program meant to draw an emotional response from guests by showing high-res video stories of the honorees and the mission of the charity, rather than by way of a speaker with a microphone. Beyond that, the team also created a multistage arena, with a catwalk that led into the center of the crowd and two additional satellite stages for performances that could better distribute the action within the event space.
Pandora hosted a free invitation-only concert event in Los Angeles known as Summer Crush—in the middle of a 100-degree heatwave in August. Anticipating the weather, the team worked with AEG and city planners to secure the L.A. Convention Center West Hall for offsite check-in and holding out of the heat. Organizers also arranged for 18 self-contained misters, a water truck on standby, and a Chevron activation in the form of a mini gas station with custom-designed pumps that distributed water into branded bottles.
As part of Herbalife’s 35th anniversary conference in St. Louis in July, producer Sterling Engagements located a venue that would represent cost savings from the company’s original selection. The group landed at the historic Union Station, a train station-turned-hotel and event venue with features including a broad staircase. Rather than locate the stage out of the way, Sterling set up a stage that incorporated the staircase as a dramatic backdrop.
The Anime Expo is the most densely populated convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and contends with massive crowds. Among its adaptive strategies are line areas marked out with tape, shoulders in the hallways, and a new mobile app that demonstrates how many people have signed up for an event or panel prior to the expo.
For this year’s Playboy and Mini Super Bowl event in Scottsdale, producer the Visionary Group had to place a vehicle for Mini Cooper onto the second-story pool deck of the W Hotel. Without a way to drive the car onto the rooftop, the crew hoisted the vehicle onto a crane lift and spent two rainy hours carefully lifting the car over the deck and placing it into position within the 18- by 18-foot footprint. The entire build was finished and approved within six hours, including the 16-foot-high three-dimensional backdrop behind the car, which would complete the Playboy Mansion photo booth façade.
When Fox Searchlight premiered its movie Juno in Los Angeles in 2007, the party went with a changing-seasons theme to underscore the main character’s developing pregnancy. The wintry section of the event took over the outdoor space, covering the Westwood sidewalk in white carpet and faux snow. That camouflage allowed the team to cover the existing parking meters in white fabric, rendering them almost imperceptible to guests.
For the UrbanDaddy/Grey Goose Summer Soiree in New York in August, the hosts entertained guests with lawn games, large sculptured topiaries, and string lights for a French backyard feel. For an efficient use of the event space, the team folded up a step-and-repeat after the event was underway, and revealed a crepe station for dessert in its place.
For its 2011 gala in New York, the National Center for Learning Disabilities used the vertical pillars in the space to its advantage, rather than viewing them as obstacles. Designer Bronson van Wyck created custom column wraps printed with colorful logos and key messaging about the group's mission. In addition to brightening up the room, the columns also served as places to affix screens that improved guests’ view of the evening’s presentations.
For the New York launch of Vevo in 2009, performances came from Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga. To keep things moving swiftly and keep the evening’s timeline on track, the musicians' gear was placed on rolling platforms, which a crew removed during a brief interlude and ushered off to a sidestage area.
The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago hosted its annual gala this year during what turned out to be the wettest June in Illinois history. In addition to tenting the terrace area of the party space, organizers took the extra step of securing umbrellas for guests to use as they checked in, to set a tone for hospitality.
The 15th annual Boobyball, which raises funds for Rethink Breast Cancer, took place October 14 at Rebel in Toronto. Produced by Rethink's event team, the event had a tropical "Paradise City" theme and featured an oxygen bar from Element Oxygen Bars.
Experimental food, design, and technology studio BevLab offered guests edible sugar balloons.
To celebrate the start of the 2016-2017 basketball season, the N.B.A. partnered with Mountain Dew to install 40-foot-tall branded basketball installations for fan events. The installations, which were designed by Firstborn and fabricated by Inflatable Design Group, came to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on October 21, the Wynwood Art District in Miami on October 23, and the Public Square in Cleveland on October 25. The event series was produced by FreemanXP.
On October 24 at Sony Square NYC, Sony Pictures Television debuted two immersive "escape games" based on its NBC dramas Timeless and The Blacklist. Open to the public through December 2, the interactive experience allows participants to step inside the world of one of the two shows by becoming a character and participating in a storyline that involves solving a critical mission within 10 minutes. The experience, which was created by LeadDog Marketing Group, incorporates Sony technology in both challenges.
This year's Forbes Under 30 Summit took place October 16 to 19 at various locations in Boston. Event sponsor Ocean Spray created a cranberry bog in the middle of the Under 30 Village and invited guests to put on waders and step inside, where they could relax at a table and talk to cranberry growers about the future of food and farming.
The ninth annual Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented by Coca-Cola took place October 13 to 16. At the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite at Pier 94, scotch brand and festival sponsor the Glenlivet hosted its immersive traveling Dram Room whiskey experience in a branded structure. The Dram Room, which aims to educate consumers about Glenlivet scotch, showcased an aroma station in which guests could smell the brand's numerous scotch products.
At Barilla's Italian Table at Pier 92 on October 13, the pasta brand showcased a "Passion for Pasta" photo booth in which guests could dress up and pose behind outfits made with various types of uncooked pasta.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles's "Once Upon a Time" gala took place October 15 at the Event Deck at L.A. Live. Produced by Events by Fabulous, the event had a storybook theme brought to life by costumed performers.
The gala had a photo booth that included a fairytale story backdrop and props.
Hyatt Centric promoted its travel destination and exploration-focused "Sunrise to Sunrise" campaign with a pop-up vending machine that came to New York's Flatiron Plaza on October 20. Produced by Awestruck Marketing, the machine offered more than 1,600 travel-theme prizes to passersby if they posted their favorite destination on Instagram with the hashtags #HyattCentric and #Sweepstakes.
