1. Recipe sharing
IMEX, an organization that serves the global meetings, incentive travel, and event industry, launched its recipe card campaign in January. It's based on the idea that food is a global concept enjoyed by everyone, and therefore a recipe can be a great conversation starter. The organization invited six association partners to submit their favorite recipes that incorporate avocado, broccoli, blueberries, or pumpkin—all known as "superfoods." The recipes are accessible for free on the IMEX Web site and include the contributor's photo and a quote. The organization also hands out printed copies of the recipes in a flip-book format in its booth at trade shows as well as at events it hosts. It has also created the hashtag #IMEXRecipes to receive recipe submissions via Twitter and a dedicated Pinterest page. A spokesperson said the campaign will continue with new seasonal themes and additional recipe contributors.
Photo: Courtesy of IMEX
2. Dinner with Strangers
Since 2001, the Exhibitor Show has offered "Dinner with Strangers." The idea developed out of the recognition that many people came to the show alone and were opting to eat dinner in their hotel rooms rather than go out. Organizers make group reservations at about six restaurants for each night of the show. Sign-up sheets in the conference registration area list the restaurant name, type of food, average check, and reservation time. Attendees sign up—and then show up.
Photo: Courtesy of Exhibitor Show
3. Photo map
The Exhibitor Show also invites attendees to attach their photo to a large world map to indicate where they are from. The map was first used eight years ago and participation increases each year, reaching more than 500 photos from every state and 60 countries at the 2012 conference. Photographers are stationed at the map to take instant thumbnail photos of attendees. Organizers say the map is an easy conversation-starter as attendees look for others from their area or from cities where they have lived in the past.
Photo: Courtesy of Exhibitor Show
4. Dedicated networking destinations
When Mobile World Congress opens February 25 in Barcelona, the expected 70,000 attendees will find eight new venues created specifically to facilitate networking. The "Networking Gardens" are being created at Fira Gran Via, a large convention center that is the event's new location for 2013. To make it easy for attendees to designate a meeting place, each garden will have a name and corresponding decor, such as Mediterranean, water, wood, slate, tin, brick, glass, and greens (which has a putting area). Each one will also have a unique icon that is being used on signage in the gardens and also on print materials. The gardens are all located outside but will have partial cover in case of inclement weather. The first night of the conference, organizers will host simultaneous cocktail receptions in each garden as a way of introducing the concept to attendees.
Photo: Courtesy of G.S.M.A.
5. Pre-event social media contests
Metropolitan Events & Production created a pre-event networking campaign for the Makeup Shows in Chicago and Orlando last year. Organizers encouraged attendees to upload photos of themselves holding a sign that read "Meet Me at the Makeup Show" and their name, which could then be posted, with the event's hashtag, to Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. The idea was to create a sense of community and facilitate face recognition as people stepped onto the show floor. Organizers compiled the photos and shared them on the show's social networks. For the Orlando show in November, they added a contest, selecting one participant to win a gift bag.
Photo: Courtesy of the Makeup Show Chicago
6. Social networking apps
Nearly all attendees at trade shows and meetings are carrying some sort of mobile device. Social networking apps, such as Bizzabo and many others, allow them to use their phones and tablets to find each other and schedule meetings. Most of the apps ask users to sign in using their LinkedIn account, so the system can identify people with similar professional backgrounds and in some cases even suggest people to meet. Additional features with some apps include the ability to have private chats and to see future events for which those in attendance are registered.
Photo: Courtesy of Bizzabo
7. Photo contests
At I.B.M. Connect in January, the company created a Twitter photo contest to encourage the 5,000 attendees to interact with its "I.B.M. Champions," a group of about 75 bloggers, analysts, clients, and business partners who are active on social networks and voluntarily share their experiences with the company's products. The conference welcome packet included a yearbook-style page of photos of the I.B.M. Champions who were at the event. Attendees who took a photo with one of them and posted it to Twitter using the #IBMChamp hashtag were entered in a drawing for prizes. The Champion who had the most photos tweeted was also rewarded with a prize. Organizers met with the Champions before the conference to give them a deeper understanding of content, so they could reinforce key concepts as they interacted with attendees.
Photo: Mitra Sorrells/BizBash
8. Digital business cards
Add some fun and efficiency to the traditional exchange of information by giving your attendees a Poken. The device attaches to a lanyard or key chain and comes in dozens of conversation-starting designs such as a panda bear, a ninja, and a bumble bee (as well as a simple black-and-white model). The device uses near-field communication, so simply tapping two together exchanges the information stored on them, such as contact information, social network profiles, documents, videos, and Web sites. After the event, users plug the Poken into their computer's USB port to see all the people and information collected. It can also sync with mobile devices using the Poken app. Planners can create incentives for people to share their information by using the product's Game Pack.
Photo: Courtesy of Poken
9. Community service activities
More than 100 attendees from the Professional Convention Management Association's Convening Leaders conference assembled hygiene kits at Clean the World in Orlando in January. The kits were later donated to a local homeless shelter. Community service projects such as this provide an opportunity for event attendees to work together toward a common goal. For large events, planners can offer a variety of service options that attendees choose from in the registration process. The host city's convention bureau or destination management companies can help to identify community organizations that need assistance. If transportation is an issue, ask about projects that can be done within the meeting space.
Photo: Courtesy of P.C.M.A.
10. Scavenger hunts
Mashable hosts a two-day conference each spring at Walt Disney World. The event, for about 300 senior-level executives from digital firms, brand leaders, senior-level marketers, and entrepreneurs, ends with a social-media-based scavenger hunt. In 2012, the networking activity took place at Epcot, where teams of five attendees worked to identify things in the park based on a set of clues and then posted photos of their findings on Instagram, tagged with #Mashcon.
Photo: Michael Cummings & Dream In Pictures
The Shuttr selfie remote (from $39.99), available from Axis Promotions, is compatible with most phones and tablets and can trigger a photo from as far away as 30 feet. A logo can go above or below the Shuttr logo.
Photo: Courtesy of Axis Promotions
Evernote Notebooks by Moleskine ($29.95) are the first paper notebooks designed to create digitized versions of handwritten notes. Jot down notes on the specially designed pages, snap a picture with the Evernote app, and the page is instantly digitized for storage on all of your devices. The items are available from Scarborough & Tweed.
Photo: Courtesy of Scarborough & Tweed
After the California Science Center scored one of NASA's coveted orbiters, the museum made the Endeavour the centerpiece of its Discovery Ball last year. The event, which took place under the wings of the retired space shuttle, also displayed projections designed to transport guests into space.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
Centerpieces on some dining tables at the Science Center's ball looked like mini solar systems in glass bowls.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
The 1960s, the height of America's fascination with space travel, inspired the cocktail reception at the California Science Center ball.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
New York's Rumsey Playfield was the backdrop for the 2009 installment of the Central Park Conservancy's Halloween Ball. Large disco balls set atop urns reflected hundreds of spots of light onto the tent ceiling. The starry-night look was reinforced by projections of lightning bolts.
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash
A Star Trek-theme vintner dinner, part of the 13th annual Naples Winter Wine Festival last year, turned the living room of a private Florida home into the Starship Enterprise Control Room.
Photo: Mila Bridger
The celestial look for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy Governors Ball in 2010 borrowed from the night sky. Starry decor transformed the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center for about 3,600 guests. Sequoia Productions, headed by Cheryl Cecchetto, produced the ball, where astrological signs inspired some of the decor elements.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Glowing Centerpieces
In a nod to its exhibit on bioluminescent organisms, the American Museum of Natural History's junior benefit in 2012 featured bright lighting and glowing decor. Illuminated spheres and LED neon-colored wires decorated the dinner tabletops.
Photo: Denis Finnin/American Museum of Natural History
Floor Decor
At South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in 2014, event production agency MKG brightened up a dark room using neon masking tape and ultraviolet lighting, creating an edgy, Pop Art-inspired look for the party for online magazine xoJane.com. Upstairs, guests were encouraged to take selfies with mirrors; images were printed by the Bosco to add onto the Shameless Selfie wall and were projected in the main room.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Neon Directions
At AOL's NewFront in 2012, neon signage in the arrivals tent pointed guests toward the event entrance at Highline Stages in New York.
Photo: Phillip Angert
Hashtags
At the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay's Big Night on February 7, neon masking tape spelled out the event's hashtag. Corinthian Events handled the decor at Boston's House of Blues.
Photo: David Fox
Futuristic Lighting
For Sparkle Lounge on January 8, the annual client and vendor appreciation event from the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, the building’s signature Atrium space was transformed with futuristic lighting effects and angular graphics. Two sleek, minimalist bars flanked the space, which popped in shades of pink and purple.
Photo: Michael Bennett Kress Photography
For a holiday event for Herbalife, Sterling Engagements designed tabletop vignettes using metallic and glass objects in visually interesting and varied shapes.
Photo: Michael Hedden/Evoke Photography
At a screening of the James Brown biopic Get on Up in Washington in July, André Wells incorporated such objects as old-school-style microphones and records into floral centerpieces to channel the movie’s musical premise.
Photo: Courtesy of Andre Wells
Floral and event design company Amaryllis hosted an industry New Year's Eve party in Washington where a golden bust surrounded by an orb was part of an effort to weave in some statement-making European flair.
Photo: Kate Headley
For an event for Munchkin baby products in Los Angeles in November, Jeannie Savage of Details Details used toys on the tabletops to "evoke childhood memories," she said, for the bloggers, event planners, and influential mom guests in attendance.
Photo: Jessica Claire
At the Miami Heat Charitable Fund annual gala in January, A Joy Wallace Catering, Design & Special Events created a tropical-looking table with centerpieces comprising Mokara orchids, calla lilies, and roses with accents of blue thistle—all built around a 3-D acrylic cube that encased replicas of the three Miami Heat championship rings.
Photo: Cendino Teme Photography
For the 2010 St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School's sports-theme benefit in Washington, held in the school's gymnasium, centerpieces were oversize versions of athletic objects by commercial sculptor A.J. Strasser.
Photo: Stephen Elliot/Mud Productions for BizBash
The Bafta Los Angeles Tea Party, held on Golden Globes weekend in Los Angeles, used various decor pieces and objects to advance its British theme—including a Union Jack-splashed tea kettle holding white roses.
Photo: Angela Weiss/Getty Images for Jaguar Land Rover
During Golden Globes weekend this year in Los Angeles, W hosted an event at A.O.C. in celebration of its picks for so-called "Hollywood It girls." Covered glass dishes on the tabletops provided feminine flair alongside pink blooms.
Photo: Donato Sardella/Getty Images for W Magazine
At the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund gala in Bradenton, Florida, in 2007, coffee beans filled cigar boxes on high-top tables to match the event's tropical theme and mood.
Photo: Courtesy of Showorks Inc.
In what could be described as a meta interpretation of a traditional floral centerpiece, David Stark used twine to create flower-shaped centerpieces at the Museum of Arts and Design's Visionary Awards gala in New York in 2007.
Photo: Gustavo Campos
At the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design benefit in New York in 2012, David Stark's installation for Benjamin Moore used real books and hand-made pop-up books to highlight the concept behind the brand's slogan: “A whole new chapter in paint color technology is being written.”
Photo: Ronnie Andren for BizBash
In September, the renovated Riverside ballroom at Austin, Texas's Radisson Hotel & Suites Downtown opened with a food-centric event that saw produce contained in veggie cartons as decor.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Rock candy made for a more budget-friendly and unexpected—not to mention edible—centerpiece at Chicago's Children's Ball in 2008.
Photo: Barry Brecheisen for BizBash
An interactive garden can be set up in one 24-foot-long display or in two 12-foot-long sections. The tallest "flowers" are 60 inches high.
Photo: Courtesy of Moey Inc.
For Fox's premiere of its new show Cosmos, the network's creative services team produced an event in a transformed parking lot in Los Angeles's Griffith Park. In a Classic tent set as a screening room for the show's first episode, Kinetic Lighting created a cosmos-like look with full LED star draping. A Q&A session with the big-name folks behind the show, including Neil deGrasse Tyson and Seth MacFarlane, followed the screening.
Photo: Sean Twomey/2me Studios
In 2012, Toronto's Ontario Science Centre hosted its fund-raiser, the LG Innovators' Ball. In honor of the new exhibition “Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration,” the sixth annual gala had a retro “Fly Me to the Moon” theme. New sponsor Google created a Google Earth activation, where guests zoomed in and out of cities, shown on a series of screens.
Photo: Josh Fee for BizBash
The all-white lounge furniture included rocket-ship-inspired ottomans at the Innovators' Ball.
Photo: Josh Fee for BizBash
At the LG Innovators' Ball, motorized solar systems served as centerpieces for the high-top cocktail tables.
Photo: Josh Fee for BizBash
At a 2011 launch party for the book Sex on the Moon in Boston, space-suit-clad servers circulated with food. Held at the W Boston and co-hosted by Doubleday, the soiree took on an outer-space theme that echoed the book's subject—the true story of a NASA scientist, Thad Roberts, who served jail time for stealing moon rocks.
Photo: Melissa Ostrow
At the Sex on the Moon book party, the "Cosmo-naut" cocktail was alcohol-injected gelatin floating in a liquid chaser.
Photo: Melissa Ostrow
The opening gala for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, held at the Liberty Grand, took its space-age theme from the festival's opening film, From the Sky Down, a documentary about U2. Band members Bono and the Edge were among the attendees at the event, where audiovisual and lighting components served as decor focal points, thanks to a collaborative effort from Westbury National Show Systems and ESG Show Services. On TV screens, a looped video depicted surreal images of things like a mirror ball, the galaxy, and static.
Photo: Emma McIntyre for BizBash
At T-Mobile's “Tone-Def After-Party” during Coachella in 2009, Polite in Public set up a space theme—props included—at its photo station.
Photo: Polk Imaging/FilmMagic
In 2006, the National Geographic Channel presented a crowd of 400 media buyers a space-theme event in New York to promote the channel's space-related programming. A lunar rover and a life-size astronaut served as the focal points inside the venue.
Photo: Garett Holden Photography
Produced by Empire Entertainment, the National Geographic Channel's 2006 upfront also had an orbitron similar to the ones used in the Russian space program, which spun guests around to produce the same dizzying zero-gravity effect. (The activity was noticeably less crowded as the night wore on and more cocktails were consumed).
Photo: Garett Holden Photography
Sequoia Productions produced and designed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Ball after this year's Academy Awards. The event drew inspiration from nature, interpreting the theme into a glamorous look that included massive vertical garden walls from Mark's Garden and a starry ceiling designed by Larry Oberman in association with ELS.
Photo: Line 8 Photography. All rights reserved.
Photo: Courtesy of Made With Bind
Miniature bottles of Round Pond Estate’s olive oil and vinegars, $9 each, allow guests to take home a taste of Napa Valley. The 50-milliliter vessels contain artisanal flavors like Meyer lemon olive oil and Cabernet-Merlot vinegar. Items can be shipped throughout the United States and Canada.
Photo: Courtesy of Round Pond Estate
Say cheers with dressed-up gummies courtesy of Sugarfina. The delicate, sweet champagne bears, $7 per box, taste like sparkling wine, and are available in personalized packaging. Items can be shipped globally; same-day delivery is available in Los Angeles.
Photo: Courtesy of Sugarfina
Customize the two-bite macarons, $30 for a box of 12, from Dana’s Bakery with your event colors, favorite flavors, or stenciled imagery. The bakery ships nationwide.
Photo: Courtesy of Dana's Bakery
Veronica’s Treats will transfer any photo, logo, or business card to the top of fresh-baked cookies, $22.20 per dozen, which are glazed with white chocolate. The baked goods have a shelf life of two weeks and can be shipped anywhere within the United States and Canada.
Photo: Courtesy of Veronica's Treats
Made from scratch and dipped by hand, the customized cake pops from Haute So Sweet are available in a range of flavors such as cookie dough and vanilla rose champagne. Display towers, from $250, can be shipped nationwide.
Photo: Courtesy of Haute So Sweet
The small tin sampler, $5.50, from Tea Forté contains two silken tea infusers and comes in five different blend collections, including coconut and white tea. Orders can be shipped throughout the United States and Canada.
Photo: Courtesy of Tea Forte
The sweet four-piece sampler box, $7.50, from Laughing Moon Chocolates includes a mix of dark- and milk-chocolate-dipped truffles and buttercreams. Orders can be shipped throughout the United States and Canada.
Photo: Paul Rogers
Guests will gobble up the gooey goodness of Madyson’s Marshmallows. The individually wrapped, chocolate-dipped marshmallows, from $2, arrive topped with corporate logos and can be shipped nationwide.
Photo: Courtesy of Madyson's Marshmallows
Edible Gifts Plus offers take-out containers, $14.95 each, filled with six hand-dipped fortune cookies, which can be customized with an edible logo and matching sprinkles. Shipping is available nationwide. Correction: The price for the fortune cookies has been updated.
Photo: Courtesy of Edible Gifts Plus
Each custom logo s’more kit, $4.50, from Candy With a Twist contains all the ingredients—including a branded marshmallow—needed to put together the campsite snack. Kits can be shipped throughout the United States and Canada.
Photo: Courtesy of Candy With a Twist
Vosges Haut-Chocolat‘s truffle favor comes with two confections presented in a white customizable or plain purple box. Plus, the company offers expert chocolate concierges to help with your order. Orders can be shipped throughout the United States and Canada.
Photo: Courtesy of Vosges
Stackable Sensations' Saviour Universal USB Charger ($8.60 each for 50) can charge two devices at once and includes a logo display.
Photo: Courtesy of Stackable Sensations
Booze is a surefire hit as a take-home gift. Pinhole Press can create custom-branded bottle labels ($10 for nine; bulk pricing available) for wine or any other type of beverage.
Photo: Courtesy of Pinhole Press
Toast's engraved wood iPhone covers ($30; bulk pricing available) can be customized with logos and brand names.
Photo: Courtesy of Toast
The retro-style phone receivers ($30; bulk pricing available) from Native Union plug into most cell phones. A logo can be placed anywhere on the handset.
Photo: Courtesy of Native Union
The flap of the classic canvas-and-brown faux leather bags ($28.40 each for 24; additional bulk prices available) from Pinnacle Promotions can be debossed with a logo.
Photo: Courtesy of Pinnacle Promotions
GelaSkins offers cases (from $15; bulk pricing available) for a whole slew of tech gadgets. Simple logo designs can be ordered through the Web site; for orders or more than 100, GelaSkins' designers work with clients to create customized layouts.
Photo: Courtesy of GelaSkins
Fluf makes durable, reusable lunch and snack bags (from $18; bulk pricing available) that can be customized.
Photo: Courtesy of Fluf
Bikn ($130 for the set; bulk pricing available) from Treehouse Labs is a new tech-savvy lost-and-found system. Just place a tag on anything you don’t want to lose, and your phone finds it.
Photo: Courtesy of Bikn
A branded leather luggage tag and passport case ($83 for the set; bulk pricing available) from Graphic Image comes in several colors and embossed finishes.
Photo: Courtesy of Graphic Image
Earbud headphones ($6.82 each for 100) from Empire Promotional Products come in a customizable container.
Photo: Courtesy of Empire Promos
Baggu offers a range of carryall bags, including the recycled cotton canvas Duck tote ($24; bulk pricing available) that can be screen-printed.
Photo: Courtesy of Baggu
The “Facing Center” iPad centerpieces from Keep Interacting allow organizers to incorporate photos and other information into an event’s table decor. Launched earlier this year, the iPads display a slideshow of photos, product images, sponsor information, or other content provided by the event’s host ahead of time. Then, at the event, the company provides a photographer to take photos that are instantly added to the display. Using the touch screens, guests can also share the images on social media, send them via email, and order printed copies to pick up from a kiosk on site.
Photo: Courtesy of Keep Interacting
At a 50th anniversary party for Dior Nails, 2013 BizBash Innovator Garin Baura created a performance-art-style centerpiece inspired by artist Holten Rower’s layered, colorful poured paintings: As various courses came out, staffers also served platters of brightly hued flowers which were scattered onto the all-white table. “People were taking flowers and throwing them around—it loosened things up and made the dinner experience more playful,” Baura said.
Photo: Courtesy of Baura New York
The 13th annual Friends of the High Line benefit, held at New York’s Pier 57 in May, centered on photographs of the High Line taken through the years. In lieu of the event’s usual foliage-heavy centerpieces, printed photographs were scattered atop raised Lucite platforms, which were eventually also used to hold the night's family-style dinner platters.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
In Miami, the dinner tables at a Star Trek-theme vintner dinner—one of 17 celebrity chef-helmed events at private homes held as part of the 13th annual Naples Winter Wine Festival in January—offered centerpieces with iPads embedded on the sides that displayed the evening’s menu, updating as each course was served.
Photo: MIla Bridger
At the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Butterfly Ball in Chicago in May, the gala had a farm-like atmosphere. Tables were decked with miniature gardens potted with tomatoes, colorful peppers, asparagus, and kale; around the centerpieces, fairy lights in miniature Mason jars added to the elegant yard-party vibe.
Photo: Steve Becker/beckermedia.com
At the 125th anniversary gala for the National Geographic Society in June, the “Land, Sea, and Sky” theme inspired an array of custom tables and toppers, including glacier ice sculptures. Select Lucite tables were not topped with any decorations, but instead held water and plant life, or natural objects like seashells.
Photo: Robert Isacson
Instead of centerpieces, David Stark Design created lazy Susans rimmed in white LED lights that made sharing the antipasto easier at New York’s Robin Hood Foundation benefit in May.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Fifteen fashion and interior designers each designed their own table at the Partnership With Children’s Gala in April. Interior design firm Paul and Martha L.L.C. created an attention-grabbing tabletop by using a $90,000 sculpture of pink roses as a centerpiece. Created by artist Will Ryman, the oversize flowers were made of materials including plaster, paint, and aluminum mesh.
Photo: Andrew Fitzsimons/PatrickMcMullan.com
The Starlight Children's Foundation hosted its Starlight Gala, sponsored by Toys "R" Us, at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel in April. The event’s circus-inspired ideas included dinner tables topped with miniature Ferris wheels that held cupcakes with colorful frosting.
Photo: George Pimentel Photography
Centerpieces were appropriately made of glowing, vintage photo slides at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Snap Gala in October, which benefitted the Photography Gala Fund.
Photo: Julia Stotz
Centerpieces at the Whitney Museum of American Art gala, held in October, encouraged playful interaction, featuring silver paint cans holding breadsticks and also Sharpie markers that guests could use to draw on the canvas tablecloths.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
In March, guests at the California Science Center’s Discovery Ball dined under the wings of NASA’s retired Endeavour space shuttle. In keeping with the space exploration theme, illuminated tables were topped with celestial decor elements like mini solar systems in glass bowls.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
Russell Simmons’s Art for Life benefit, held in the Hamptons in July, featured an idyllic theme—“Field of Dreams”—that came to life in the whimsical centerpieces. Floating kites suspended over each table and anchored to wheatgrass flats had colorful signs on their tails that held the names of artistic vocations such as “dancer” and “poet.”
Photo: Johnny Nunez
Held in April, the Catalina Island Conservancy Ball’s campfire theme was reflected in the decor, which included centerpieces of illuminated apothecary jars filled with the makings of a classic campsite snack: s’mores.
Photo: Shana Cassidy Photography
Rows of paper rectangles spelled out "in" words at the Boston Brigham Women's Hospital "In Party" fund-raiser in September. Upon closer inspection, the centerpieces listed facts about the programs the fund-raiser would benefit.
Photo: Avirian Levy for BizBash
