New Event Ideas

March 12, 2015

Britney's Show in Las Vegas

Just in time for 2014, Britney Spears debuted her show Britney: Piece of Me at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Marking the beginning of her two-year residency at the fully reconstructed Axis Theater, the pop star’s production is a compilation of more than 20 hits. It features a four-piece band, 14 dancers, elaborate sets, over-the-top costumes, and high-end technology.

Photo: David Becker

Healthy Meeting Snacks

As an alternative to serving unhealthy snacks such as muffins and doughnuts, Chicago company SnackItToMe customizes healthy snack boxes for meetings and events. “Our mission is to rework the corporate snack culture,” says founder Todd Barancik. Packs include whole-food goods such as pumpkin seeds and organic snack bars from small manufacturers. Items are all-natural, calorie-conscious, and preservative-free.

Photo: Courtesy of SnackItToMe

Cooking Classes in Boston

Farm & Fable is a new Boston shop that sells antique cookbooks and vintage kitchen goods. In a basement demo kitchen, owner Abigail Ruettgers hosts cooking classes for private groups of 10. Sample class topics include oyster shucking and beverage pairing, plus pies and tarts. The venue is also available for receptions of 40 guests.

Photo: Courtesy of Farm & Fable

Emoticon Cookies

Eleni’s Cookies in New York offers a new collection of emoji cookies that shows a variety of the expressive faces often used to illustrate texts and social media posts. Eleni’s can customize the treats with corporate logos and messaging.

Photo: Courtesy of Eleni's Cookies

Top-Your-Own Spaetzle

En Ville Catering in Toronto now offers a spaetzle station. A traditional German dish, spaetzle is a comfort food easily set up at meeting or event spaces with just a tabletop burner and a frying pan. Plus, it’s not frequently seen on event menus. The stations are staffed by chefs and let guests top their dishes with condiments such as savory whipped cream, spinach, and smoked bacon lardons.

Photo: Courtesy of en Ville Catering

Eclectic Rental Options

The Elements collection from Cort Event Furnishings includes eclectic rental decor pieces such as cages, candelabras, vintage trunks, and greenery. The line, available in Cort’s home base in the Washington area as well as nationwide, mixes materials such as rustic wood and metal furnishings appropriate for trade shows, meetings, or private events.

Photo: Courtesy of Cort

Hand-Fabricated Metal Decor

Enticing Tables designs one-of-a-kind metal event decor pieces in the company’s Southern California workshop. The collection includes uniquely shaped centerpiece and ceremony stands, cupcake and cake stands, and arches and chandeliers, and each item is fabricated by hand.

Photo: Courtesy of Enticing Tables

Las Vegas's Long-Running Revue

Jubilee, the longest-running show on the Las Vegas Strip, closed at the end of January and reopened in March after undergoing a major transformation under the direction of creative director and choreographer Frank Gatson Jr. Group tickets for the show at Bally's Las Vegas are available for 10 or more—but keep in mind, the showgirl revue is not right for every audience, so know your crowd.

Photo: Denise Truscello

Creative Cupcakes and Milk

Serve milk and cupcakes at your next meeting with an order from B Cupcakes, which opened a second location in Orlando suburb Winter Park in December. Among the bakery’s 20 daily flavors are sweet potato, salted caramel, and key lime, all based on owner Sheila Norton’s grandmother’s recipe. Milk comes in 10 flavors like toasted marshmallow and chocolate mint. Delivery is available.

Photo: Sugar Strung Photography

PGA Resort's Gourmet Food Truck

PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, offers a mobile gourmet food truck, which it’s calling iTruck. Designed to cater golf events, weddings, and other private gatherings, it serves fare such as lobster sliders, truffle fries, crab fritters, and burgers. The vehicle also caters off-site events.

Photo: Courtesy of iTruck

Illuminated Signage

For a new take on event signage, Ultra Vista Systems offers 3-D lighted signs. The Los Angeles company can customize signs with illuminated brand names, logos, or art in a lightweight and low-voltage design.

Photo: Courtesy of Ultra Vista Systems

On February 25, Ted Baker showcased its latest collection of womenswear, menswear, and accessories at Aire Ancient Baths in TriBeCa. To ensure the comfort of guests and anyone else in the bathhouse, the team had the venue cool down the space and the pools. On the wall above one of the baths, the organizers projected video from the campaign.

Photo: Erik Valind

The luxury bathhouse offered an unusual venue option and one that allowed Ted Baker to bring in synchronized swimmers.

Photo: Erik Valind

Another key image from the campaign is of models standing on water. To replicate that image, the producers spent time planning and preparing the installation of a clear platform inside one of the pools, a slightly more challenging task because the bath itself was not perfectly flat. Desan Productions also brought in floral elements—matching the hues of the blooms to those in the clothing—and added butterflies made of feathers in a nod to spring and summer.

Photo: Erik Valind

String quartet New York Virtuosi provided music for the event, playing pop songs such as Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe."

Photo: Erik Valind

Appropriately, items from the collection were displayed in the glass-walled steam room, placed on mannequins and elegantly arranged on the central marble seating area.

Photo: Erik Valind

To match the floral imagery in the campaign and the surreal feel to the event, caterer Creative Edge supplied a menu of small bites served with edible flowers, such as "mosaic of spring bloom canapes" that included crushed avocado, whipped white bean, Johnny-jump-ups, opal basil, and pansies.

Photo: Erik Valind

Other small bites from Creative Edge included citrus-marinated day boat scallops served on half shells with borage flowers and fennel. For cocktails, the menu incorporated drink sponsors: the Lemongrass Daydream was made with Hendrick's Gin, Harney & Sons amba lemongrass tea, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup; the Tippley Tea combined Monkey Shoulder Whisky, Harney & Sons Paris tea, peach nectar, and fresh lemon juice; and the Brit 75 was a concoction of Hendrick's Gin, Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup.

Photo: Erik Valind

The custom-built pop-up theater at TED was back for its second year. The space, from architect David Rockwell, was reassembled from thousands of laser-cut pieces.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

After getting sneak peaks of the day’s talks, visual artist Derek Cascio worked overnight to draw massive black and white murals of those themes onto the walls of the convention center with a dry-erase tool known as IdeaPaint. Then attendees added their own layers as the sessions got underway.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

TEDActive attendees seeking a break from the week’s activities—as well as a chance to reflect on the conference's hallmark "Ideas Worth Spreading"—could find downtime in a tranquil meditation room, where a lounge setup mimicked a campfire setting.

Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED

TEDActive offered a place for attendees to sit and be still, under open domes strung with thought-provoking hand-written signs.

Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED

In keeping with TED2015’s theme Truth and Dare, the Truth Booth offered different daily activities curated by TEDActive’s resident so-called "Truth Fairies."

Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED

Catering at TEDActive included deconstructed takes on bloody Marys served in shot glasses.

Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED

TED attendees used headsets to experience virtual reality, one of the hottest topics on the tech radar.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

TED Social Spaces included the beanbag seating—which has become a trademark of the conference—that encouraged creative thinking in a nontraditional, unstuffy environment.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Out-of-the-ordinary activities and experiences within TED's Social Spaces included the Harmonograph Swingset, a modern-day, hand-crafted timber swing that played off a 19th-century invention that recorded harmonic frequencies as visual art.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

The TED conferences encourage movement whenever possible, keeping attendees active and engaged, rather than passive.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Attendees were encouraged to stay hydrated in an eco-friendly way at a refilling station.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Oversize letters on both vertical and horizontal planes provided clean graphic decor at TED's Social Spaces.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Lollipop-style signage clearly lead the way to the TEDxChange dinner.

Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED

Thought-provoking social media prompts covered coffee cups served at TED's Social Spaces.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Messages regarding public health decorated raw wooden furnishings and decor within TED's Social Spaces.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Guests snacked on an elegant presentation of oysters at the TED Prize dinner reception on March 17.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Provide Plenty of Choices

“We launched the New York City Wine & Food Festival as the agency of record with Lee Schrager of Southern Wine and Spirits, which was our partner as well for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival for many years prior. Now the event has an in-house staff, as it should, but the first few seasons were tremendous undertakings for us, with not only the Grand Tasting Pavilions (pictured), but with events all over the city. We booked every single venue,” Herb says. Herb explained that having tons of choice, “a complete menu” to choose from for these multiday festivals, makes the experience richer for attendees. As an attendee of the event for the first few years, I remember some of the events were a little neater and tidier than others, but the scope and scale of the citywide undertaking was one that I realized was a monumental effort (and inarguably an instant success).

Photo: Courtesy of the New York City Wine & Food Festival

Get Guest Excited Before They Step Inside

I can imagine how excited I would have been as I approached the beautiful tent set up for the Breeders' Cup “Taste of the World” event, which is so striking from far away, and knowing that I was about to taste foods from all over the world. There is a certain kind of magic that happens, that I can personally attest to, when you are present in a setting where a number of the top chefs are all preparing dishes at once for your pleasure. And Herb Karlitz, is, in my opinion, the original and still reigning king of this medium. At the event, in addition to Bobby Flay, Herb fielded Raymond England of Craft, Masaharu Morimoto, Susur Lee—whom I love watching on TV—and Matthew Lambert, a hot up-and-comer, who had just opened the Musket Room in New York.

Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision for Breeders' Cup/AP Images

Think of the Event Entrance as an Airport Landing

One of the very best gourmet food events I ever attended was the Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs dinner, which featured 60 chefs from around the world. I had no idea who Herb and Karlitz & Company were when I attended. But I do remember the event being sublime from almost every point of view, including the entry tent, which was both beautiful and efficient. I asked Herb for his point of view about event entries. “I liken the experience of landing at an airport: check-in and coat check can be a real drag, so why not make it as pleasant as possible,” he explains. “First off, always overstaff both check-in and coat check. You can always shift them later if you don’t need them, but a wait at either can ruin the guest’s entry experience and will color their whole perception of the event. And why not bring a tray of champagne out front or serve them some appetizers?”

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Show Chefs the Big Picture

Herb shared with me a table seating chart for the Relais & Chateaux event, which only hints at the complexity of having 60 chefs preparing food at one dinner. The room as you can see was divided into segments, and the assigning of chefs is both a culinary and political tightrope. “We slaved over the assignment of chefs. Each grouping needed a superstar like a Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] or a Daniel Boulud, but you also need to balance the mix of American and international chefs, who may have been less well-known than their domestic counterparts, but just as, if not more prestigious,” he says. “One secret is to walk the chefs not only through their kitchen area, but through the others as well, to give them a sense of the whole event. Also, know that everyone will suggest a ceviche, because it is the easiest thing to prep on site.”

Photo: Courtesy of Relais & Chateaux

Train Greeters to be Helpful, not Decorative

While Karlitz & Company is known best for its multi-chef extravaganzas, the company does top-quality event work for all types of luxury marketers, evidenced by its multiyear relationship with Chanel. A few seasons back for a major anniversary, Chanel landed a spaceship/art exhibit in Central Park for a six-week series of private events and open-to-the-public-by-appointment viewings. Karlitz & Company was hired by (and continues to do projects for) Chanel for all of the front-of-house coordinating, including tour guides and security. “It was an extraordinary success, beyond Chanel’s expectations. The mostly male greeters were instructed to be friendly and informational, and held to an all-black wardrobe," Herb explains. Here, security guards kept watch over what must have been a very expensive handbag.

Photo: Adam Kaufman

Use Height to Make Tables Magnificent

One of the pictures that ran with my story about the Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs dinner a few years ago shows how beautiful the setting inside was and how really breathtaking a culinary dinner can be. What was so great about the tables was that they used slender floral vessels that did not block diners’ sight lines. But the height of the arrangements allowed them to hang hand-painted votives, creating a magical canopy of twinkling gold lights for each table that was magical.

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Share the Stage

At culinary events, chefs and restaurant pros are like everybody else, and they like to let their hair down once in a while, and dance and sing. I was really struck by the photo from the private concert for Kenny Loggins hosted by Kraft Food Services in Chicago during an annual trade show for one reason: the giant stage apron that allowed guests to get up and dance on the same level as the band. “We did this event for four or five years in a row, always with a comfortable and familiar name act, like Kenny Loggins or Crosby, Stills & Nash, where guests knew all the songs. Then we built out the stage at the Shakespeare Theatre and the Navy Pier in Chicago,” Herb tells me. “Allowing guests to get up on the stage gives them a real thrill; the trick is handling the talent so that they feel comfortable with an unusual setup.”

Photo: Courtesy of Karlitz & Company

Impress Chefs Where They Eat

Herb explains, “As Godiva becomes a larger global brand, they have to fight the perception that the brand is being diluted, with Godiva chocolates available in groceries and drug stores. Our job was to help them reassert Godiva’s position as top-quality chocolates, and to remind the foodie world that the company still has masters creating and testing new chocolates. This brunch we organized helped us [send that] message to the chef and fine foods markets.” The brunch was held toward the end of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and invitees included chefs and restaurant owners who were all in place and happily tanned, a target market that would otherwise be very hard for Godiva to get access to. The menu and wines incorporated or were designed to complement chocolate. Flowers were done by Pistils & Petals in Miami. Doesn’t the dazzling staging and towering height make you wish you were there and allowed to grab a truffle? Guests were encouraged to take as many truffles as they liked from the display when the event ended.

Photo: Courtesy of South Beach Wine and Food Festival

Build Careful Relationships With Elite Chefs

“We are perhaps most proud of the confidence and closeness of our relationships with the very top chefs both here [in the United States] and around the world,” Herb tells me. “We were thrilled when Bobby Flay recommended us to serve as organizers for what became an annual event, ‘Taste of the World’ on Breeders' Cup eve. We assembled a mind-numbing group of global chefs to prepare food for one of horse racing's most elite contests in California.” Those toques included Bobby Flay, who at the event took off his host hat and donned a chef’s jacket to do a demonstration of a pineapple-plated dish.

Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision for Breeders' Cup/AP Images

Get the Local Bigwigs Involved

The choice of Red Rooster for Herb Karlitz’s celebration was for a reason (I think I’ve learned that Herb doesn’t make any choices for dining or wine without a carefully thought-out reason): it was symbolic. In May of 2014, Herb Karlitz and Marcus Samuelsson announced the inaugural Harlem EatUp!, with no less than Harlem Resident-in-Chief Bill Clinton on hand to make the announcement. It also didn’t hurt to have New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio there as well. The festival, which will take place May 14 to 17 this year, will benefit Citymeals-on-Wheels. It looks like it will be a sprawling Harlem-wide affair, with over 20 separate events I can count so far already on the docket; the highlight will be “the Stroll.” “We didn’t want the same old grand tasting tent format,” Herb explains. “The Stroll will spread out in Morningside Park, with one tent each dedicated to food, culture, and art.”

Photo: D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Harlem EatUp! Festival

Offer More Adventurous White Wine Choices

At Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster nightclub Ginny’s for Herb’s 25th anniversary, there was so much food and wine to enjoy, and while I admired the 1990 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru Burgundy, I was just as impressed by a little white wine station. I mostly drink white wine at events, it is safer (I’m clumsy), but the lack of choice and indifference of selection mostly makes it a yeoman's job to hoist back the vino (though somehow I seem to manage). And really this is a mistake I see all too often at events of every kind where they offer you a commercial brand of pinot grigio or chardonnay that you see all the time. But the impressive little selection of whites at Herb’s affair—I tried them all—could only be surpassed by Herb’s dizzyingly precise explanation of how they were chosen, presented unedited and unproofread: “Two of the wines were ‘projects’ of somms, who are friends of mine: Raj Parr from San Francisco (worldwide wine director for Michael Mina) has Sandhi Chardonnay, which is wonderful. Josh Nadel, worldwide wine director for Andrew Carmellini has Ophelia Chardonnay. Quite different. One sees more oak (Sandhi), the other steel. Since the Bordeaux Wine Council is a sponsor of our upcoming Harlem EatUp! Festival, I thought it would be a nice touch to include a white Bordeaux, which was the Michel Lynch selection.”

Photo: Ted Kruckel

Sometimes a Simple Gift Is the Most Powerful One

At the end of Herb Karlitz’s soiree at Red Rooster, a mountain of François Payard boxes was the lovely send off. I don’t really eat dessert, but the beautiful presentation and simplicity at the exit was thought provoking. I couldn’t wait and opened mine in the taxi, three or four times, and finally decided, alone in the taxi with 10 minutes to go, why wait. I salute Master Herb on a masterful 25 years.

Photo: Ted Kruckel

Grilled corn on the cob with assorted toppings; roasted potato salad on chive sticks; watermelon cubes with feta and spinach; spinach salad with chopped eggs and microgreens in bacon cups; “hot dog” and “hamburger” macarons; and apple pie parfaits, by Windows Catering Company in Washington

Photo: Erika Rydberg for BizBash

Ahi tuna salad with pineapple-sesame dressing, greens, tobiko, and sambal aioli; cucumber rolls; hoisin duck salad with quinoa, wakame, and roasted vegetables; macadamia nut biscotti; coconut alfajores; and Absolut Ruby Red vodka, Soho lychee liqueur, and Patron Citronge cocktails, by Brûlée Catering in Philadelphia

Photo: Andrew Kahl for BizBash

Mac ’n’ cheese; chicken wings served with assorted sauces; kielbasas; Bavarian pretzels; and grilled chicken Caesar salad wraps, by the Garden at Studio Square NYC in New York

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Grill-ready clay pot kalbi, with marinated beef, soybean paste, fresh garlic, red leaf lettuce, vegetables, and kimchi, by Miss Korea Barbecue in New York

Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash

Chopped salad with salumi, provolone, fresh oregano, and red wine vinaigrette; tarragon egg salad sandwiches with watercress and radishes; and ricotta pound cake with Meyer lemon curd and whipped cream, produced by Dandelion Ranch Events with catering by Cooks County in Los Angeles

Photo: Bridget Kenny for BizBash

Bento boxes including chilled Italian antipasti, served with sangria with blood orange ice cubes, iced tea with lemon zest and mint, and Peroni beer, by Parkland Chef in Boca Raton, Florida

Photo: Andrew King/LuvRox Photography

Urban Picnic bento box including a chicken ’n’ waffles sandwich; a prosciutto, parmesan, and sherried fig jam sandwich; gazpacho in a cucumber bowl served with a pipette of vinaigrette and a dusting of avocado snow; a Caprese potato salad skewer; and a trio of sweet-and-savory suckers, by Truffleberry Market in Chicago

Photo: Tyllie Barbosa for BizBash

'Mad Men'-Inspired Corporate Event

In late January, Jodi Moraru of Evoke designed and planned a Mad Men-inspired corporate event at the National Building Museum in Washington. A lighting projection on the floor evoked the image of a falling man from the show's opening credits, while a black-and-white backdrop was inspired by Roger Sterling's office on the show.

Photo: Bryan Blaken/Freed Photography

'Mad Men'-Inspired Corporate Event

At the Washington event, servers in retro-style uniforms—and with 1960s-style hairdos— shook up martinis at mirrored bars.

Photo: Bryan Blaken/Freed Photography

'Mad Men'-Inspired Corporate Event

A cake at the Washington event was decked with iconic images from the show, including a suit and two martini glasses.

Photo: Bryan Blaken/Freed Photography

Carlson Wagonlit Travel "Thrive in Retro" Event

Following the Global Business Travel Association's annual conference in Boston last July, participating company Carlson Wagonlit Travel hosted an after-party at Symphony Hall. The event, produced by Kuoni Destination Management, had a "Thrive in Retro" theme inspired by Mad Men. Models dressed in sleek, '60s-style outfits carried doily-adorned cocktail trays of Manhattans and sloe gin fizzes.

Photo: Courtesy of Kuoni Destination Management

Carlson Wagonlit Travel "Thrive in Retro" Event

Snacks also matched the retro theme at Carlson Wagonlit Travel's after-party. Served in spoons, on square plates, and in decorative bowls, menu items included deviled eggs, Caesar-salad spring rolls, and B.L.T.-stuffed tomatoes.

Photo: Courtesy of Kuoni Destination Management

Canteen Vending Services' Branding Event

To introduce brand changes to employees, clients, and partners last August, Canteen turned Fulton's on the River in Chicago into a celebratory setting that would have made Don Draper feel right at home. Kehoe Designs handled decor, creating mod lounge areas in the company's signature colors of gray, lime, and emerald green. Each table held prop ashtrays and popcorn and truffle chips in mini fryer baskets.

Photo: Rick Aguilar

Canteen Vending Services's Branding Event

Passed snacks at the Canteen event included mini burgers with truffle aioli, cheddar, and onion straws. The retro-style bites were garnished with sandwich picks and cornichons.

Photo: Rick Aguilar

'Food & Wine' Best New Chefs Event

When throwing its annual Best New Chefs event, Food & Wine magazine usually opts for a new or recently opened location. But in April 2010, a Mad Men-inspired theme drove organizers to select a classic New York institution: the Four Seasons Restaurant. Organizers dressed the space with hanging feathered orbs, candles, and pink lighting.

Photo: Jessica Torossian

'Food & Wine' Best New Chefs Event

At the Best New Chefs event, a centerpiece of blue plumage dressed up the main bar.

Photo: Jessica Torossian

Macquarie Private Wealth Cocktails for a Cause Fund-Raiser

Macquarie Private Wealth hosted a Mad Men-inspired cocktail party in Toronto in the fall of 2011. Kim Graham and Associates produced the event and incorporated the 1960s into every aspect, including the menu. Appetizingly Yours served hors d'oeuvres on picture frames so that guests could see descriptions of each dish. The baked new potatoes were made to look like deviled eggs, a popular dish in the 1960s.

Photo: Josh Fee for BizBash

Macquarie Private Wealth Cocktails for a Cause Fund-Raiser

Bartenders and servers wore blazers and bow ties to match the Mad Men theme.

Photo: Josh Fee for BizBash

AMC's 'Mad Men' Third Season Premiere

At AMC's public screening of the show's third-season premiere in Times Square in 2009, staffers dressed as cigarette girls passed out popcorn to costumed fans.

Photo: Stuart Ramson

Diffa's Dining by Design

At Diffa's Dining by Design in Chicago in 2008, Eastlake Studio's table for Geiger International had a Mad Men vibe, featuring ashtrays, martini glasses, and a decidedly retro wood veneer.

Photo: Barry Brecheisen for BizBash

The lounge was actually a shipping container. When unfolded, the container became the lounge’s floor, and Plexiglas panels were added on site to create the walls and ceiling.