HBO’s SXSWesteros house promoted the cable network's hit series Game of Thrones and featured an interactive sword-playing game where attendees used Bluetooth-enabled swords to hit targets on a screen. Before the activity, participants posed for photos that were then incorporated into the game.
Samsung housed the “Insurgent Shatter Reality” virtual reality experience. Using Samsung VR technology, guests could visit the realm from the Divergent film series.
A large interactive table at the center FX’s Fearless Factory showcased the television channel's mobile app. Smaller tablets were built within side tables, too.
At the premiere party for the CW’s iZombie hosted by BuzzFeed, Emotiv headsets were provided to guests who were able to see their brain activities in response to eating different types of 3-D-printed candy made on the premises. Guests were allowed to email themselves a copy of their scans.
At the fifth annual Fast Company Grill, sponsor Toyota unveiled an Oculus Rift distracted driving simulator. Participants donned the device and sat in the driver’s seat of a Toyota and replicated a drive through an active and noisy street.
Users entered the Bose Southbooth, covered in mirrors and disco balls, and chose a single song to add to the official Spotify SXSW playlist.
Boffin’s Lab featured a demonstration of Leap Motion headset technology, where guests were taken on a virtual reality through a forest.
The department store featured a Twitter mirror in the artist area at its Make Some Noise house. Users were able to take photos of themselves, add additional content like text and drawings, and then tweet out the image through the brand’s Twitter account.
At General Electric's BBQ Research Center, participants put on color-coded brainwave scanners to see how their brains reacted while eating different barbecue cuts and sides.
Yahoo showcased the brand’s digital magazine content through projections on a cube set up near the entrance of the venue during the daytime. For evening events like the Community and Sin City Saints parties, images from the shows were shown.
Mophie helped rescue attendees with dying phone batteries by sending out St. Bernards with a Mophie power reserve unit within a barrel attached to the dog’s collar. Those seeking help had to take a screenshot of their dying battery screen as well as their location, and tweet at the brand. The St. Bernards were housed at the MophieRescue Lodge, where the products were showcased. The organization also worked with the St. Bernard Rescue Foundation to raise awareness of adoptable St. Bernards across the country.
Extending its Made by You initiative, Converse photographed professional portaits of attendees’ sneakers in the style of the ad campaign. The images were then displayed on screens in the space. For those who weren’t wearing the brand, lucky guests were given free shoes at random.
The premiere party for Unfriended, which was screened at SXSW, featured live streams of the current event throughout the space, alongside a Twitter feed of the party’s hashtag, mimicking the film’s plot centered on live video chats.
HBO’s Silicon Valley returned to the Mashable House with several activations, including Scheimpflüg’s Time Slice 360-degree photo booth, the images from which guests could email to themselves.
Guests came to the NVE-produced Nylon event on Sunday for a yoga session in the sun. It was part of an experience meant to revive guests with wellness activities and offerings after the hectic weekend.
Stoelt Productions produced the event, which offered a teeter-totter and snow cones.
Among the hotels to capitalize on the recent popularity of stand-up paddle boarding, Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, Florida, offers YOLO Boards, named after the anagram for “You Only Live Once.” The year-round beach activity takes about 90 minutes, including 15 minutes of instruction. Worried about less-than-athletic group members? Staffers swear the activity is easy to learn.
Bonaventure Resort & Spa in Weston, Florida, has a new teambuilding offering called Yoga on the Green. Held on its championship golf course, the 90-minute vinyasa yoga class can be modified for different skill levels. After the activity, guests can sip freshly squeezed juices and smoothies and nibble on healthy snacks.
Now available at all Westin Hotels & Resorts properties is the company’s New Balance running gear lending program. For $5, health-minded guests can borrow running shoes with disposable insoles, as well as a variety of jogging apparel like shorts, sports bras, and socks. Equipment-free, in-room fitness routines designed by celebrity trainer Holly Perkins and maps of local running trails are available as well.
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples in Florida is serving up healthy meeting break spreads, including the “VegOut” package which includes verrines, or layered appetizers, made with ingredients like harissa asparagus, tomato vierge, and truffle cauliflower; each verrine has fewer than 150 calories. The spread also offers house-made vegetable drinks made with fresh fixings such as pomegranates, wheatgrass, celery, and ginger root.
The Mandarin Oriental San Francisco has a yoga-centric breakout package for corporate groups. Held on the hotel’s 40th-floor sky deck, the session includes guided stretching and breathing and can last from 15 minutes to two hours. Staffers provide yoga mats, fresh towels, and water.
Located minutes from O’Hare International Airport, the Biggest Loser Resort in Chicago offers corporate wellness programs and teambuilding retreats. Expect activities like the “Smart Choices Challenge,” which has teams compete Family Feud-style to make healthy choices based on scenarios such as: “You are running through the airport and need a quick snack. Which has fewer calories? A: the CPK barbecue chopped chicken salad, or B: the McDonald’s grilled chicken Caesar salad?” (For the record, the answer is B.)
The Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida, can set up a teambuilding obstacle course on its 18-hole golf course. Participants run, jump, and crawl through hurdles while completing challenges such as spear-throwing, weighted-tire running, and climbing over eight-foot walls.
The Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, hosts plenty of sporty group activities, including kayaking. Dispatched in one- or two-person boats, guests are given certain teambuilding tasks to complete while paddling through the low-country waters. Quick “debriefings” are held at rest stops along the way.
At the Hotel Palomar Chicago, meeting guests can take a break on the sun deck and learn a local workout. Invented in Chicago, Barre Bee Fit is a popular exercise program that combines elements of dance, Pilates, yoga, and light weight lifting. The session typically lasts one hour; afterward, the catering team can provide healthy snacks such as fruit smoothies and baked tortilla chips with fresh salsa.
The benefit took place at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum on March 28. At a D.I.Y. photo booth, guests used selfie sticks to take their own photos. The activation was designed by sponsor Henry’s Photography.
Also among the weekend's big-scale parties was the Bootsy Bellows estate, where the logo and slogan of sponsor McDonald's backed a ball pit. The Narrative Group handled media, producing the party with support from ESE Lifestyle.
Topman, the British fashion brand that has a store on Michigan Avenue, brought back its "Live Screen Printing" activation. Guests could customize T-shirts or tote bags with a variety of prints.
As in previous years—and as at other music festivals—guests waited in long lines to receive the custom tote bags and T-shirts.
Ray-Ban and Vice magazine teamed up on an another custom T-shirt activation—but guests could bypass the line by participating in a musical activity. Anyone who stepped into a live recording booth and sang along to Aloe Blacc's "I Need a Dollar" got a pass to step right up to the station.
The T-shirts all said "Speak the Truth," and guests could customize the statements that were printed below. One guest elected to have printed: "I still have stuffed animals," while another chose, "I am in the fast lane following my dreams."
Several brands used games to engage Pitchfork-goers. Coffee brand Café Bustelo, for example, had a prize wheel at its Café Bustelo Experience. Depending on the section the wheel landed on, guests could take home branded sunglasses, fanny packs, or other goods. The activation was produced by BMF Media Group.
Dark Horse Wine also had a prize wheel at its tent in the V.I.P. area. Guests could win prizes including an entire case of wine.
On the festival's main grounds, the wine brand also had a tent where guests could apply silvery, temporary tattoos featuring Dark Horse's logo.
Local beer company Goose Island made custom periscopes, set back from the main stages, that let guests peer at the festival crowds near the stages.
Whole Foods hosted a miniature market selling fruits and other snacks on festival grounds. There was also a station with complimentary amenities such as sunscreen, hair ties and bobby pins, and scented sprays with labels such as "Mosh Pit Mint." A sign near the station read: "Refresh yourself before you wreck yourself."
Several brands created interactive photo opportunities. At one such activation, guests stuck their heads into a billboard advertising Lifeway Kefir. Nearby, the brand doled out free samples of its vanilla and green-tea-raspberry frozen Kefir bars.
Whole Foods' photo op let guests pose in bright frames that appeared to grow out of a garden box.
Who knew carpet samples could come in handy at a music festival? Chicago-based carpet company Flor handed out some 5,000 squares of carpet so that guests could make their own carpeted seating areas on the grass. When the weather turned stormy on Saturday, guests used the carpets to cover muddy spots on festival grounds.
Off site but near festival grounds, Soho House Chicago teamed up with food website and mobile app the Infatuation to host an Ice Cream Social for festivalgoers on Friday. The event included a complimentary D.I.Y. sundae bar, where toppings inspired by the hotel's eateries included melon, basil, and bits of apple pie.
Outside at a mini market, guests could design their own parasols to take along to the festival on the hot, sunny day.
Bring in a striking visual artist for an eye-catching new approach to a stale stage show. New York artist Charlene Lanzel creates images in sand on a light table. As she works, a camera projects her progress onto a screen so the audience can watch. Her standard performance is a 25-minute set of original designs, but clients can also request logos and other custom images. Fees range from $1,200 to $5,000.
