Annual Dinner 2016

Sponsor names appeared on the back of ghost chairs at each sponsor's table.

Artist Shala created a piece of original artwork at the event, which was auctioned off for $8,000 at the live auction. The artist encouraged guests to participate in the creation of the piece by having them sign their names on it.

Large graphic table numbers provided the bulk of the decor during the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's National Design Awards gala in 2011.

The new floor plan included a multistage setup with catwalks for performers.

Whisper dinner plate, $2.50, and lunch plate, $1.75; recycled clear napkin ring, $2.85; Cirque Jewel napkin, $2.40, available nationwide with delivery fees from Party Rental Ltd. Bossa Nova glass charger and Corrine wine glass, prices upon request, available in the mid-Atlantic region from All Occasions Party Rental. Knotted flatware, $6.50 for a set of 10 pieces, available throughout the East Coast from New England Country Rentals.

At the long-term pop-up Samsung Studio L.A., hosts Bill and Giuliana Rancic partnered with Top Chef's Marcel Vigneron to lead guests through a cooking experience. The chef used Samsung appliances in the pop-up kitchen for the cooking demo, and attendees followed along using appliances at their own long tables arranged classroom-style.

As guests arrived at Samsung's event, they borrowed Galaxy S6 devices for the evening, which they could use to capture photos of themselves in action. Then staff prepared and sent guests home with customized cookbooks using snaps from their experience on the same night and featuring the recipes they helped make.

Spirits brand Patrón has held dozens of interactive cocktail events around the country, including mojito and margarita making. “A lot of my events are not my own, so I have to come alive [as a sponsor] in someone else’s event. So how do I get people talking about my brand?” said Patrón planner Pam Dzierzanowski. She said these experiential programs are the answer: “I’ve done these all over the country for years. People will stand in line for 45 minutes—I’ve never seen anything like it."

Among the components of Patrón's cocktail-making experiences is a personalized takeaway of a muddler, juice squeezer, or other bar tool guests used to make their drinks at the event.

To kick off the summer season right before Memorial Day weekend this year, Captain Morgan hosted an event in Los Angeles where guests formed three teams for a mixology competition using an array of available ingredients as well as the brand's spirits.

At the Captain Morgan event, the three teams each got a name that corresponded with a flavor of the brand's spirits: grapefruit, coconut, or pineapple. Corresponding fruits held flowers at each team's table.

For a back-to-school event in New York last year, Pottery Barn brought in a professional chef to lead attendees in making healthy brown-bag-style lunches.

At the Pottery Barn event, guests assembled their own sandwiches on the spot using various popular ingredients to suit their personal tastes.

The format at the Barilla Interactive Dinner at this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival included a chef demonstration on how to make various dishes, while guests followed along at their tables.

Using electric appliances, guests in logo chef hats participated in the Barilla cooking experience.

Last February in Toronto, Giada de Laurentiis and five Canadian chefs lead teams through a three-course cook-off for the fourth annual Chef’s Challenge: the Ultimate Battle for a Cure, which raises money for cancer research at Mount Sinai Hospital. In order to cook alongside the pros, participants registered online and collected donations in the months leading up to the event.

Attendees in the audience were not left out of the cooking challenge: They could also participate in a competition such as a doughnut-decorating battle.

The winning team left with a whimsical trophy decorated appropriately with cooking utensils.

To evoke the feeling of a currency exchange when traveling abroad, organizers invited guests to purchase colorful "Z dollars," pretend money that they could use to make donations throughout the night.

Antique keys hung on a wall at the hotel station. As guests made a contribution to purchase housing for Zebra Coalition clients, staff would remove a key from the wall and place it in a jar.

Donations made to the living statues would prompt them to strike a new pose.

For a donation guests could hear predictions from a fortune-teller.

At the bus station, guests could make a donation to provide transportation services to Zebra Coalition clients.

In the café, staff marked each $10 donation for food by placing a set of utensils in a bowl.

Flamenco dancers entertained guests at the event.

More fund-raising organizers, like those behind Amfar’s São Paulo gala, are using social media to promote their efforts and engage guests.

Producer Ben Bourgeois produced the party, where laser-cut paper foldouts as tabletop centerpieces were meant to represent the architecture of Grand Avenue and surrounding buildings downtown, including Disney Hall and the new Broad. LED lights illuminated the representations of the buildings so they appeared to glow from within.

Tasting stations from Union Square Events sat beneath elegant black-and-white-striped cabana tents opposite the vehicle display. Triple ball- and cone-shaped topiaries and giant ferns dotted around these booths added to the decor.