
Adventure Associates' “GeoTrek” activity is based on the recreational sport of geocaching—using GPS devices to locate containers, known as “caches.” The company has courses in 75 locations around the country, including one at Walt Disney World that requires participants to use the monorail, boats, and walking between resorts to locate each cache. Organizers provide a brief lesson on how to use GPS, and then teams of about four people each choose which caches they will attempt to locate based on point values, distances, and strategy. When teams reconvene, the company’s facilitators can lead participants in a discussion of what they learned followed by a tallying of each team’s scores.
Photo: Courtesy of Adventure Associates

Add a bit of Hollywood to a teambuilding event with TeamBonding's Make-A-Movie experience. The company’s facilitators begin the event with a short skit and then challenge each team of employees to make their own movie around a specific theme. TeamBonding provides digital video cameras and all editing services. The groups reconvene to screen each of the movies and vote on categories such as best actor and best director. The organizer also receives a DVD with all of the movies on it.
Photo: Courtesy of TeamBonding

Smartphone cameras drive the fun in Corporate Games Team Building's Paparazzi game. Organizers divide participants into groups of about eight people each and give them a list of photographs and a bag of costumes and props. Teams then have a set amount of time to travel around a venue or within a designated part of the city, to capture as many of the photos as possible. Examples include a photo of team members posing as celebrities dining alfresco or a photo of team members hosting a cooking show. Organizers score the photos as they come in and put them into a slide show which can be viewed by everyone at the end of the event.
Photo: Courtesy of Corporate Games Team Building

Wizard Studios uses its SuperSonic LED Strobe bracelets to activate team challenges for corporate groups. The wristbands emit bright, colored lights and flashing strobes. Organizers can control the bands remotely to command a team to perform a predetermined activity on cue. The company can work with hosts to develop a program of various challenges and prizes, and after the teambuilding event, the bracelets can also be activated during a party.
Photo: Courtesy of Wizard Studios

Classic game shows get a new twist in Wildly Different's iPlay event. The company provides iPads that teams use to complete challenges modeled after traditional game show activities. In “Survey Says,” participants must rank the answers provided from most popular to least popular in categories such as “top-selling candy bars” and “favorite pastimes.” In “What’s the Tune,” players hear snippets of music and must name the song or artist. The iPads automatically tally each team’s points, and at the end members of the winning team join the M.C. on stage to receive their awards.
Photo: Courtesy of Wildly Different

In Corporate Games Team Building's Amazing Journey activity, teams must decipher clues using their smartphones and complete physical and mental challenges provided by facilitators stationed in various locations. Each completed task helps team members figure out the 10 cities in the world that comprise their “race route,” and the first team to complete the route wins. The event can take place anywhere, inside a hotel or conference center or around a few city blocks, and the clues can be customized to align with an event’s theme or goals.
Photo: Courtesy of Corporate Games Team Building

In the Spy Game, from the Go Game, participants work in teams to complete a series of activities and solve clues provided via smartphone, all based on the premise that someone from their company has been kidnapped and they need to solve the crime. Missions may include having to spell a word without writing, creating videos, and engaging with actors they may encounter throughout the designated course. Each game takes about two hours and combines some high-tech activities with more campy elements such as disguises and cracking codes.
Photo: Courtesy of the Go Game
Thrillist's Barbecue & the Blues

Thrillist handed out thoughtful on-brand gifts such as toothpicks, breath mints, and moist towelettes.
Photo: Kat Goduco

At the front of the event site, where the pier connects to the Hudson River Park's waterfront walkway, the producers placed signage that was illuminated when it got dark.
Photo: Jika González for BizBash

The 2011 premiere party for WE TV's Braxton Family Values—a show about singer Toni Braxton—took place atop the London West Hollywood and featured a decidedly feminine look. To gussy up the central pool, florist C.J. Matsumoto covered foam spheres in bright pink flowers, then attached the arrangements to weights anchored to the bottom of the pool.
Photo: Dale Wilcox Photography/DWP
Grey Goose's Blue Door Series

Vodka brand Grey Goose inaugurated its new Blue Door event series in East Hampton the first week of August. The weeklong activation included three days of events for trade and business press, and three days of consumer-focused affairs. The latter, handled through Harrison & Shriftman, kicked off August 4 with a farm-to-table picnic catered by chef Cynthia Sestito.
Photo: Eugene Ologursky

The second annual Central Park Horse Show, which ran from September 23 to 27, drew more than 12,000 spectators—this, despite a papal visit to Manhattan that threatened to completely block traffic. Fortunately, Wollman Rink was not in the frozen zone, and visitors were not subject to security checks in order to enter the park or the venue.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

Noted course designer Guilherme Jorge, who designs the Hampton Classic course each year as well the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympics equestrian course, had only about 25,000 square feet of usable space at Wollman Rink to work with. “More than the area itself, the biggest challenge was designing a course around the triangular shape of the ring,” he said. “I had to devise a track that would allow the riders to get the best approach with each obstacle.”
Photo: Jim Shi

The aptly named Veranda dining area was erected on a custom platform covered with stock tenting. The custom dinner configuration, with buffet food and beverage service provided by Relish Catering, ran the length of about 150 by 30 feet as a long, narrow venue. It was elevated about four feet to maintain an optimal sight line to the course. The Treehouse venue located directly across the course required a slightly more complex build out because it had to be designed around existing landscaping and trees. Access to that V.I.P. viewing area was via a completely separate entrance and its own exterior gate, which required cutting open existing fencing.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

A uniform autumnal flavor highlighted each of the vertical dinner tables inside the V.I.P. tent. Low centerpieces allowed for clear sight lines while, at night, electronic votives placed on taller branch vignettes provided a cozy ambience. Sponsor brands, like Rolex, were free to add elements to customize their tables.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

As with all the structural components to building the course, the large horse-shaped topiaries, not to mention even the simple plantings, had to all be trucked in overnight and pieced together by hand during the day. The topiaries echoed the event occasion and were placed at the exterior entrances to both the V.I.P. dinner tent and general admission. It also made for a social media moment with tourists and the general public as they were placed on public pathways.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

Presenting sponsor Rolex did not operate an on-site pop-up or have its timepieces on display, but the watchmaker did erect several oversize clocks inspired by its iconic Datejust timepiece. As is typical, the branding was also wrapped across multiple on-course structures of high visibility.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

Land Rover North America returned as the official vehicle of the show and sponsor of the New York team led by captain Georgina Bloomberg. As part of its partnership, the brand displayed a 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR edition on the course in full view of all attendees. In addition, Land Rover offered a minicar driving experience during the morning throughout the weekend.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

As a sponsor of the Central Park Horse Show, Lugano Diamonds was the only vendor to showcase its high jewelry designs inside the guarded (and secure) V.I.P. dinner tent. Models donned the pieces as they welcomed in guests.
Photo: Courtesy of the Central Park Horse Show

To give the cocktail area a focal point and conversation piece, event designer David Stark outlined the museum's historic home using fluorescent tape provided by 3M.
Photo: Richard Patterson/Courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt

Photo: Courtesy of Chicago Botanic Garden

"Transparency was a big message throughout the program," Production Glue executive producer Jennifer Kurland said of the decision to use a clear-sided tent. The hashtag #TalkingTransition was carved into plywood and displayed on the side of structure to encourage passersby to join the conversation online.
Photo: Brooke Cassidy/BizBash

Available to rent in the U.S. for the first time, Denver-based EPS-Doublet’s (800.227.0337, epsdoublet.com) Stretch Tent line, manufactured by RHI Tents in South Africa, is made with waterproof stretch fabric. Larger tents can have sides up or down, while poles can be repositioned to accommodate more guests; units can also be wrapped around trees, rocks, and walls. The tents can be custom-colored and printed.
Photo: Courtesy of EPS-Doublet

Photo: Courtesy of Stamford Tent

Botanicals created hanging floral arrangements tinged with Glossed and Found's signature orange and pink hues.
Photo: Barry Brecheisen for BizBash
Macy's 2015 Spring Flower Show New York

The theme for this year's Macy's Spring Flower Show is "Art in Bloom." In the New York store, a color-blocked arrangement that recalls the art of Piet Mondrian is placed over trellises. Shoppers walk beneath the colorful arrangement. The show, which is at three Macy's stores, runs through April 24.
Photo: Kent Miller Studios