Samsung created culinary experiences for this year's New York City Wine & Food Festival, which took place October 15 to 18. The centerpiece of the brand’s activation at the festival was the Samsung Lounge, an immersive space located at Pier 92. There, attendees enjoyed snacks and one-on-one chef demos, as well as learned about Samsung's new products.
A launch party for the official partnership between Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Major League Baseball took place October 19 at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. The event offered personalized baseball caps as swag. The event was produced by DKC Incite.
The gourmet edible cookie dough from Dō Cookie Dough Confections comes in classic flavors like chocolate chip and cake batter, as well as seasonal favorites, such as Pumpkin Chai Chocolate Chunk. The sweet treat is also bakeable and is packaged in customizable containers. Prices start at $14 for 16 ounces, with multi-packs available.
Guests can morph into zombies, celebrities, and even other guests with L.A. Photo Party's morphing activation option. Companies can add their own branding, custom graphics, and music, plus L.A. Photo Party provides on-site printing. The booths are available globally; pricing is available upon request.
For personalized party favors, Magnetic Memories shoots guest photos and prints them with customizable designs, then transforms the images into magnets on site. Pricing is available upon request.
Milk Glass Productions planned the 10th anniversary celebration of Rembrandt Yard, a two-level art gallery and event space in Boulder, Colorado. The second floor incorporated cool colors, such as blue, purple, and green, into its "Create" theme. A cupcake display wall made by Milk Glass Productions reflected the color scheme, with cupcakes provided by Indulge Bakery.
Dressbarn celebrated the launch of its fall 2015 advertising campaign on October 14 at Spring Studios in New York. In one of several personalized activations, guests could customize envelope clutch bags with their initials embossed into the leather.
In the "Name Your Color" section, guests could select a color and have it made into a lipstick in front of them using a 3-D lipstick printer from Mink founder Grace Choi. Guests then gave the color a name and had custom labels printed out.
Bacardi Limited promoted its newest product, Dewar's Scratched Cask, by creating multisensory tasting experiences that involved projection mapping and virtual reality in Miami, Chicago, New York, and Louisville, Kentucky. The experience featured a 10-foot replica of the oak barrels used to make the whiskey, which inside displayed a 90-second video projected in 360 degrees. As many as four people at a time could step inside the barrel to watch the video projected onto interior walls. Heat lamps and scent machines inside the barrel were synced with the video to enhance the sensory experience.
To attract attention, large flames shot out of the top of the barrel whenever there weren't people inside.
City of Hope's Spirit of Life Gala took place November 5 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Krislyn Design reimagined a tribute journal as an eye-catching art installation of 3-D letters at the entrance of the fund-raiser. The handcrafted structure, which was made from plywood and individually printed panels, was also a photo op for attendees.
The 22nd annual Knock Out Abuse Gala took place November 5 at the Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. Inspired by Tusan dining, event designer André Wells used family-style dining tables with rustic wooden chairs for the dinner. Garlands of eucalyptus, lemon leaves, and fresh greens ran the length of the tables with oversize lanterns providing intimate lighting.
Need a gift idea for V.I.P. guests? Cocktail mixer brand Bittermilk offers a gift set called the Overnighter, $125. The handcrafted denim cocktail tote is stocked with a Mason jar shaker, a muddler, a jigger, and a hand-made cocktail mixer in a flavor of choice. Options include “Smoked Honey Whiskey Sour” and “Charred Grapefruit Tonic With Bulls Bay Sea Salt.” Products ship throughout the United States and Canada.
The first Mac 'n Cheese Festival Toronto took place June 5 to 7 outside Liberty Market. More than 20 chefs dished out variations of the comfort food, and toppings varied from lobster to wine-braised steak; there were also fusion dishes such as mac 'n' cheese sushi.
The second annual Mac & Cheese Fest Chicago took place in late October at the UIC Forum. The event had two sessions; in each, 50 restaurants competed for the "Golden Noodle" award. The award was given to the macaroni and cheese dishes that were deemed to have the best taste, texture, and creativity. Judges included chefs, food critics, and bloggers.
Meerkat launched in late February, and just two weeks later it became the breakout app of South by Southwest in March, as dozens of the conference attendees used it to share live streams from the event from their phones and other mobile devices. The buzz only grew when, on the first day of SXSW, Twitter cut Meerkat’s access to its social graph (in preparation for the launch of its own streaming app, Periscope). The app has released several updates, including the ability to create instant polls for viewers and to allow someone else to take over a stream for 60 seconds.
Live-streaming app Periscope launched in March, shortly after it was acquired by Twitter. Apple recently selected it as its iPhone App of the Year. The app, which is available for Apple and Android devices, allows anyone to share live video and audio from an event from their mobile device. The app now has more than 10 million accounts.
Foto Master's Mirror Me Booth is a new portable photo option for events, with a camera embedded behind a mirror. As users step in front of the mirror, colorful animations appear on the surface with instructions such as “touch here to begin” and “say cheese,” and the animations can also include sound so they appear to talk to the users. Hosts can customize the experience with specific instructions—asking people to wave their hands or to scream, for example. Guests can also sign the mirror to have that signature printed on the hard copy of the photos. The 65-inch mirror comes with a selection of frames. It launched in April.
Events.com is an event management platform that launched in February. The cloud-based application includes registration, social media, and communication features to simplify events for organizers and attendees. In August, the company announced a partnership with CrowdRise that adds fund-raising capabilities to the Events.com system.
Communication is a key component of a successful event, and InitLlive is focused on streamlining the process for planners. The mobile and Web app launched in January to coordinate real-time communication and scheduling among event staff. Volunteers and staff can sign up for shifts, and the system can automatically send reminders. At the event, the planner can use the app to check people in and to send instant messages.
Georama is a new option for planners who want to check out destinations, venues, entertainment, or other elements for their events without having to travel to see them in person. The company has nearly 200 guides around the world who provide private, customized tours using either a smartphone or a GoPro. Tours are conducted in real time with two-way audio so those watching can ask questions or request a closer look at something. The stream is private, viewable only with an access code, and each tour is also recorded for viewing on demand.
In October, Facebook began rolling out several updates to its event tools intended to help hosts create and promote events more efficiently. The updates include the ability to schedule an event to publish at a future time, the creation of QR codes that can be shared online or in printed materials, and the addition of “interested” as one of the RSVP options. Facebook Events also now allows organizers to add co-hosts to events and to add their events to the calendar on their corresponding Facebook pages. In early December, Facebook began rolling outs its live video tool to iOS users (it was previously only available to celebrities). Unlike Periscope and Meerkat, Facebook live streams don’t disappear after 24 hours—they stay in the host’s timeline until deleted.
In October Social Tables released a new app, SiteInspector. The app is intended to help planners catalog, compare, and share site inspection information such as capacities, audiovisual options, budgets, and food and beverage details. The system can store notes, photos, and videos. It also includes a tool to test Wi-Fi strength at a venue. The existing Social Tables platform was also updated to include floor plans from more than 10,000 properties.
Eventbase, a mobile technology platform for events, has created new tools focused on lead retrieval and creating connections between exhibitors and attendees. The system now uses iBeacons around exhibit booths to detect nearby attendees based on industry and interest tags in their profiles. Exhibitors receive notification of relevant attendees in their area to help them get meaningful content in front of those attendees as they pass by. The company unveiled the new tools at I.A.E.E. Expo! Expo! in early December.
Snapchat unveiled updates to its Live Stories feature in November. Previously, the Stories displayed a selection of snaps from a particular location—such as a festival, concert, sports match, or other event—with the images curated by Snapchat. That curation will continue, but now the new Story Explorer gives users the ability to see an event from different vantage points. By swiping up, users see multiple shots of the same real-life moments.
In July, Event Farm acquired ClearHart, a digital innovation agency that specializes in bridging online and offline engagement for events. ClearHart’s work has focused on turnkey wearable technology using tools such as R.F.I.D., N.F.C., and Bluetooth low-energy. Event Farm is using that expertise to develop an experiential platform that it says will “bring the Internet of Things to live events and experiences.”
Boomset added several new features in 2015, including session scheduling, which can be displayed on smart boards so attendees can edit their schedules in real time. The system also helps planners monitor available seats in every session with real-time updates. Boomset also added lead retrieval functions to its app so guests and vendors can exchange contact information without additional equipment. Exhibitors can scan badges using their smartphone’s camera, add notes, mark leads as “hot, warm, or cold,” and search leads by name, date scanned, or priority level.
Twitter is making it easier for users to find all the tweets around big events or topics, without needing to follow those accounts or use a hashtag. In October the company unveiled Moments, indicated by a new lightning bolt icon. Tapping it opens a new tab that shows tweets about big stories unfolding on Twitter, such as “conversations between world leaders and celebrities, citizens reporting events as they happen, cultural memes, live commentary on the night’s big game, and many more,” according to the company blog. Moments are assembled by Twitter’s curation team and contributed by partners like Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, Mashable, The New York Times, and more.
Topi unveiled several updates to its mobile app in 2015. A new networking tool takes inspiration from dating app Tinder: users swipe across a profile to indicate interest in meeting that person. If the recipient accepts the request, the app creates a chat room where the two can communicate. The app also launched PeopleRank, an algorithm to automatically suggest the most relevant people to meet at an event. The company is now testing two additional services—Bitcoin payment for registrations and an integration with Uber to allow attendees to share rides to and from conference venues.
Event management system Bizzabo launched Ticket Boost this summer as a way to create incentives for attendees to promote an event. When guests register they received a unique discount code to share with others. If someone signs up using their code, the attendee receives money back on registration.
In February, DoubleDutch launched “Event Performance,” a new analytics platform that uses data from the DoubleDutch mobile app to help planners monitor content and engagement metrics as an event is taking place. The system allows planners to see top search terms in the app, trending hashtags, and popular discussion topics. It also has tools to help planners understand how their guests are using the app by tracking every stage of adoption, from the invitation email to log-ins and actions within the app.
In June Zkipster launched a new seating feature for its guest list app. Planners can now design and collaborate on seating charts in real time using floor plans from several hundred venues with more coming in 2016. The system can also create custom plans at no additional cost. Hosts can use the app’s drag-and-drop feature to assign guests to seats and to make changes instantly.
On December 1, EventMobi unveiled its new “Live Display,” an enhanced social wall for events. In addition to a live feed of social media tied to an event, the display can include schedule and speaker information, games, alerts, sponsor information, and a ticker showing world news, weather updates, and customized information such as the event’s Wi-Fi password. Content on the display is synced with content in the EventMobi app. Also this year, EventMobi created a new platform that allows hosts to create games for their events.
In August, Splash unveiled an integration with GIPHY, a search engine for animated GIFs, so planners can easily add a GIF to their Splash event page and email invitations. Splash also released an update to its email communication tools. The new “Event Email Sequence” is a dashboard with five preloaded emails that are tied to specific stages of the event cycle (save the date, invitation, and thank-you) and can be set up to send automatically. The dashboard also provides data such opens, bounces, and clicks for each email.
In March, BidPal introduced a new D.I.Y. mobile bidding option to manage fund-raisers. The system provides the same software and services of a BidPal full-service event without the additional cost of on-site staff or peripheral hardware.
Tagkast has added animated GIFs and green-screen options to its branded photos sharing system for events. Using the green-screen technology, planners can customize the background for their guests’ photos. Tagkast also offers a kiosk option for hosts that want to use the system without additional staff.
