Yards Park in Washington, D.C., hosted the second annual wintertime festival Ice Yards on January 30. Produced by BrandLink Communications, the event featured branded ice sculptures and frozen games, including ice shuffleboard created by Ice Lab.
This year's Essence Black Women in Hollywood event also included a Target-sponsored “Power of Our Presence” wall, where guests could pull a message of inspiration; as the messages were removed, images of honorees appeared beneath the star-shaped installation.
Zagat honored its local list of the 30 best chefs under 30 years old—Zagat’s “30 under 30”—in Austin with an event where drink coasters referenced other celebrities and personalities, real and fictional, who achieved fame by the same age.
Inside the 70-foot dome was a 360-degree virtual reality theater that held as many as 400 people. The experience was visually produced by Invisible Light Network and Dirt Empire, and Antfood provided sound effects.
The Lab, which was presented by the Verge and Hewlett-Packard, was the focal point of the festival. Designed and curated by Meta.is, the structure housed seven interactive digital art exhibits.
At night, the structure's facade, which was produced by VolvoxLabs, lit up with colorful, projection-mapped ultra-high-definition videos of designs that continuously changed.
Brooklyn-based artist Zach Lieberman's Reflection Study exhibit allowed guests to create different formations projected onto a wall by moving shapes made out of plexiglass over a light box.
Giant Gestures, an exhibit from Brooklyn art duo Mountain Gods, offered festivalgoers a chance to play around with an oversize touch screen tablet by using giant foam hand props. The installation was meant to reinterpret how humans interact with technology.
A popular exhibit inside the Lab was the Infinite Wall created by Brooklyn-based artist Gabriel Pulecio. The interactive tunnel—created with mirrors, sounds, and lights—used motion sensors that responded to the guests who stepped inside.
Attendees could physically interact with Hyper Thread, a silk tent that featured seven silk hammocks. Created by Dave Rife and Gabe Liberti, the exhibit enabled festivalgoers to make new sounds by moving around in the hammocks.
Sponsor HP showcased an attendee-powered color wall inside the Lab. Using the brand's technology, the wall would change colors in time for a selfie taken with a laptop. The activation was produced by Infinity Marketing Team.
HP also showed off its technology in a separate lounge. The activation gave guests the chance to create custom temporary tattoos using Sprout by HP technology.
A collaboration between 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Mevent, and AST Studios, the subway-train projection paid homage to graffiti art's New York origins. Artists spray-painted graffiti on a green screen, which was translated onto the high-definition video wall.
The visually striking, LED-powered multimedia block featured changing videos of animated designs, music videos, and performances, based on fan interaction and festival sets. The structure featured Google Play's social media handle and hashtag.
The interior of the block featured a headphone jack wall. Attendees could plug headphones into the various jacks to listen to different songs from Google Play Music playlists, including one curated for the festival. If listeners hit a "winning" jack, they were taken up to the second-story roof to enjoy the festival view.
The block also featured live graffiti demonstrations.
American Express' two-story tent, built and designed by Momentum Worldwide, offered a mix of low-tech and high-tech experiences, including a 360-degree panoramic digital photo booth. The roof deck was open to card members and offered a view of the main stage, DJ sets, and custom cocktails.
A popular low-tech experience for festivalgoers was a customizable sunglasses station, located on the first and second floors.
Macy's partnered with LeadDog Marketing Group to produce the Macy's Oasis, which gave festivalgoers a chance to relax with lounge furniture and a charging station. Along with bandanas soaked in ice water, the lounge had a string art wall created by attendees.
The official beauty sponsor of the festival, Sephora partnered with Revolution Marketing to host a tent that gave festivalgoers a chance to test out a variety of products, including face masks and lip balms. Along with a beauty bar, braid bar, and dry shampoo styling station, the tent had a photo booth with makeup props and a makeup palette backdrop.
Antioxidant infusion beverage brand Bai partnered with Relevant to produce the the lounge, which offered drinks and cocktails, a phone-charging station, and a photo station featuring a LightBright wall created with Bai bottles. Bai also had a custom Snapchat geofilter for the festival.
EventCombo is a ticketing system that allows hosts to bundle event tickets with other things attendees may want to purchase, such as meals from nearby restaurants, parking, merchandise, and more. Merchants use the system to create and manage the deals they want to offer, and the system matches those deals with relevant events. Organizers receive a portion of the money generated by the sale of those items. Events that use the system are also listed on the EventCombo website and promoted through social media. The system launched June 6 and additional updates are planned for the next month.
Meetoo, the real-time polling and messaging app from Lumi, released several updates in late May. Moderators can now disable the creation of participant profiles so audience members can use the app anonymously. The profile settings can be changed instantly so hosts can quickly adapt to changes in the mood or circumstance. Additional updates allow hosts to customize the app by adding instructions, speaker biographies, agendas, logos, photographs, and more.
The new Event Assistant App from Events.com is intended to streamline the check-in process for hosts and attendees. In addition to a manual search by name, organizers can look up participants using voice recognition or by scanning a QR code; a quick “swipe right” then checks that person in to the event. Data refreshes in real-time and syncs across all devices to prevent duplicate check-ins. The app can also function in offline mode. Events.com launched the app in May. For now it’s only available for Android devices.
On June 9, DoubleDutch updated its Live Engagement Platform, which debuted in May as a system of applications that allow hosts to manage attendee participation, share sponsor and exhibitor communications, and analyze data. The new updates make it easy for hosts to manage dozens of events in one place, and to duplicate content from past events to save time. For attendees, the system can provide recommendations about sessions to attend and people to meet to personalize their event experience. It can also be used to streamline the scheduling of meetings with other attendees. The system tracks attendee behavior across the event so hosts can use that data to provide personalized follow-up.
Planners can use Spingo’s new Event Master platform to manage a variety of aspects of their events. The system can handle ticketing, scheduling, interactive venue maps, exhibitor services, volunteer management, and analytics regarding customer acquisition and marketing. It can also be used to coordinate details for V.I.P.s, such as airport pick-ups, flight information, and expenses. Event Master also allows hosts to create a custom event app that attendees can use to purchase tickets, view schedules, and interact with other guests. The system debuted in February.
In January, EventsXD relaunched with a new business model that makes its multi-event app system free. The app can include digital floor plans, color-coded agendas, attendee communications, speaker information, surveys, social media integration, and digital materials. For additional fees, organizers can add premium features such as a sponsor showcase, push notifications, log-in codes, and more. EventsXD also has a new website feature that allows attendees to find and interact with events through their browser as well as the mobile app. Ticketing will be added to the system soon.
