Held in Paris in 2011, the event had touches inspired by a winter in Russia. Traditional Russian folk scarves draped the backs of each seat, adding not only a decorative element, but also a parting gift for guests and an on-the-spot warmup.
At the 2008 event in Chicago, Frost created a lighting scheme meant to evoke the glow of a fireplace. Gold Plexiglas topped long tables and added to the fiery effect.
Fiery lighting patterns illuminated the wall and created a warm vibe at the PricewaterhouseCooper holiday party in Toronto in 2008.
In 2009, the Travel Channel promoted a beach-focused show with a thematic activation in New York. Amusitronix provided three different adventure games that recalled summer vacations in tropical locales.
In 2011, Macy's staged a Star Beach Party to promote its spring-break-ready wares. Although it took place in chilly Chicago in March, the pop-up promotion let guests pose with beach-themed props against sunny backdrops.
As a fun take on V.I.P. seating at its tropics-themed New York event in 2011, Dress for Success constructed 12 cabanas at the rear of the dining room. Situated atop platforms, the seating areas were marked with sheer drapes, wooden bench seating, and hand-painted signs.
At the launch of Absolut Mango in New York in 2009, a mango tree stationed behind the bar made guests feel like they were sipping cocktails in a warm mango grove.
In 2008, the Chicago gala had a Four Seasons theme. During the cocktail reception, a dancer from Stage Factor sported butterfly wings to represent spring and danced around an indoor tree hung with lanterns. Â
To promote its Wii game Sports Resort in 2009, Nintendo hosted a promotion in New York with a steel drummer, a singer, and even staffers handing out leis. Tons of sand lent a beachy vibe to the public event.
At a Jamaican-themed promotion for House of Marley goods in Chicago in 2010, guests received Rasta reggae threaded bracelets at the entrance.
Surf movies played on projectors at a surf-themed gala for Miami's Museum of Contemporary Art in 2011. The room also featured a "Night Beach Bonfire" installation by artist Jen Stark.
For the New York Yankees 2014 Homecoming Dinner honoring Mariano Rivera, Chris Koch, and Andy Pettitte, invitations arrived with all three honorees spotlighted in the form of custom baseball cards.
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.
Every year for Essence magazine's annual Black Women in Hollywood event—an award luncheon that takes place during the week before the Oscars—producer Caravents creates a gallery of framed oversize portraits that are also pictured in the magazine's special issue. The artistic tributes hang in the Beverly Hills Hotel's grand stairway, which acts as the entrance to the celeb-mobbed event.
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.
The Museum of Modern Art honored Quentin Tarantino in 2012, choosing not to plaster the walls with explicit references to the filmmaker's iconic movies. Instead, the New York art institution crafted a more subtle homage with a color palette of indigo and a commissioned sketch of Tarantino. Nathan Milner's sketch—artwork commissioned by Tarantino that depicted the director and iconic characters from his films—was incorporated into visuals, used on the step-and-repeat, and printed on the dinner program.
A scant 200 guests made the invite list for Elle’s Women in Hollywood event in 2008 at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, where Moët & Chandon bottles bore the names of honorees.
In honor of Tommy Hilfiger receiving the C.F.D.A.'s Lifetime Achievement award in 2012, the Princeton Footnotes performed a live tribute to the designer. Naturally, the all-male a cappella group was outfitted in head-to-toe Tommy Hilfiger clothing.
The Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds award ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2012 honored five Los Angeles high school students who overcame personal obstacles and achieved academic excellence. To incorporate the teenagers into the night's visuals, the organizers used a gallery of black-and-white portraits as the backdrop for the stage.
The Gene Siskel Film Center honored Gwyneth Paltrow at its 2013 fund-raiser at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago. Instead of simply presenting the actress with an award, the evening included an hour-long onstage Q&A session. Amanda de Cadenet, host of Lifetime TV's The Conversation and a friend of Paltrow's, led the discussion. The event's menu also included dishes inspired by Paltrow's films.
For the first-ever event marking its annual list of Game Changers in 2010, the Huffington Post wanted to produce an interactive experience that would appropriately honor the leaders and innovators selected by the five-year-old news site's readers. The awards were bestowed on 100 individuals, people who used new media to make a global impact in fields as diverse as business, politics, sports, and food, and scrolling projector displays mimicked the way the Huffington Post presents content online. The changing text also served to educate attendees on the works of each Game Changer honoree. David Stark produced the event at Skylight Soho in New York.
TD Bank's employee recognition dinner—called the “Wow” awards—got a major format change in 2009, meant to avoid the feeling of a typical dinner and presentation. The event shrunk from 2,000 people to 100, with the 27 honorees, their guests, and TD Bank senior execs all siting at a single amoeba-shaped table. Lucite easels displaying photos of the evening's honorees lined the hallway.
The party following the A.F.I. Lifetime Achievement award presentation at Los Angeles's Sony Pictures Studios in 2011 drew inspiration from honoree Morgan Freeman's blues club in Mississippi. Nods to the club and city came in the form of decor, flowers, and a Southern food menu from Wolfgang Puck.
Sustainability can carry over from one event to another. Intel created 400 messenger bags from large vinyl banners that had been used at a 2010 conference. The bags became giveaways at future Intel events and some were donated to schools, saving 5,500 square feet of material from landfills. "We do re-purpose other signage. The trick is to not date your material," says Lou Cozzo, Intel's corporate event marketing manager.
Intel has worked with United Van Lines to reduce the impact of shipping. Two of the trucks used to ship materials for the Intel Developer Forum used hydrogen technology that reduced fuel use and emissions. United also uses a scheduling system that minimizes miles traveled to transport the freight.
Communication with event guests is critical to the success of sustainability efforts. Symantec displayed a large sign near the registration area to share information about its initiatives. The company began its awareness campaign two months before the conference with articles in the event newsletter and on its Web site. In addition to the display, organizers shared information about sustainability during keynote sessions and on the event app.
At its Vision Barcelona conference in November 2012, local children joined Symantec executives to plant a tree just outside the convention facility. The 15-year-old founder of Plant for the Planet spoke during the event's opening ceremony and Symantec pledged $10,000 to plant 10,000 more trees.
Symantec reduced the amount of carpet used at Vision Barcelona by 52 percent by covering the trade show floor with reusable, rented carpet tiles; traditional carpeting was only used in the walk ways of the plenary room.
At its Vision Barcelona conference in November, Symantec diverted 55 percent of the waste away from landfills. "Visible, colored bins really stand out when you see them all around the venue, and they help our attendees recycle correctly," says Claudia van't Hullenaar, principal specialist for Symantec global event marketing.
To cut down on e-waste, Symantec stocked the conference's Internet Café with older computers from its corporate office that had been phased out of use. Organizers also eliminated handouts in all labs and training classes (which in the past had amounted to 22,000 sheets of paper) and instead gave participants Kindles and iPads to use.
After the McDonald's Worldwide Convention in Orlando, Freeman disassembled the "Marketplace" exhibit and donated it to a local fairground, transporting it in three tractor trailers. Parts of the remaining 16 booths were also donated to other groups.
McDonald's was the first vendor in the history of the Orange County Convention Center to divert exhibit floor food waste from landfills and contribute it to a soil-enriching compost program for local farmers.
