Conference Info

At HP Discover in June, when the keynote session finished, the screen on stage raised so attendees could walk right through to the expo floor. Signage helped attendees navigate the distinct sections of the floor.

An installation called "Pulse" from the toy company Mega Blok showed the volume and type of tweets for each hour of the conference. Blue represented Twitter, the most-used social platform.

BMF Media Group designed 25 activations that each were reflective of a specific Marriott hotel brand. For the Aloft Hotels “Listen Up” section, the design reflected the brand’s passion for music and technology innovation. A structure with four cube-shape directional speakers was built to allow guests to place their heads inside and listen to artists from brand’s “Live at Aloft Hotels” concert series.

Moxy, which is known for having a fun, millennial-focused aesthetic, showcased a “Play On” area that featured a ball pit hanging from a truss cube. Guests were invited to jump in and search for prizes in the hot pink plastic balls. The station also had a bar that served cocktails in Capri Sun-inspired pouches.

Courtyard’s “Classics with a Twist” was inspired by the game Twister, featuring a structure that resembled an oversize game board on the floor that extended to the walls. The dots on the game board represented Courtyard’s brand positioning, food and beverage concepts, partnerships, and the breadth of the brand’s portfolio. Attendees were encouraged by brand representatives to participate in a game of Twister as a photo op.

Element’s “Balancing Act” featured a living wall of moss and greenery with letters spelling out the eco-conscious brand’s tagline. The floor mimicked a natural bike path with wood chips and grass. Three green bicycles were mounted in front of the greenery as a photo op for attendees.

As the brand positioning of Autograph Collection is that every property has “its own unique story,” BMF created a library-inspired installation with a massive book staged in the center of the space. The book highlighted Autograph properties and brand pillars.

While many stations incorporated color, Delta Hotels “Clean/Chaos” featured a white bedroom set staged in front of a string art installation. The string material spelled out the brand’s name and tagline: “Delta Hotels. Simple Made Perfect.”

Le Meridien’s “Swings of Glamour” featured a chic travel-theme swing set photo op, designed to remind guests about the meaning of savoring a travel experience. The activation was inspired by the “France is in the Air” campaign from Air France—the founder of the hotel brand.

The Renaissance Hotels “Navigators Hot(e)line” was designed to highlight the local and personalized service offered by the brand’s Navigators—hotel employees that give guests tips on finding local experiences. Five rotary phones were placed on plinths in front of a black wall showcasing quotes related to destinations including Dubai, New York, and Beijing. Guests who picked up the phones heard pre-recorded audio from Navigators offering tips for that particular destination.

For W Hotels “Color Boldly,” BMF built an all-white room that served as a blank canvas. The room’s centerpiece presented six paint colors that corresponded to six W experiences, which were described on labels.

Guests were invited to take brushes and rollers to paint what they wanted on the walls. The word “luxury” was displayed on the back wall.

Sheraton’s “Revolution” scratch-off wall was inspired by the brand’s transformation and the power of community. The initial black matte wall displayed gloss black negative connotations about the brand, including “old” and “tired.” Guests could take hotel keycards to scratch away those worlds.

The wall was gradually scratched off to reveal new Sheraton brand messaging, which offered terms such as “community,” “modern,” and “global exchange”—nodding to the guests’s team effort.

For TownePlace Suites “Closet Essentials,” BMF created a custom walk-in closet. To emphasize the brand’s appreciation of guests’s D.I.Y. attitude, the closet had hanging racks displaying paper fashion pieces that attendees could pose with. Additional items on closet shelves nodded to the hotel’s brand partnerships.

The Ritz-Carlton “#RCMemories Shop” was inspired by the brand’s mission of selling memories, rather than simply room nights. The activation featured shelving units styled and displayed like a retail shop with all-white framed photos of travel images and social media posts. A brand representative was on site to speak about what memories were “for sale.”

SpringHill Suites’s “Space to Infinity” provided guests with an indoor planetarium experience. The exterior of the cube featured constellation-style brand messaging.

Inside the SpringHill Suites cube, guests could walk around and “stargaze.” A 360-degree fiber optic installation provided the starry night effect.

For St. Regis, BMF created an illuminated tree installation to demonstrate the history of the brand, which has roots that go back to 1904 in New York. The installation, which was inspired by the brand’s modern indulgence aesthetic, hung over a long table that displayed key milestones in the history of the brand.

The Luxury Collection offered guests three “portals” designed to virtually transport them around the world. Guests were greeted by a “concierge” who directed them to the closed doors. When guests looked through the door peep holes, they saw digital vignettes of locations in Peru, Thailand, and off the coast of the western U.S.

Tribute Portfolio’s “Add Your Own Color” featured a life-size coloring book, inspired by the brand’s colorful aesthetic. The content of the coloring book design offered illustrations and names of Tribute destinations.

Attendees were encouraged to color in the book using a variety of colored pencils.

Wellness-focused hotel brand Westin showcased a modern take on the apothecary shop. The shop consisted of shelves with curated items including herbs, fresh fruit, fitness items, essential oils, and Westin sleep balm.

What can you provide your attendees that incentivizes them to spend more?

One entrance to the hotel, which guests can get to from Montreal's underground network of shops, features animated floor projections of nature imagery.

CoLab 3, the hotel's new third-floor business hub, has 13 meeting spaces and seven gaming-theme rooms, which include eclectic seating arrangements and swing sets.

One of the hotel's new meeting spaces is the Agora, a lobby-level area that can host a variety of events and includes permanent, built-in food stations.

The hotel's famous John Lennon and Yoko Ono suite is now open for public tours when it's not booked. The suite includes props and writing inspired by the couple's Bed-In for Peace at the hotel, and also features a video clip of the 1969 event.

Espace C2 is on the hotel's 21st floor, and has permanent stations for teambuilding activities inspired by the C2 Montreal confererence. At the seventh edition of the AccorHotels Global Meeting Exchange, guests participated in brainstorming exercises in elevated ball pits and went into a "cloud" for a multi-sensory experience.

Another group activity led by C2 team members in Espace C2 involved building with Legos.

Global Meeting Exchange attendees also participated in an escape rooms-style puzzle session in another Espace C2 room. The answers were related to the conference's theme of how planners can make their meetings more innovative.

Before the sessions in the Espace C2, Sid Lee chairman and co-founder Jean-Francois Bouchard spoke about how hotels can facilitate experiential activities for guests, along with nine factors that could change the future of meetings.

Global Meeting Exchange guests were given electronic wristbands that lit up in different colors to let them know which C2-inspired activity they should head to next.

Offsite events at the Global Meeting Exchange included the Sugar Shack Shindig, a Canada-theme dinner and dancing event at the Mount Royal Chalet overlooking the city. Montreal-based event production company Happening and Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth's catering team partnered to produce the event, which featured decor such as hanging flannels. PSAV handled the event's lighting and sound.

At the Sugar Shack Shindig, guests were invited to wear flannels and participate in Canadian line dancing.

The final night of the Global Meeting Exchange offered a circus-theme gala dinner, which was produced by the hotel's catering team along with Happening. The gala, which took place in the hotel's Place du Canada ballroom, was designed to look like a circus tent, with chairs and umbrellas featuring a black-and-white stripe color scheme. Transparent table centerpieces showcased light bulbs covered in smaller string lights.

The gala had on-theme entertainment coordinated by Happening. Performers included a stilt walker "riding" a metallic, illuminated bird.