The Joffrey Ballet feted its production of The Nutcracker with a dinner at Chicago's Palmer House Hilton in 2011. Inspired by the ballet's Land-of-Sweets setting, Kehoe Designs adorned the event with pieces of giant candy including swirly lollipops and Airheads packages. Overhead, a chandelier was decked with ribbons and more pieces of prop candy.
AOL hosted its first-ever Future Front on September 28 at Pier 36/Basketball City in New York. The event's focal installation was a three-story DJ tower that housed five DJs in cubes playing hip-hop, electronic, Top 40, rock, and throwback-style tunes. Built with scaffolding, the tower featured shifting light, music, and video styles and allowed DJs to play solo sets, participate in music battles, and combine genres. Four of the squares projected video that showed social feeds, DJ information, and live shots of the DJs performing. The event was produced by Barkley Kalpak Agency.
Other oceanic decor included tall Lucite columns topped with bubble-print lampshades.
The SloMo Lounge from Air Graffiti Dallas turns four seconds of video into a 30-second slow-motion playback. The system uses a high-speed, high-definition camera to record guests interacting with one another and with quirky props so the playback can reveal funny facial expressions. Guests receive a copy of the video, and they can select stills from it to print on site; all the content is shareable via email, text message, or social media. The activation can be set up in a 10- by 10-foot area and can be done with a plain white, black, or green screen backdrop.
Add a splash of bright colors to event photos with the Neon Video Booth from Foto Master. Guests stand in front of a dark backdrop and use an LED spray can or pen to create virtual doodles. A camera in front of the guests uses an algorithm to detect and track the LED light. The resulting image of guests and their artwork can be saved as a video or turned into photos, GIFs, or flip books, all with brand logos and messages. Hosts can choose the color and size of the neon pen.
In Chicago, catering firm Limelight has an innovative format for serving fruit skewers. The fruits are inserted into a custom wall with thematic wallpaper design (which varies for different events). Guests approach the wall and pull of a skewer and can dip the fruit in sauces that are arrayed on a nearby table.
In the new networking area at Sapphire Now in June in Orlando, guests could choose from seating options such as wooden pallets, leather cubes, and cadrboard cubes, which were strong enough to sit on but light and easy to move.
At Social Media Week London in September, shipping crates became “Skypepods.” Each unit was equipped with Microsoft products and enabled with Skype so attendees could get work done or chat with colleagues online.
Pallet chairs from Dublin company This Is What We Do were one of the seating options in the Media Village at Web Summit in November 2014.
