Ideas FY19

TEDActive in Palm Springs, California, in 2013, had a similar idea: Buttons with blank fields labeled "Talk to Me About ... " invited guests to write a short list of topics they love or are knowledgeable about, to encourage meaningful mingling. Attendees could attach the buttons to their existing badges. The independent TED-style event TEDxWaterloo in Canada, takes it a step further, leaving titles and company names off of name badges. Instead, organizers leave 40 characters on the badges for attendees to finish the phrase “I'm chasing … ,” which gets conversations started among attendees on a deeper level.

For smaller events, name tags don’t have to break the budget—or stick to a standard format. Artist marketplace Minted suggests a D.I.Y. option for event hosts using a simple button maker. The colorful round buttons are a simple, unobtrusive way to share guest names plus a small fun fact about them—which encourages conversation. Read more about the process on Minted’s Julep blog.

Brand Activation Services also showed off its beer pong table, which has a video screen embedded on the tabletop. The screen can display company logos or videos, or even stream live sporting events.

The show entryway featured an attention-grabbing wall of more than 1,500 balloons from Balloonzilla, an Orange County-based company that creates custom balloon art for events. (The company also designed last year’s memorable balloon canopy.) The wall of green, white, and magenta balloons—which tied into the expo’s overall color scheme—was complemented by marquee letters from Lights for Nights. In addition to light-up letters, the Southern California-based company can provide chandeliers, uplighting, lanterns, gobos and monograms, LED crystal garlands, and more for events.

For an offbeat event activity, OC Ramps, based in Orange County, rents skateboard and bike ramps for events, trade shows, and TV and music videos. Options available for rent are the mini half pipe, quarter pipes, grind rails, grind boxes, and launch ramps; custom ramps can be designed and built for an additional fee. Ramps can be delivered to Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Riverside counties.

Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes offers unconventional spins on typical golf outings. Designed as conference breakout sessions, options include Foot Golf, which combines golf and soccer; Glow Golf (pictured), where groups play the glow-in-the-dark course at night; and the Full-Swing Golf Studio, which has a state-of-the-art Foresights Sports GC2 Golf Simulator and software that provides real-time statistics. The 102-acre oceanfront resort offers 60,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

David Stark and his team designed the sixth annual Brooklyn Museum's Artists Ball, which took place in April 2016 at the New York museum. Inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures, particularly the “Endless Column,” Stark transformed the space with towering totems made from stacked rolls of household and industrial paper goods. They rose from the dining tables in varying heights, up to a soaring 21 feet.

For the Luminato Festival, held in June 2016 in Toronto, guests were able to explore the Hearn Generating Station power plant, which is normally closed to the public. Inspired by the venue’s minimalist decor and clean lines, Luminato had Toronto architecture firm Partisans custom-design tall, glowing centerpieces for its opening gala.

Hunger-relief organization Food Bank for New York City celebrated its annual Can Do Awards Dinner in April 2018 at Cipriani Wall Street. The star-studded gala, which saw performances from Salt-N-Pepa and Kid Capri, had simple yet sleek centerpieces designed by Swoop that evoked the city’s skyline.

For the National Geographic Society’s June 2013 anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C., Syzygy Events International used custom glacier ice sculptures as on-theme centerpieces.

To celebrate the public opening of the Broad in Los Angeles in September 2015, event producer Ben Bourgeois was inspired by the art museum’s unique design. Laser-cut paper foldouts as tabletop centerpieces represented the architecture of Grand Avenue and surrounding buildings downtown, including Disney Hall and the new Broad. LED lights illuminated the representations of the buildings so they appeared to glow from within.

At Diffa Chicago’s Dining by Design in November 2013, the Coalesse table, designed by Gensler, had subtle twinkle lights and a wishbone pattern swirling on its walls. The table's centerpiece was a dense arrangement of wishbones, laid over a row of softly glowing electric candles.

The Robin Hood Foundation celebrated its 30th anniversary May 2018 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. The benefit, which had a “Lights of New York” theme, had three-sided mini marquee centerpieces that offered messages of gratitude and celebrated the organization's anniversary. David Stark Design and Production designed the event.

At Diffa Chicago’s Dining by Design in November 2015, Wolf Gordon by the Gettys Group’s table had a "fireplace" that was actually made of illuminated water vapor.

The Catalina Island Conservancy celebrated its 22nd annual ball in April 2017 at the Avalon Casino Ballroom. The 500-attendee event had a “Taking Flight” theme, which documented the conservancy’s work to monitor the Southern California island’s seabirds. Centerpieces were made from tall twig-like wires, which had a table number on top in the shape of a bird wing. The conservancy designed the event and the centerpieces in-house.

In January 2016, the Walrus Foundation hosted its annual gala at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto. The event paid homage to the Canadian city, and the skyline appeared in imagery at the bar, on the walls, and more. Tabletops were decked with miniature renderings of the Toronto skyline, created in paper by artist Kalpna Patel.

Held in May 2018, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Mission Creek Gala was designed by Gillian Valentine with the goal of highlighting four distinct habitats of the California city, including the coastal wetlands. The coastal habitat had an elegant under-the-sea theme, with light, silver tableware and centerpieces of small tide pools filled with starfish, shells, and other ocean-inspired elements.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Butterfly Ball, held in Chicago in May 2013, had a farm-like atmosphere. Playing off the event's “Savour Nature” theme, which highlighted the new exhibition “Food: The Nature of Eating,” Event Creative brought in vegetable-centric decor. Tables were decked with miniature gardens potted with tomatoes, colorful peppers, asparagus, and kale; around the centerpieces, fairy lights in miniature Mason jars added to the elegant yard-party vibe.

At an October 2016 dinner for Culture Lab Detroit, designer David Stark took inspiration from Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen's Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, a multimedia examination of chicken breeding. More than 80 dozen eggs in open egg cartons formed a simple but effective centerpiece for the 55-seat table. After the party, the eggs were donated to the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm.

The Art Institute of Chicago's Snap Gala in October 2013 benefited the Photography Gala Fund and took on, appropriately, a photography theme. INDO handled the decor, which included centerpieces made of glowing, vintage slides.

At a film benefit honoring Quentin Tarantino, held in December 2012 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the museum’s in-house event department adopted a monochromatic, masculine look. A mix of round and rectangular clear Lucite tables formed the dinner setup in the atrium. The sleek look was matched by clear chargers and ghost chairs; clusters of pillar candles replaced flowers as centerpieces.