Event Technology Ideas

After an extensive rollout of its Galaxy SIII, Samsung is now promoting the Galaxy Note II and held a big launch for the phone-tablet hybrid at New York’s Skylight at Moynihan Station. In addition to a performance by Kanye West, the event had a “beam bar” where guests could order drinks via Galaxy Note II devices.

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry hosted its black-tie gala, the Columbian Ball, on Saturday. The museum was originally built for the famous 1893 World’s Fair, and its history played into the decor. In the dinner tent, Heffernan Morgan Ronsley projected vintage photos of the museum onto cyclone-shaped fabric sculptures.

In stark contrast to last year’s blowout for its Versace collection, H&M’s preview event for the collaborative collection with Maison Martin Margiela was dominated by artistic performances and installations. Held inside a derelict building in downtown New York, the Tuesday-night party saw dancers—in items from the line—create patterns in squares of sand.

On Wednesday night at New York’s S.I.R. Stage37, Coca-Cola and Will.i.am celebrated the launch of Ekocycle, an initiative promoting recycling and sustainability. Naturally, the decor was designed to showcase products and ideas in line with the mission and included walls decorated with old plastic Coke bottles.

October 18 saw Bergdorf Goodman host its 111th anniversary gala, an affair that brought some 450 names in fashion and retail to New York’s Plaza hotel. The lively bash recreated the whimsical windows the department store is known for with mannequins and taxidermied animals arranged in vignettes on stage at the Grand Ballroom.

Canada’s Fashion Magazine celebrated its 35th year at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto on October 17, and the dance floor served as a fitting spot for event sponsor Browns Shoes to advertise its wares.

To cap off Bridal Fashion Week in New York, wedding magazine The Knot hosted its third annual gala at the New York Public Library on October 15. The bash had mobile oyster shuckers from Oysters XO circulating through the crowd carrying buckets of oysters on ice around their waists, along with containers of various sauces and pails for empty shells.

The sixth annual Boys & Girls Clubs gala was hosted at the Four Seasons Miami on Saturday. The event was produced by Alorè Event Firm. To welcome guests to the fund-raiser there was a live red carpet by Champagne Creative Group.

To celebrate the Blu-ray release and the 30th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's classic film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Madame Tussauds Hollywood debuted the new wax E.T. figure on Monday. A trail of Reese's Pieces lining Hollywood Boulevard led red-hooded cyclists accompanied by the wax figure E.T. to the museum.

J.C. Penney celebrated the launch of Tori Spelling's new line for kids, Little Maven, on October 18 at the Hotel Bel-Air. The venue was turned into a campground-style fantasy land designed by wedding planner Jo Gartin with activities and treats like campfire sing-alongs, a bracelet craft station, and a s'mores-making table.

Eventster is a free app that launched in June for iPhone and iPad, and an Android version is under development. Eventster populates the app with more than 600,000 listings from Zvents, but individuals can also list their events for free. Users can give a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" vote to each listing, which moves those events to the top of the directory. Co-founder Luke Stangel said that, in the future, the system will analyze those votes along with an individual's iTunes library and Facebook "likes" to create personalized event recommendations. Users can filter events by keyword, location, date, and category; view them in a list or on a map; and save events directly to their calendar.

TimeRazor can work with brands to create custom promotions for their events, such as a recent campaign for Universal Pictures to offer a limited number of free tickets to a screening of Pitch Perfect. However, co-founder Victoria Clark said the app is "focused on the hyperlocal space" and has listed more than 10 million events from around the country since it launched in April. Most of those are events pulled in from other event aggregation services, but planners can also input their events for free. Users can search for events by date and location, and the app also analyzes a user's existing appointment times and locations to suggest events nearby that might be of interest. The app also provides drive time based on current traffic conditions.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June in Los Angeles, Nintendo worked with Trade Show Internet to create a Wi-Fi network that could accommodate live blogging and social media sharing by the thousands of attendees at its product launch announcement.