The Toronto-based company hosted its annual "Mad Hot Ballet" fund-raiser on June 11. Inspired by its production of Cinderella, the ballet gave its bash a fairytale-inspired theme, and the color pink was everywhere. Prop cherry blossom trees flanked either side of the DJ booth, which had a sign that read "Spellbound." The event also had pink drinks and snacks, including doughnuts topped with rosy frosting.
Tony Schubert of Event Eleven once again designed and produced the 500-guest Audi party, which this year included custom eight-foot-tall LED towers that lined the outside portion of the party. Schubert said it’s the first time the team has ever tried such a look.
Martha Stewart’s Wedding Party took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago on March 22. At a vendor showcase held in the ballroom, Elysia Root Cakes showcased elaborate, multitiered confections decorated with edible flowers. Frosted in a pale purple hue, another cake was sculpted to look like a stage with its curtains drawn back.
The Martha Stewart event also featured playful ideas for signature drinks. One such libation, the Cottontail, was made with two types of vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, apricot liqueur, fresh mint, and bitters; it was served in a Collins glass.
The Revel Group in Chicago hosted "Revel Provocateur," a dinner for the area's top event planners, on March 30 at Revel Downtown. Decked in black hues and Gothic-style decor, the event eschewed seating cards and instead printed guests' names on the back of chairs.
Masked servers roamed Revel's event during the cocktail hour. The evening's design was inspired by "a fashionable twist on a fairytale, with hints of mystery and sex appeal," said a company rep. The servers held an appetizer known as the "Vegetable Garden," which comprised raw spring vegetables with a trio of dips.
The dinner menu, which was prepared by Limelight, appeared in a gobo on the floor of the dinner space. To enhance the evening's intended vibe, fog swirled over the illuminated signage. Items listed included egg yolk and fresh ricotta raviolo, pan-seared loup de mer, and "Salad Under Glass" made with Humboldt Fog goat cheese.
At each place setting, sleek black boxes tied with silver ribbons held candles from Voluspa.
Be Inspired PR hosts and produces the Tassels and Tastemakers event twice each year for event and wedding industry professionals, plus media, bloggers, and other influencers. The most recent iteration on March 25 brought a Western theme to Carondelet House in Los Angeles. The event offered lounge seating under a lacy canopy.
Underscoring the theme of Tassels and Tastemakers, dream catchers hung throughout the space. The ethereal decorations had woven-in hashtags that encouraged guests to post pictures to social media.
In Toronto, Weddingbells magazine celebrated its 30th birthday with a bash at the Design Exchange on April 1. The event featured prominent branding with illuminated letters flanking the DJ booth; the dance floor also showcased the magazine's name and milestone anniversary.
Drawing on the event's signature hue, its dessert table offered light purple miniature cupcakes, swirled lollipops, and more.
Other desserts included macarons in nontraditional flavors such as chocolate-sesame and chai latte.
For a recent event at the Perot Museum of Science and Nature in Dallas, Wolfgang Puck Catering employed a "chef shadowbox." Meant to provide a strong visual behind a more standard food station, a chef in a shadowbox prepared appetizers as guests looked on.
Other new stations at Wolfgang Puck Catering include a frozen sushi station. The activation displays fresh fish and sushi rolls atop illuminated ice blocks with frozen orchids and other flowers inside.
In Chicago, Blue Plate Catering brings candy apple stations to holiday parties. Treats include apples dipped in caramel and assorted toppings and sliced up into snack-size portions.
The catering firm also has a new burrata action station. Staffers top the creamy cheese with toasted pine nuts and Italian muscat syrup. The snack is gluten-free.
Toronto catering firm Eatertainment has a new chef action station devoted to salmon gravlax. Salmon is hung from hooks above the station and is sliced to order in front of guests. The raw fish is then chopped and served with root-vegetable crisps, miniature greens, and spiced yogurt.
The Toronto firm is also using bar carts to display food items. One such spread, wheeled to tables at an event, offered snacks such as frittatas, foie gras, sliders, and lobster.
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.
Instead of serving French fries at a stationary table, Limelight has used a wheelbarrow to deliver Belgian frites at events. The fries are served in cones, and assorted sauces are displayed on the side.
Limelight's "Smash It" station offers assorted homemade chocolate bark in flavors such as dark chocolate with dried cherries. Mallets next to the sweets let guests "smash" off a snack-size piece of the bark.
Roar Events produced a summertime event at Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa in Southern California. The dinner had a modern Mexican theme and featured an interactive margarita station. Guests chose the type and flavor of their tequila, as well as one of many specialty salts.
HBO’s Cindy Tenner once again oversaw the production of the network’s annual Golden Globes party, working with longtime design partner Billy Butchkavitz. The indoor-outdoor event took place on and around the Beverly Hilton’s pool and within the hotel’s Circa 55 restaurant and Trader Vic’s bar.
This year’s theme was a "winter garden” with a color palette of gold, black, and cream. The centerpiece of the space was a Gothic-style conservatory, which Butchkavitz's team built atop the hotel's iconic swimming pool. It showcased orchids, roses, topiary, and tropical plants. It also served as the social hub of the party area.
Among the architectural elements in the Moroccan-style space was a sunken water feature that Angel City Designs custom built as the centerpiece of a raised lounge area. The fountain had a faux Moroccan tile bottom with two water sprayers, all accented with white floral petals.
Groupon hosted a "007"-theme holiday party December 11 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Event Creative decked the venue with 007-inspired decor. One of the evening's interactive activities, or "missions," was to snap a photo in front of a step-and-repeat featuring a spy plane.
#1 Advertising Industry Event
Last year’s 10th anniversary drew 95,000 ad industry professionals to New York for presentations and performances by luminaries ranging from Sheryl Sandberg and Michael Strahan to Jessica Alba. This year, more than 100,000 will gather for a week of education and entertainment throughout Manhattan. Next: September 28-October 2, 2015
#2 Advertising Industry Event
The ad industry’s prestigious 55-year-old award platform has branched out to include Clio Image and Clio Sports awards in the spring and summer, along with the flagship event in the fall. Next: October 2015
#3 Advertising Industry Event
With 225 exhibitors and 30 conference sessions, the New York iteration of the global series dedicated to digital marketing is expected to bring 7,000 attendees to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center this fall. Next: November 4-5, 2015
#4 Advertising Industry Event
At the Waldorf Astoria, 1,350 guests—and host Stephen Colbert—honored winners of the prominent industry organization’s award last year. Next: November 11, 2015
#5 Advertising Industry Event
Since 2010, the One Club has brought together media professionals in advertising, design, and digital for a week of unconference-style learning, networking, and the One Show awards. Next: May 4-8, 2015
#1 Food & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #2)
Last year, 55,000 foodies munched their way through four days and 100 events at the seventh iteration of the festival. They sampled culinary creations by Food Network fixtures like Robert Irvine and raised $1 million for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign and the Food Bank For New York City. For this year, organizers say mixology will play a bigger role. Next: October 15-18, 2015
#2 Food & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #3)
Last summer, 22,000 attendees came to the 361,000-square-foot trade show, which encompassed everything in the world of food from award-winning pink salt to a presentation by the inventor of New York’s popular croissant-doughnut hybrid. Next: June 28-30, 2015
#3 Food & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #4)
Organizers expect 16,800 attendees will attend this year’s show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. New this year: an area dubbed “the Pub” where new trends in alcoholic beverages are highlighted, and a new education section on the show floor where attendees can learn about business strategies. Next: March 8-10, 2015
#4 Food & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #5)
Last year, the 1,100 guests at the coastal-theme affair raised $820,000 to provide meals to housebound senior citizens. Organizers say guests can expect special guests and features this year, the event’s 30th anniversary. Next: June 8, 2015
#5 Food & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #6)
At last year’s 25th anniversary bash, Food & Wine editor in chief Dana Cowin honored winners with a colorful, street-art-inspired theme at the American Museum of Natural History. This year the magazine’s event takes place at the Edison Ballroom in Midtown. Next: March 31, 2015
#6 Food & Restaurant Industry Event (new to the list)
Since its launch in 2009, the five-day event has grown to include more than 100 ticketed events for the public as well as a two-day conference for the trade. Next: May 15-19, 2015
#1 Political & Diplomatic Event
The Clinton Foundation’s flagship event brings together philanthropists, Nobel Prize winners, and political and corporate leaders to discuss issues ranging from food security to health care access to environmental preservation. Next: September 19-22, 2015
#2 Political & Diplomatic Event
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the gathering of political and media elite. Last year, news anchor Charlie Rose hosted the 800-guest dinner. Next: November 10, 2015
#3 Political & Diplomatic Event
Last year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was joined by actors Cynthia Nixon and Steve Buscemi at the annual send-up of local and national politicians, which raised more than $500,000. Next: March 28, 2015
#4 Political & Diplomatic Event
Around 200 C.E.O.s, politicians, and philanthropists will gather to discuss the year’s theme, global health, when the annual summit convenes. Previous participants have included Warren Buffett, Malala Yousafzai, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Next: June 2015
#5 Political & Diplomatic Event (new to the list)
The reach of Tina Brown’s six-year-old event is growing beyond its Lincoln Center home this year. A new partnership with The New York Times will bring the launch of a “Women in the World” digital channel to the Times’s website next month. Next: April 22-24, 2015
#1 Fashion Industry Event
February 2015’s iteration was Fashion Week’s final runway turn under tents at Lincoln Center, following a December ruling from New York’s Supreme Court that the event can no longer remain on the Upper West Side cultural campus until 2020 as planned. The upcoming change in venue won’t stop 100,000 of the industry’s notables and hopefuls from turning out to view the creative displays of more than 80 designers. Next: September 10-17, 2015
#2 Fashion Industry Event
The prestigious awards honor top contributors in fashion design, journalism, and achievement at Lincoln Center. Last year’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award went to designer Tom Ford, while Rihanna picked up a Fashion Icon Award. Next: June 1, 2015
#3 Fashion Industry Event (up from #4)
In 2014 Highline Stages in the meatpacking district, near the museum’s new home at Washington and Gansevoort Streets, played host to 800 young art and fashion trendsetters for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s fashionable soiree. The annual event raises funds for the museum’s Independent Study Program. Next: Summer 2015
#1 Trade Show & Convention
More than a million people are expected to attend the 115th annual show this year. The Greater New York Auto Dealers Association's flagship event sprawls over 950,000 square feet in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and adjacent pavilion areas. Next: April 3-12, 2015
#2 Trade Show & Convention
More than 150,000 comic and anime fans filled the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center last year, as the organizers expanded the show with the launch of “Super Week,” 150 events taking place throughout the city in the nine days leading up to Comic Con. Next: October 8-11, 2015
#3 Trade Show & Convention
Shifting to a December time slot led to a rocky start for the Progressive Insurance-sponsored show in 2013, but it rebounded in 2014, attracting 63,515 attendees, an eight percent jump over the previous year. Next: December 11-13, 2015
#4 Trade Show & Convention
At 110 years old, the event still draws huge crowds to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. In 2015, visitors got to check out attractions like a 51-foot, $1.2 million yacht and a special exhibit honoring the FDNY. Progressive Insurance is the title sponsor. Next: January 6-10, 2016
#5 Trade Show & Convention
The summer version of the biannual gift fair encompasses more than half a million square feet of exhibit space at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Pier 94 on the Hudson River; winter’s saw some 2,500 exhibitors in home, crafts, gifts, and related categories. Next: August 15-19, 2015
#6 Trade Show & Convention
The meeting had nearly 54,000 registrants for its 90th anniversary last year, including 18,300 dentists, and organizers say they expect a bigger crowd in 2015. Next: November 27-December 2, 2015
#7 Trade Show & Convention
The National Retail Federation’s flagship event drew a crowd of 33,000 for its 104th annual convention in January. Next: January 17-20, 2016
#8 Trade Show & Convention (up from #10)
This year’s show had more than 500 exhibitors—including 130 first-timers—and more than 28,500 attendees, a jump of more than 10 percent in trade attendance and nearly 25 percent in consumer attendees over last year. Next: January 8-10, 2016
#9 Trade Show & Convention
Billed as the largest toy fair in the Western Hemisphere, the annual product marketplace is produced by nonprofit trade association Toy Industry Association. This year saw 30,000 attendees from 100 countries filling a record-breaking 422,000 square feet of exhibit space at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Next: February 2016
#1 PR Industry Event
Around 450 public relations professionals turned out last year for the prestigious award ceremony in Midtown, and organizers expect as many as 500 this year. Next: June 4, 2015
#2 PR Industry Event
Last year’s event at the Grand Hyatt New York drew nearly 1,000 members of the public relations field. In 2014 Edie Windsor was honored with the communicator of the year award (it went to Malala Yousafzai in 2013). Next: March 19, 2015
