12 Solutions to Common Problems at Events

As part of Herbalife’s 35th anniversary conference in St. Louis in July, producer Sterling Engagements located a venue that would represent cost savings from the company’s original selection. The group landed at the historic Union Station, a train station-turned-hotel and event venue with features including a broad staircase. Rather than locate the stage out of the way, Sterling set up a stage that incorporated the staircase as a dramatic backdrop.

To celebrate a year of partnership, Honest Company and Target hosted an event together in Los Angeles in April. Caravents produced and designed the event in a residential-like space, where even products as unsexy as diapers got an elegant presentation in the form of wreath-style wall art behind a seating group where Jessica Alba gave interviews.

In February, while Chicago was in the throes of winter, event space Hub Studio Loft hosted a grand opening party that created a summery environment capable of inspiring guests to venture out in the cold. A section of the event space included a tiki bar offering up "Puka Punch,” which guests sipped amid miniature palm trees, umbrellas, and Astroturf for mind-over-matter warmth. Flowers that evoked a tropical climate sat upon tabletops covered with sand and seashells.

Heal the Bay hosts a fund-raising gala each year, but it had identified a past problem with losing guests’—and donors’—attention in a disconnected environment. So this year, for its 30th anniversary, the environmental nonprofit worked with Events by Fabulous to tweak the layout so it would feel more intimate and inclusive. That meant a new stage design and program meant to draw an emotional response from guests by showing high-res video stories of the honorees and the mission of the charity, rather than by way of a speaker with a microphone. Beyond that, the team also created a multistage arena, with a catwalk that led into the center of the crowd and two additional satellite stages for performances that could better distribute the action within the event space. 

Pandora hosted a free invitation-only concert event in Los Angeles known as Summer Crush—in the middle of a 100-degree heatwave in August. Anticipating the weather, the team worked with AEG and city planners to secure the L.A. Convention Center West Hall for offsite check-in and holding out of the heat. Organizers also arranged for 18 self-contained misters, a water truck on standby, and a Chevron activation in the form of a mini gas station with custom-designed pumps that distributed water into branded bottles. 

The Anime Expo is the most densely populated convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and contends with massive crowds. Among its adaptive strategies are line areas marked out with tape, shoulders in the hallways, and a new mobile app that demonstrates how many people have signed up for an event or panel prior to the expo.

For this year’s Playboy and Mini Super Bowl event in Scottsdale, producer the Visionary Group had to place a vehicle for Mini Cooper onto the second-story pool deck of the W Hotel. Without a way to drive the car onto the rooftop, the crew hoisted the vehicle onto a crane lift and spent two rainy hours carefully lifting the car over the deck and placing it into position within the 18- by 18-foot footprint. The entire build was finished and approved within six hours, including the 16-foot-high three-dimensional backdrop behind the car, which would complete the Playboy Mansion photo booth façade.  

When Fox Searchlight premiered its movie Juno in Los Angeles in 2007, the party went with a changing-seasons theme to underscore the main character’s developing pregnancy. The wintry section of the event took over the outdoor space, covering the Westwood sidewalk in white carpet and faux snow. That camouflage allowed the team to cover the existing parking meters in white fabric, rendering them almost imperceptible to guests.

For the UrbanDaddy/Grey Goose Summer Soiree in New York in August, the hosts entertained guests with lawn games, large sculptured topiaries, and string lights for a French backyard feel. For an efficient use of the event space, the team folded up a step-and-repeat after the event was underway, and revealed a crepe station for dessert in its place.

For its 2011 gala in New York, the National Center for Learning Disabilities used the vertical pillars in the space to its advantage, rather than viewing them as obstacles. Designer Bronson van Wyck created custom column wraps printed with colorful logos and key messaging about the group's mission. In addition to brightening up the room, the columns also served as places to affix screens that improved guests’ view of the evening’s presentations. 

For the New York launch of Vevo in 2009, performances came from Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga. To keep things moving swiftly and keep the evening’s timeline on track, the musicians' gear was placed on rolling platforms, which a crew removed during a brief interlude and ushered off to a sidestage area.

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago hosted its annual gala this year during what turned out to be the wettest June in Illinois history. In addition to tenting the terrace area of the party space, organizers took the extra step of securing umbrellas for guests to use as they checked in, to set a tone for hospitality.