Entertainment

Theo Dari, also known as Laserman, works with lasers to create dramatic, high-energy, and highly visual entertainment acts. The artist has performed at numerous events, including at the Long Beach Arena's new Pacific Ballroom debut.

Tryon Entertainment is offering new so-called “human disco balls” for events. The stylishly dressed four-member crew makes appearances with text scrolling across LED disco-ball-shaped heads. The text can be customized with the event’s message.

Broadway singers and musicians perform in their underwear as the Skivvies. Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley do stripped-down (so to speak) versions of covers and originals for some can't-look-away entertainment.

Among De Leon Productions' offerings is a team of performers who do sideshow feats. Think sword swallowing and the so-called "human pincushion."

Key Artist Group offers so-called "living vines" for event booking. The human foliage can interact with guests and with one another for slightly surrealistic entertainment, just right for seasonal events.

Interactive buffet heads from Day Entertainment & Events include a glittery, grinning human cupcake.

Originally commissioned by Swarovski for the window of its flagship store in London, Private Drama's "Twilight Flutterby" costumed performer features a tornado of colorful butterflies encrusted with crystals.

"Tell-A-Vision" (as seen on America's Got Talent) is live performance art conceived and developed by Dorene Collier and AJ LeBlanc of Event Show Productions. Through two years of research, they created what they’re billing as a “moving storybook" that uses wireless technology and incorporates video screens joined with live performers.

What event doesn't need music and a little nosh? Marc Weiss, also known as DJ Chef, bills himself as a culinary entertainer. He cooks his signature dishes while he spins for the crowd.

Toronto-based street painter David Johnston uses chalk to make realistic trompe l’oeil images at live events for brands such as 20th Century Fox, Canon, and Loblaws. He creates the seemingly 3-D scenes and objects on flat surfaces such as cement or canvas.

French artist Antonin Fourneau practices water light graffiti, a process that involves using a damp sponge brush to draw on an installation made from thousands of small LED lights that light up when touched by water. Fourneau’s interactive performances are customizable, allowing audience members to try their hand at the art form.

Kansas City, Missouri-based Quixotic Fusion offers an eclectic swirl of acrobatic feats, pulsing rhythms, and colorful digital images and light projections. The group can perform from five-minute openers to 75-minute features.

Companies including Google and Disney have booked iLuminate. Dancers wear bodysuits outfitted with wirelessly controlled lights that coordinate with the dancers’ movements, resulting in sci-fi visuals.

At a Prudential Real Estate conference in Orlando, Dallas-based Corporate Magic paired live dancers with digitized butterfly wings projected inside floating orbs to create a single, fluid movement of person and pixels onstage. In-house animators achieved the effect by using green-screen technology.

Lumina the Laser Violinist puts a futuristic spin on a classic instrument. The musicians, booked solo or as a duo or trio, play with a laser bow while standing among pulsing light beams.

If your event has an oversize prop, eye-catching decor piece, or some other feature guests are likely to want to photograph, that element is a smart place for a hashtag—and it's bound to make its way online throughout the night. For instance, a Los Angeles event for British Airways and Variety saw hashtags splashed in the front windshields of traditional British black cars. Similarly, Diesel printed the hashtag for its Reboot campaign last September on large-scale installations in New York's Union Square.

Hashtags printed on items that guests hold in their hands throughout the course of an event—say, a fan giveaway at a promotion, or a table card for a seated meal—cannot be easily ignored or forgotten. At Essence magazine's Black Women in Hollywood Oscar luncheon in Beverly Hills, hashtags and handles decked seating cards for easy reference.

When events offer beauty and grooming treatments, guests are likely to feel compelled to share their post-experience transformation, whether it's a new hair look or a fresh manicure. At HBO's Luxury Lounge during the Emmys in Los Angeles, mats under mani stations encouraged social snaps for guests receiving Marc Jacobs Beauty manicures. And at Herbal Essences lounge at BMF's Hard Rock Hotel party during Lollapalooza in Chicago, hashtags on nearby signage encouraged guests to post beauty shots.

Hashtags that encourage interaction on site through gamification or another kind of activity are sure to facilitate broad interaction online as well. At Target's Feed U.S.A. event, menus encouraged guests to interact and mingle with tablemates through social media prompts on menus.

Sometimes, it's not the biggest message that makes an impact, but the subtle and cleverly rendered one that gets guests' attention. For a look that was well integrated with the venue's existing decor, Pandora launched a new jewelry collection in Los Angeles and emblazoned the Mondrian hotel's bold oversize planters with hashtags.

Hashtags get noticed in places where guests spend much of their time on event day—and where they have physical space and incentive to hang out. Certainly, a photo activation is a compelling incentive: Evian's photo activation at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami put a hashtag right above the action, where it was sure to make its way online.

Turning tweeting into a competition drives major social media engagement—not to mention huge buzz at the event. During Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim, prompts directed guests to use a tweet-operated Polaroid vending machine at the Ocean Drive Sun Covered Pool Party.

Hashtags printed on ordinary signage might get overlooked as guests' eyes glaze over to unremarkable displays. But employ a surprising medium to communicate the message and it's sure to get noticed—and photographed for social media. For example, Sonos used lipstick to playfully jot its event hashtag in an unmissable way.

Sure, promoting hashtags within the boundaries of an event can get guests interacting. But put them outside the event's official walls and you're more likely to capture a bigger crowd. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a 3-D projection of tweets using the official event hashtag appeared on a 35- by 65-foot billboard. The digital activation, created by Incredible Machines, ran at night, while during the day the billboard showed a static image of the hashtag printed on canvas. Similarly, AOL placed its hashtag on a giant billboard outside the venue of its upfront event during Advertising Week in New York.

Every guest is likely carrying a smartphone in his or her pocket. But making social sharing as easy for guests as possible can only further encourage the behavior—so try printing hashtags right alongside displays of smartphones or other devices. At Samsung's tent at the Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas, attendees ordered free frozen yogurt and designed T-shirts from devices at stations emblazoned with the activation's hashtag.

Putting hashtags on food isn't just a tasty idea—it's Instagram bait to boot. An event invitation to the Time Warner Cable Studios pop-up in New York before the Super Bowl came with a hashtag printed right on top of a cake.

It's no secret that guests want to photograph themselves—and their friends—for their social media profiles. So if you put your message right in their field of view, you'll capture their attention—and social media impressions. At Prive Salon in Los Angeles for the Colgate Optic White beauty bar ahead of the Golden Globes, handles and hashtags decked mirrors.

The event took place at the YoungArts Foundation's new campus, on the site of the former Bacardi Building in Midtown Miami.

Thierry Catering prepared a menu of rustic snacks, and tables were decorated with sprigs of fresh herbs.

Menu items included hollowed-out tomatoes filled with chicken curry salad, fresh figs filled with cheese mousse, and jars of country-style pâté.

The evening included alumni performances directed by YoungArts artistic adviser (and famous choreographer) Bill T. Jones.

To underscore the Backyard Ball's new name, Wow Factor Marketing Group gave the gala a homelike, rustic look.

A new after-party offered a full bar and sweets including Parisian-style crepes.

Artist Janet Echelman and Google Creative Lab's Aaron Koblin installed an eye-popping aerial sculpture at the TED Conference in Vancouver. The sculpture was suspended 745 feet between the 24-story Fairmont Waterfront and the Vancouver Convention Center for an unmissable visual centerpiece more than twice the size of the artist's largest previous sculpture. Passersby could use their cell phones to control the piece's lighting, which was provided by Graphics eMotion and Kinetic Lighting.

The conference's iconic short talks took place in a 1,200-seat theater that was constructed from thousands of laser-cut pieces. The goal of the temporary, David Rockwell-designed space was to make the convention center space feel more exclusive and on-brand. The theater was designed to be dismantled and stored until the next incarnation of the event.

The Rockwell theater was delivered by 50 trucks and set up over about five days. It included an array of different kinds of seating in various arrangements, and the furniture was designed specifically for the space.

Nanotech Security Corporation created the badge for TED attendees, incorporating the company’s KolourOptik nanotechnology as a security feature. The technology produces optically variable images that can be applied to any surface for anti-counterfeit and branding purposes, and it captures and reformulates light waves into intense colors without pigment or dye. "This year’s TED participants have one of the most technologically advanced conference ID badges ever made. The badges feature images that are imprinted with over 50,000 dpi resolution; that’s 150 times sharper than Apple’s Retina display,” Nanotech C.E.O. Doug Blakeway said in a statement.

The Vancouver Convention Center's stairs featured color-blocked sections printed with the conference's tagline, "The next chapter starts here," which could be viewed from a distance.

The TED Conference's opening night event took place at the Vancouver Convention Center East, where decor brought the outdoors inside—underscoring the landscape of the event's new home. Tensile and cardboard structures evoked mountains and trees, while the lighting mimicked the northern lights on the mountains. Vintners led a wine tasting, and the menu showcased local, fresh, and clean dishes.

In the TEDActive photo studio, attendees could snap their portraits and share the ideas that they represented. The life-size photos were printed and hung up in the lunch area.

TED's social spaces are intended to facilitate interaction, from casual to more structured opportunities. At the conference, five Skype Conversations—including a session titled "Power and Potential of Kickstarter" (pictured)—featured former TED speakers and guests from the TED community.

In Target's "Write the Next Chapter" social space, artist Daniel Duffy drew portraits of speakers using their quotes.

In just one of many examples of how TED—and in particular TEDActive—is unlike a typical, buttoned-up conference, a TEDActive attendee organized an impromptu dance party on the stage in Whistler.

At TEDActive, even the snack breaks came with an interactive touch and a flair of global relevance: Attendees dipped chocolate in Indian spices at the Vosges chocolate table.

Through the TEDActive Collaboration Project, hosted by Office 365 and facilitated by Ideo, Microsoft convened a team of 15 TEDx organizers for a workshop to discuss collaborative technology solutions. The team came together to find new technology solutions to update the TEDx Wiki (the site where all of the organizers' templates, case studies, notes, and best practices live).

Steelcase hosted a pre-conference workshop at TEDActive called “Culture: Why Does It Matter?” Attendees experienced an interactive display based on global Steelcase research about culture and the workplace and could see where they ranked on the “6 Dimensions of Culture” in relation to other TEDActive attendees. The installation was created to help fuel the conference's weeklong conversations.

Educators, education specialists, designers, and students gathered outside the TEDActive main theater to brainstorm around the Robin Hood Foundation College Success Challenge. In partnership with Ideo, Robin Hood debuted a challenge to TEDActive attendees: help design a scalable, technology-driven way to encourage more community college students to successfully graduate with associates' degrees. The group conceptualized real-world solutions throughout three workshop sessions during the week.

At TEDActive, the TEDx Action Lab was a space for the 300-plus TEDx organizers from around the world to convene, watch TED talks, and share messages on a giant, evolving chalkboard.

TEDActive's can't-miss oversize name badges are among the many ways the annual event encourages interaction versus more passive attendance.

The Lincoln House of Design was a place for the carmaker and conference sponsor to honor the innovative thinkers that participate in its Reimagine Project. For instance, the Sketchbook Project, a collection of more than 30,000 sketchbooks submitted by artists from around the world, was a collaboration between wife-husband duo Sara and Steven Peterman. And TED fellow Christine Sun Kim displayed an installation made of piano wires that have been reimagined as speakers to sound out voice.

The baristas providing the coffee service at both conferences used a new machine by La Marzocco. Coffee beans spelled out the hashtag #TEDCoffee so that the company could promote its presence at the event and facilitate a conversation around it—one of countless creative social media prompts and integrations.