This year’s Washington Business Journal Book of Lists celebration brought a record 1,200 registered attendees and seven premium sponsors to the National Building Museum on Thursday. And just how did Whitney Suntum, the publication's events and marketing coordinator, go about organizing the massive, 15th-annual networking event?
“There’s a lot of lists,” Suntum said, fittingly. “We have different production schedules for everyone. There’s a record amount of sponsors. Everything’s been on one Excel sheet for the last six months.”
As this year’s gathering fell during Washington Business Journal’s 30th anniversary year, Suntum worked to add more facets to the event, including even more emphasis on social media than last year’s Twitter- and Foursquare-friendly event. “This year we are upping the ante on activation,” said Suntum, who worked with social media company Social Driver to display photos tweeted or emailed from guests' smartphones on plasma screens in real time. Other new high-tech components included a 103-inch plasma Wii station for guests to play video games.
The Washington Business Journal tapped Ridgewells for the 15th straight year, and the catering company once again unveiled its new 2012 menu at the event. Menu items ranged from lemongrass crème brulee and beef bourguignon to a noodle bar and Korean barbecue station. Staff made some snacks on site, injecting doughnuts with fillings like raspberry and dark chocolate, and accounting firm Baker Tilly sponsored a shortcake flambé dessert station. For this year’s Book of Lists, Ridgewells added a new element with its pop-up restaurant—a purple tented space with white lacquer tables where guests could sit and enjoy new specialty dishes like spicy pork tacos and kimchi quesadillas.
The event planners had one surprise that wasn’t mentioned in the program for the evening. At 7:45 p.m., a flash mob appeared, wearing business attire, of course, as they performed a choreographed routine to “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz in the middle of the event space. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom's entertainment division, PeepsDC, organized the mob.
