Making a Spectacle

As the person charged with coordinating or planning corporate meetings and events, you’re responsible for not only the meeting’s effectiveness, but also ensuring that attendees find it memorable.

You could go for amazed gasps, like Nancy Jacobs, president of Minneapolis event-management firm Design Group, who brought a white Arabian horse into a ballroom for a fundraiser attended by 1,000 people. Or you could go for gorgeous décor elements such as the orchid “chandeliers” created by Bastian Skoog Urban Flower Studio in Minneapolis. Either way, visual spectacles have become almost expected at today’s meetings, events, and conventions.

“It takes a lot more to make events memorable than it used to,” says Jeff Nelson, president of Event Lab, an event-planning and   management group in Minneapolis. “People expect the same kind of high-energy, visually stimulating impact at an event that they are   becoming used to in their lives with the emergence of iPods, plasma TVs, 3-D video games, and so on,” he says. “To really capture the guests’ attention, there has to be movement, high-end lighting, ceiling draping, and the latest color schemes.”

Here, Twin Cities caterers, florists, production companies, and event planners share tips on how to make a statement without saying a word at your next meeting or event.

Top of the Tables

One of the first places to create visual interest, particularly if your event involves a meal in a traditional banquet facility, is with the tables.

Becky Harris, chief creative officer of Event Lab, recommends forgoing white linens. “A lot of companies think, ‘We need a white tablecloth and a centerpiece,’ and that is so boring,” she says. She recommends an unexpected color, like chartreuse green, or even a combination of corporate logo colors used throughout the room. Using a variety of table shapes and levels can also help start conversation among guests, Harris adds.

Bold centerpieces can liven up a table as well. Harris has seen events where the whole centerpiece comprises toys, such as games, puzzles, squeeze balls, and backpacks. The Design Group recently produced an event with a “Blue Leopard Lounge” theme, featuring glowing blue, leopard-spotted lampshade table decorations designed with a cylinder base of gel illuminated with LED lights. “Tying the theme all the way to the tabletop is fun and memorable,” Jacobs says.