Attendees: 1,000+
Venue: International Market Square
Caterer: D’Amico Catering
Event Planner: Becky Harris, Event Lab
Lighting and audio-visual: AVEX
Rental Firms: Aarcee Party & Tent Rental (pipe and drape, chairs)
Florist: Event Lab
Entertainment: Synergy dance band, Twin Cities Gospel Choir, George Maurer Group


In April, Event Lab threw a marketing event for a New York–based audiology company, in conjunction with the American Academy of Audiology convention in Minneapolis.

The company hosts an event each year for convention attendees and bases its party themes on the convention location. This year, the “Once in a Blue Moon” theme referenced the blue of Minnesota lakes and highlighted the company’s 50th anniversary.

Event Lab, a Minneapolis event-planning company, oversaw all aspects of the event including transportation, décor, entertainment, and catering—and were challenged to give the event a high profile.

“It was very, very, very, important to this company that they maintain and have a reputation for having the party in town, because there were many other parties going on that night—to the point where others were sending their buses to try and get people away from our party,” says Becky Harris, national account executive for Event Lab.

In order to accommodate the 1,000-plus guests, Event Lab used all the available space in International Market Square. The event firm created different environments and experiences that catered to a variety of individual tastes. From dancing in the atrium, where the variety dance band Synergy played high-energy music, to a lounge with the George Maurer Group’s dueling pianos, guests enjoyed a night in which they were able to come and go as they pleased, explains Jeff Nelson, former president of Event Lab.

Attendees entered the large atrium through a passage of illuminated palm trees. Lounge furniture and a variety of buffets outlined the dance floor. A Las Vegas–type showgirl in wild blue attire was perched on an overhead swing all night—a first for International Market Square, Nelson says.

“To us, that’s what makes the difference. That’s what elevates the event to the next level—not only creating a very entertaining environment, but figuring out how to use the venue in a way that takes it to the next level and introduces an element that’s never been seen or done before,” Nelson says.

Event Lab tied the environments together with the color blue. Everything was blue, from the metallic linens and blue-gel–filled centerpieces to the 45-foot banners hung in the atrium. Blue M&Ms were set out in the lounge. Event Lab even replaced all the venue’s light bulbs with blue bulbs.

 “By the time we decked out the entire IMS in blue and built kind of these very theme-y, very trendy type spaces, it really was quite a display,” Nelson says.

Thirteen buffets offered a variety of cuisines. One station had stir-fry in to-go containers;  at another, attendees watched as chefs tossed dough and baked pizza. Waiters passed small burgers and cones of fries.

A variety of other elements added to the energy of the evening, including character actors performing as The Blues Brothers and a performance by the Twin Cities Gospel Choir, complete with blue stoles over their robes. The choir had attendees up out of their seats dancing before Synergy closed the night.

“We created an environment that had this build-up effect to it,” Nelson says. “By the time the event ended, all the experiences were in play at one time and really created an environment where people were walking out wanting more.”