Contemporary Stage Design at BizBash

We were thrilled to be the executive producer and designer of the General Session at BizBash Expo West at the Pasadena Convention Center. As such, we had to create a stage and room design that was beautiful yet flexible. It would change twice after General Session -- first for a seminar look in which I presented, and then the look for the BizBash West Style Awards.

During the awards

The mid-century modern design was technically integrated to accommodate multiple acts and was adaptable for both a seminar, an awards show and entertainment from simple acts to complex shows. Presenters and entertainers were able to enter the stage from behind at either end of the stage. We were able to easily accommodate multi-media award presentations, different and unique acts and a number of General Session speakers!

For the seminar

It was such a wonderful opportunity to get to work with the West Coast event community and I want to take a moment to thank all our creative partners.

Brite Ideas
Greg Christy

Goodman Audio
Trace Goodman

Megavision Arts
David Corwin

Don't Wonder Productions
Andrew Pole

Kool Party Rentals
Anthony Griffin

Zen Arts
Doug Miller

Dazian
Ashley Brown

Town and Country Event Rentals
Ted Galvanz

Thanks all! Everyone at AOO Events looks forward to working with you again soon!

A Pool with a View

A dramatic welcome to the J.W. Marriott at LA Live!

Every year the Marriott hosts a Marriott Corporate Partners Program in one of its newest, hottest destinations. We've been thrilled to have produced two of them in the last three years -- one in Indian Wells, California, at the Renaissance Esmeralda, and now this one which was held at the newest jewel in the Marriott crown -- the J.W. Marriott at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles.

The view from the pool deck

The unique architecture of the 70-floor hotel adds much to the LA skyline yet also pays homage to it when you are at the location. At the halfway point, a pool deck offers stunning views of the city. Above the deck, another 35 floors rises into the sky. It's not hard to see why this space has quickly become one of LA's favorite locations for events. The Marriott's more than 350 guests from all over the nation were equally impressed when they came in for the Corporate Partners Program this year.

The group was in town for several days and AOO Events designed both the welcome night events (a Los Angeles market theme), produced the event's several General Sessions and the final night la-la-land-lounge look that took place on the pool deck. The intent was to make them feel like rock stars and, as you can see, that wasn't hard given the space!

Beneath the Marriott logo and the Los Angeles stars, guests lounged in style, drank champagne, and dined on the best of everything.

Red. Not only is it the hottest color of the season, but it's also the color of the Marriott brand. Using it helped create an energetic, hot vibe contrasting with the cool colors of the pool.

GUEST BLOG by Phil Cooper

As Creative Director of the Chicago firm, Event Creative, Phil Cooper is a true designdawg. As part of the pack, he’s out there every day, looking forward to the next design challenge. When I met him, he told me about an event he did based on the movie, Avatar. The Adler Planetarium was the perfect venue for that theme. Here he shares a profile of that event with the rest of us dawgs. Have an event, design idea, or concept you want to share? Let me know. You could be the next guest blogger!

David Merrell

Lead Designdawg

The Sky is the Limit

By Phil Cooper

Stretching eastward into the depths of Lake Michigan, the Adler Planetarium offers panoramic views of the iconic Chicago skyline. It was here that Event Creative would produce an event called Wondrous Worlds for the annual Women’s Board Gala. Their inspiration for this year’s event? Avatar.

In recent memory, no other film has fired up my imagination as much so the creative process began immediately with a brainstorming meeting between Event Creative’s team of designers, sales staff, and executive management. We all agreed that we wanted to take this opportunity to showcase our company’s full capabilities in design and production and create a finely tuned event that was both memorable and unique.

The Adler: A perfect venue for an event with an Avatar Theme

Three hundred and fifty guests began their evening with cocktails in Café Galileo’s and the exterior Lake Michigan terraces of the Adler Planetarium on a Saturday evening. Donors then dined throughout the museum in five separate spaces where they participated in a live auction and then returned after sunset to Café Galileo’s soaring atrium for music, entertainment, and dancing.

Making the most of the view!

The layout of the museum presented several design challenges. Because patrons were divided throughout the Planetarium, it was important to make sure that all of the guests felt they were part of the same event.

The selected theme actually made this very easy. It was determined that in order to represent the feeling desired by the Women’s Board, we had to have an incredible guest table centerpiece that captured the exotic flora images from the epic James Cameron movie. We did not think a “traditional” arrangement would do. So we called on our head floral designer, David Gould. As Creative Director, I gave him two directions to work from: steel risers and upside down bromeliad plants.

David ran with this and incorporated not only the steel and bromeliads, but also orchids, mossy vines, gnarly grape wood, carnivorous plants, maiden hair ferns, colored gems, glass bowls and LED acolytes. The final creation of three alternating tabletop designs was out of this world and a total success. By alternating the rolling landscape of centerpieces and color blocking each of the rooms with one of BBJ Linens' twist fabrics we were able to enhance the existing décor and exhibits by transforming each one into its own world.

Cafe Galileo’s presented another challenge. Guests were going to spend a lot of time in this space so we had to mask the existing cafeteria-styled kiosk on the west wall of the building. We knew we did not want traditional pipe and drape, so we decided to take this opportunity to exhibit some of our scenic video capabilities.

We installed a 42-foot-wide wall of white Spandex on curved wall frames to provide us with a large projection surface.

With the aid of a handful of 3K projectors and LED lights, we were able to wash the entire surface in animated video and light. We also wanted to take advantage of the high atrium ceilings with décor. Our team of artists utilized large round steel spheres and wrapped them with strands of acrylic beaded crystal garlands. The garland absorbed LED light extremely well and added to the luminescent glow found in the Avatar movie.

One of the major scenic elements from the movie that we wanted to incorporate was the Tree of Souls.

To accomplish this, we sculpted two large tree structures from aluminum tubing, aluminum screening and acrylic opalescent crystal strands to enhance the weeping willow look. We then installed these “trees” over LED lights to allow the color-absorbent aluminum materials to change color throughout the evening.

The greatest accomplishment of the event was the synergy between all of the departments within our company. Teamwork defined our showcase goal: the ability to design and execute a fabulous event that focused on our lighting, sound and video capabilities, along with the fabric, floral, furniture and art departments.

About Phil Cooper

Making things was always a part of Phil Cooper’s childhood growing up in a small town in Michigan. His passion for creating and love of the outdoors led him to attend college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where he studied Scenic Design and Directing. Phil moved to Chicago where he worked for the Four Seasons Hotel for several years, eventually leaving to follow his passion and join Event Creative in 2008. In 2010, he took the reins of the company’s Creative Director.

Photos by Josh Sears

Anatomy of an Event: The Details

In this, the last of my posts about the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation event held on the USS Midway in San Diego, I want to talk about details.

People either say the devil or God is in the details, depending on how you look at it. Either way, it's the details that really make something great. The final result and how it looks is directly in proportion to how much time is taken in paying attention to the little things, and getting every detail right. I believe this holds true in all things -- our personal lives, our businesses and our craft, in this case event design.

MAKE AN ENTRANCE

The entry from the dinner area from reception was a perfect place for branding.

The sponsor banners flanked the red carpet on either side. Sailors were placed on either side for a dramatic entrance.

STAGE NOTES

The middle panel of the stage was a scrim. When lighted from behind it revealed the dinner band. The live element of having a band was intact but it didn't impose on the spoken portion of the program. The band was revealed during every break when there wasn't someone on stage.

ENTERTAINMENT

Kenny Loggins

I'm so glad the client went with my recommendation of Kenny. I've worked with him before and know that he will always go above and beyond all expectations. Plus, knowing the demographics of the crowd, he was the right choice. They all grew up with his music and of course, Danger Zone was the famous song from the movie, Top Gun. How perfect is that? And another of Kenny's songs, Celebrate Me Home, tied in perfectly with the words on stage and the video created by Brett Culp Film.

In fact, this is a huge detail that I want to mention -- the cadence of the show was built around three videos produced by Brett Culp. Each were beautifully written and produced and added so much emotionally to the program.

Emotion -- it's probably the most powerful detail ever and certainly one to never forget when putting together and evening like this one!

Happy Fourth of July!

From the flight deck of the USS Midway in San Diego!

For more of my posts on this event -- A Celebration of 100 Years of Naval Aviation produced by AOO Events -- please click here.

Photos by Jahon Pilichowski, AOO Event Producer (I was down below putting the final touches on the gala! For more on that click here)