Throwback Thursday: Five Early Event-Industry Patents from the Wayback
EVERYTHING ELSE
Event production doesn t exist in a bubble, but rather skates the edges of many different fields: stage design, audio-visual, marketing, catering, and a dozen other things, and its advancement has been dependent on the evolution of technology in its sister industries. This #tbt, we take a peek into a couple event industry patents from days past.
Stage Design & Effects
When the entertainment industry collided with the industrial revolution, new technologies were quickly incorporated into stage design and theatrical special effects. U.S. Patent number 1,332,918, filed in 1919 by Roy J. Pomeroy, is an awesome example of pre-digital machinery created to enhance performance visuals:
My invention related to a new and useful improvement in a theatrical device where in a framework in the form of a hollow sphere is to be rotated and in which there is a stationary platform on which will be placed one or more dancers. The framework may all be painted various colors or part of the framework may be silvered and other portions of the framework my be shaded or colored so that when the sphere is rotated at two or three hundred revolutions per minute it will appear as if it were a huge bubble of a myriad of colors, in which an artist or a number of artists are seen to perform, and thereby provide a very spectacular effect.
Food & Catering
One of the earliest examples of mobile catering as we know it is from this 1961 patent for improvements on the mobile catering truck. Though we know mobile catering was around long before this patent took effect, it was fraught with problems that this new design sought to solve.
in managing trucks heretofore the operator would merely drop the side panels of the truck and stand back to collect as the customers crowd around trying to serve themselves. This results in inefficient operation and lost time in serving the customer . [therefore] another object of the invention is to achieve more efficient control of catering truck operation by providing a truck with extendable cafeterial type table having a central opening in which an operator may stand while serving food.
Invitations & Ads
In the heyday of print advertising, clever design helped one event invitation stand out from the rest. This invitation card, created by Paul Furstenburg, leverages lo-fi human curiosity to drive engagement.
The object of the invention if used as an advertising medium is to provide a device which may not only be readily forwarded through the mails, but which will, upon receipt, so arouse the curiosity of the addressee that he will give the article a second thought and peruse the same instead of immediately depositing the same in the waste-basket.
Mobile Media Road Shows
In 1921, Swiss citizens Roger Juvet and Robert de Stoutz patented improvements in the exhibition car , an invention which provides a car for exhibiting goods and samples without repacking consecutively at different mercantile and industrial centers situated at a distance from each other.
Trade Shows
Portable pop-up display stands are a staple of trade shows and expo halls today. But while the idea seems pretty straightforward, these types of displays weren t actually invented until the portability craze of the mid-1970 s. It began around 1972-73 with Gerry Welton s display apparatus for exhibiting at trade shows and the like , and in 1974, Theodore Zeigler filed his first patent, number 3,968,808, a collapsible, self-supporting structure made up of a network of rod elements pivotally joined at their ends and forming scissors-like pairs .
Zeigler would later go on to found Nomadic Display, one of America s leading expo display firms, and fun fact! a Decibel Management vendor.
Famous quotes about war that are totally applicable to event planning
EVERYTHING ELSE
These quotes from military geniuses both fictional and real contain disturbingly prescient event production advice.
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Whether we re talking light shows and stage design, or hordes of undisciplined German tribesman performing flanking maneuvers against 20,000 seasoned legionnaires, surprise is part of the wow-factor. Bring a little extra game that no one saw coming.
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Man, this Tzu guy is full of good ideas. I think in this case, he s talking about setting the enemy s horses loose so you can pounce while everyone s in disarray or something, but I prefer to read this as being willing to use problems (even disastrous ones) as an opening to lock down your procedures and processes. Did something go wrong? After the immediate fire has been put out, use this chance to survey the key players to hunt down the source of the problem and mercilessly implement preventative procedures. Your future projects will be happier for it.
I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven t seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they re absolutely stupid.
Orson Scott Card, Ender s Game
Surround yourself with a team dedicated to staying scrappy, staying curious, and staying hands-on.
A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood.
George S. Patton
Mostly your blood. Which you kinda need. Do your homework and groundwork.
Five Gifts for Every Event Planner s Wish List
EVENT DESIGN
With Christmas coming up, it s time for all you event planners out there to review the year and tally up whether you ve been naughty or nice. Did you organize your time well? Go eco-friendly with your event venues? Take care of your contracts ahead of time? Use local vendors? Refrain from having a meltdown in front of your staff? Avoid having leftover cake for dinner?
Then you, my friend, deserve to reward yourself with a few gifts that will make your life a heck of a lot easier in 2016. Sure, event planner fun might not be the same as normal people fun, but if you like us are familiar with long days spent keying in logistics on your phones, and long nights losing sleep over stage girders, then these doo-dads are just for you.
Drones
Let s start out with something that s actually fun drones. There s been a lot of buzz over the past year or two about the potential uses of drones in large-scale events, from deliveries and advertising to dramatic unveils. Their biggest use, however, seems to be capturing videos and photography. Just strap a camera to those babies, achieve lift-off, and soon you ll have birds-eye shots of your event beyond what you ever imagined. (Don t forget, of course, you need qualified operators able to comply with FAA standards.) Personally, we think it s all just an excuse to play with remote-controlled top helicopters, but so what? We need to get our jollies when we can.
Zapier Subscription
Now for something a bit more practical: an app. Generally speaking, it isn t wise to try and impose your (however well-intended) ideas for organization on type A personalities, but believe us when we say any event organizer would happy to receive a subscription to Zapier. A favorite among organizers, this webapp-automation service helps integrate all the different sites and apps that you and your staff may be using (Mailchimp, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram, Todoist, etc.). For example, need the info from your web forms transferred to a Google docs spreadsheet? Zap it. Need your Evernote notes turned into a Trello card? Zap it. Need web-based schedules to appear in your calendar? You get the idea. While the basic version of Zapier is free, the subscription plans, which range from $20-125 per month, can handle a greater number of zaps, more tasks for month, connection to premium apps, task logs and more.
Getting Things Done
This one s an oldie (relatively speaking) but a goodie. Released in 2002, this self-help book aims to up your productivity while easing your panic attacks through a system based on prioritization and delegation. Written by David Allen, a management consultant and executive coach, Getting Things Done helps you focus your energy strategically and most importantly for people whose work contains a creative element helps you achieve a Zen state that ultimately frees your mind up to work on more important matters.
iPad Keyboard Case
If there s one thing that defines event planners, it s that they re always on the go, whether that means meeting with clients, liaising with event partners, or inspecting the venue. With all that travel, it just doesn t make sense to lug around a laptop, which is why a lot of planners now rely on iPads. One of the best ways to get the most bang for your buck out of your tablet is by buying a good keyboard case, which functionally transforms it into a lean, mean working machine. Our recommendation is the Belkin QODE Ultimate Pro Keyboard Case for iPad Air 2, which boasts perks like backlit keys, magnets that hold the tablet at two viewing angles, and a detachable keyboard. Whether you re using your tablet to send emails or make a presentation, this case (or one like it) well help multiply its functionality.
Mindfulness Meditation Course
Over the past few years, scores of studies have been released revealing the benefits of mindfulness meditation, a practice that has the potential not only to reduce your stress levels, but to improve your focus, clarity and creative thinking. For those of us who don t have the time to sit down with a book or take a class, a good option is to take an online course like this one, offered by UCLA, which combines lectures, discussion and practice in a six-week-long session.
What Event Producers can Learn from Basketball s Buzziest Coup
EVERYTHING ELSE
You into basketball? If yes, check out this in-depth piece on ESPN by Ethan Sherwood Strauss, You won t believe how Nike lost Steph to Under Armour . For those of you who aren t keeping tabs courtside, a quick summary of the story: then-up-and-coming player Stephen Curry signs a shoe contract with Nike, Nike kinda marginalizes and undervalues the guy, Under Armour entices Curry away, Curry goes on to superstardom, Nike bawwwws. It was indeed a loss worthy of some hand-wringing: Morgan Stanley estimates Curry s post rise-to-fame value at $14 billion. The coup is all the more impressive considering that Under Armour lays claim to less than 1 percent of the sneaker market .
Maybe this is arrogance, maybe it s just that everyone fancies themselves the underdog, but from a personal perspective, the story resonates with the folks here at Decibel. We ve always prided ourselves on being the scrappy little guy getting big things done, taking the lean approach to project execution. It s nice to be reminded that most of the time, it just comes down to who cares more.
The Pitch is Everything
And nothing says I don t care like a shoddy pitch. Read the story, and you ll see there was no one factor that decided Curry s defection, but the fumbled pitch meeting reads like a real turning point:
Famed Nike power broker and LeBron James adviser Lynn Merritt was not present, a possible indication of the priority or lack thereof that Nike was placing on the meeting. Instead, Nico Harrison, a sports marketing director at the time, ran the meeting The pitch meeting, according to Steph s father Dell, who was present, kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as Steph-on, the moniker, of course, of Steve Urkel s alter ego in Family Matters. I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before, says Dell Curry. I wasn t surprised. I was surprised that I didn t get a correction.
It got worse from there. A PowerPoint slide featured Kevin Durant s name, presumably left on by accident, presumably residue from repurposed materials. I stopped paying attention after that, Dell says. Though Dell resolved to keep a poker face, throughout the entirety of the pitch, the decision to leave Nike was in the works.
*wince*. Look, Nike doesn t need a lesson in running meetings they know better. They just got complacent, easy to do when you re at the top.
Good Word-of-Mouth is Worth More than Money
A clever strategy does things money never can. Instead of courting Curry directly, Under Armour courted one of Curry s teammates, very publicly deluging him with tokens of appreciation. In the end, it was that same teammate that pushed Curry to make the switch. Throwing money at something won t buy you that kind of loyalty, and won t inspire spontaneous recommendations. Treating your people right, though? That will.
Brand and sponsor value alignment is crucial
As some ESPN commentators noted, it s also possible that Curry simply wasn t right for Nike in the first place. Nike, they point out, likes their athletes larger-than-life. Curry, more zip than brawn, is almost too relatable. Yeah, maybe that was all, but it sounds like there was a mismatch of values as well: Nike values raw power, Curry values smart plays; Nike values big and flashy, Curry values small but special. This holds true in festival and event sponsorships as well: the most mutually-beneficial partnerships are born of shared values and shared goals.
Under Armour is kind of Badass
The gutsy play is a little less surprising considering that UA started out as a one-man, one-trunk operation:
Working from his grandmother s basement in Washington DC s Georgetown neighborhood, he traveled up and down the East Coast selling his revolutionary new product out of the trunk of his car. By the end of 1996, Plank made his first team sale, and Under Armour generated $17,000 in sales.
Lots of respect for Under Armour.
Good Read: How Food is Creating a Sense of Place
EVERYTHING ELSE, FOOD & CATERING
There s plenty of great info out there on factors to consider when creating immersive experiences in events or activations. Lighting, spatial design, audio, emotional connection and story, all of these things matter, all contribute to the experience. But what about food?
We just stumbled across this interesting thought in a piece from the February 2016 issue of the Moodie Report, an industry intelligence eZine focusing on travel retail, in which we discover how airports and retailers are rising to the challenge of creating Sense of Place by providing a variety of local tastes and flavours in their food offerings. The Design Solution Founder and Director Robbie Gill believes it is through food that the true heart of a location is defined, and in the latest edition of our regular Sense of Place series he provides an overview of how a compelling food offering can enhance local identity and presents some of the very best examples from around the world.
Airports are, in many senses, the ultimate experiential challenge. Your attendees are often tired or hungry or homesick, and food is indeed a universal panacea strongly tied to a sense of security, stability and pleasant memories. The Moodie Report will be running future editions of this column, so stay tuned for features highlighting retailers that are knocking it out of the park in this area.
Black Lives Matter
EVERYTHING ELSE
We said that things wouldn t go back to normal after COVID-19, but when we used that phrase countless times over the course of the Spring, we were really referring to crowd control and public health management. At the present, it seems we re taking the new normal in a different direction. Many Americans who have taken to the streets since May 26th see the opportunity to foster a more comprehensive and compassionate new normal.
Decibel Management, like many companies, took a moment to hop on social media to voice their solidarity on #BlackoutTuesday, but there is A LOT more that we can do as a company, and likely more your own company can do to support the Black Lives Matter movement in the long term. So, this week we ll go over some simple but effective ways that Decibel is working to better ourselves and for you to consider as you plan your next event including ways that it can be planned and executed in a manner that forwards the BLM cause. These certainly aren t the only ways your next event can contribute, but they are at least a starting point to think about how you can contribute to a new normal that s not just face masks and hand sanitizer, but reflects the ideals of equal justice and equal participation in our society.
Here are a few ideas on how to plan your next event around those ideals.
EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
Let s recognize that we re talking about making significant change rooted in 400 years of slavery, disenfranchisement, and inequality. There are no quick fixes here. It s going to take long-term societal commitments to right our ship. As in all things, education is key. Realize that you (and we) don t have all the answers. But education starts with communication. We need to have some conversations that will be little bit uncomfortable. It s important that those of us that are white work to understand our own privilege and how even actions that we believe to be benign can be destructive and contribute to the social inequality endemic to our country. Be humble, be contemplative, be a good listener and be empathetic.
There are a number of resources we ve found to help get you started on this process. The National Museum of African American History & Culture has an excellent resource portal on this which you can find right here. In particular, we d like to point you to the modules Being Anti-racist and Community Building. You can also visit the Black Lives Matter Resources page to learn more about anti-racist action.
CHOOSE AFRICAN-AMERICAN OWNED VENDORS & BUSINESSES
You can support Black Lives Matter by seeking out and patronizing African-American businesses, vendors, caterers, contractors and more. There were a number of resources and apps to do just this even before the May protests began, and now a bunch of new resources have been made available to make things even easier. Check out apps like eatOkra or IAmBlackBusiness for restaurants, caterers and other professional services for your next event. If you re in Chicago, LA, or New York you can also use this great reference guide from TimeOut.
CHOOSE COMPANIES, VENDORS, AND EVENT VENUES WHO FOLLOW EQUAL EMPLOYLEMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION (EEOC) GUIDELINES
You would think that the Equal Employment Act insured that businesses can t discriminate against potential employees based on gender, race, or age but there are actually a few loop holes that allow some businesses to operate outside of these guidelines. Confirm your event is run by companies and hosted by venues that have pledged to uphold and actually follow these anti-discriminatory guidelines.
PRIORITIZE CULTURAL INCLUSIVITY AT YOUR LIVE EVENTS
Are your events equally welcoming to all of your potential attendees? Going forward, consider forming a cultural inclusivity team just like the major events company The Famous Group. By having a diverse dedicated team on hand to consult during the planning stages of your event, you can be confident that you re reaching many publics in a respectful, thoughtful manner. If Starbucks had just taken the time to do this, maybe they wouldn t have created their own PR disaster by banning employees from wearing Black Lives Matter swag. Cast a wide net and avoid moves like that.
DONATE A PERCENTAGE OF EVENT PROFITS/TICKET SALES
Here s a pretty simple, straightforward way to make sure your event benefits the Black Lives Matter movement: Send a chunk of your profits off to organizations who desperately need it. We ve selected a handful just to give you an idea of your options (and you can find more here), but don t feel limited by our suggestions.
Consider finding social justice organizations in the host city of your next event to make a positive local impact. A great resource for that is Action Network, which hosts resources and contact info for local activist groups across the United States. Here s their page for Washington D.C.
And here s a few ideas of charities, relief funds and social justice organizations to get you started:
Donate directly to Black Lives Matter
National Police Accountability Project
It s important to note that while donating to these organizations are helpful, its likely not going to bring about the real change in society that needs to happen in the long-term. This isn t a problem we can truly solve by sending money. And, let s be honest, there will be future crises, natural disasters, and other causes which can quickly shift attention (and donations). So by all means, please donate, but recognize that donations are not what will help our society make significant, foundational strides.
Just to be clear, we have a long way to go here at Decibel, and we re looking at ways we can be sure to be part of the solution a we grow. Of course it s a good thing to take the time to voice your support for American families affected by police brutality and systemic racism on social media. But that is really step one of many in demonstrating your willingness to be an ally in the ongoing fight for racial justice and police reform.
An Event Planner s Worst Nightmare: Inaugural Edition
BACKSTAGE, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, LOL, POLITICAL
5 Times Throughout History the Presidential Inauguration Didn t Go Quite According to Plan
The 2021 Inauguration is here. A day that changes history and this year certainly is a big one. While everyone has their eyes on Capitol Hill, our event planner vision has us peeking behind the curtain.
It takes a lot to plan a presidential inauguration, and as every event producer knows, events of this scale don t always go according to plan. We decided to take a fun look back at the epic fails (do people still say that?) from inaugural s past, complete with some of our own experiences sprinkled in.
#5 1865: Andrew Johnson was Hammered at the Inauguration
???????? 1865. At the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, Vice President-elect Andrew Johnson had the bright idea to manage a bout of typhoid fever with a giant jug of whiskey. He ended up absolutely hammered before the inauguration and was booted off the dais. (Sidebar: bummer social media wasn t around back then, after leaving office, he d have scored a sponsorship with EmergenC.)
Decibel has produced hundreds of events over the years, and we have thankfully only encountered this scenario a handful of times. Most memorably at an award ceremony for a government agency helmed by a Cabinet-Level appointee.
One of the winners came in hot + over-served, and when it was time to accept their award, they hip-checked the Secretary and commandeered the mic to give an acceptance speech even though no speeches were planned. ????
We needed to manage the situation with the least amount of disturbance. We queued up loud award music with our audio engineer, and ballyhoo with our lighting tech, and when the drunk awardee took a pause in remarks, we hit the cue, cut the mic, played the music, moved the lights, and our awesome ASM came out with the proverbial Vaudeville Hook maneuver to walk them offstage.
End result? Looked like it was planned. Yeah, we can handle that.
#4 1961: JFKs Lectern Catches Fire
???????? 1961: The inauguration of JFK. As the cardinal was mid-invocation, the podium caught fire. Turns out the electric motor used to adjust the podium s height shorted out.
The fire was quickly extinguished by Secret Service, and the inauguration continued without further incident, but srsly, can you imagine that After Action report?!
Rest assured, when we say Decibel s events are ????, we mean metaphorical fire never, ever literal.
#3 1873: The Champagne & Canaries Froze
???????? 1873: This is a sad one. It was so damn cold at Ulysses S. Grant s 2nd presidential inauguration in 1873, that the celebratory canaries (yes, that was a thing), froze to death. ????
The 16 degree windy weather had the same impact on the celebratory champagne. History books don t attribute Grant s frigid inaugural to the invention of fros , but that s a leap we re willing to take.
We ve encountered our share of adverse weather, from the double hurricane that hit while we were managing a bus tour in Florida, to the time torrential storms in DC dumped so much rain that we had to slice the roofs off a few tents to avoid collapse under the weight.
Decibel never compromises on safety, #period. We have developed a long-standing relationship with #WeatherDecisionTechnologies and have come to depend on their trusted, hyper-specific forecasting services. Through their team, we are assigned a dedicated meteorologist to stay on top of the situation for the total duration of our outdoor events.
Because if your event isn t a success, neither are we. So yeah, we can handle that.
#2 1973: Nixon s Bird Shit Remediation Greatly Backfires
???????? 1973: Understatement: Richard Nixon didn t care for bird ????. So much so, that he asked the route be sprayed with chemical repellent. Reader: that was not the move.
The poisonous chemicals resulted in a path covered with dead birds. (What is with dead birds & inaugurals??)
Let s be clear Decibel Events is highly environmentally conscious, and we love birds and animals of all kinds. We haven t nor would we ever use dangerous chemicals at our events, however, we have some experience with shit the discourse kind.
One of our recent large-scale virtual events was free and open to the public, so our client understandably, wanted a profanity filter in place. We worked with their internal counsel and social team to develop a comprehensive list of profane words.
The list not only included standard profanities, but also social media work-arounds (shit vs s h i t with spaces). Turns out that when we imported the CSV, it uploaded each individually spaced letter as a curse word. In other words, every word that contained an s was blocked. ????
It took our team nearly 24 hours to trace back why we were blocking so many non-profane words, right in time for the event to go off without a hitch. So yeah, we can f****ng handle that.
#1 2021: Due to the Global Pandemic We Are (Mainly) Virtual Again
????????2021: Yup, we re going virtual. Joe Biden s parade will be the first ever virtual presidential inauguration parade, due to COVID-19.
Inaugural planners say they re going to celebrate America s heroes, highlight Americans from all walks of life, and reflect the country s diversity, heritage and resilience.
We know first-hand that switching to virtual can create a new host of problems, but know that the Presidential Inaugural Committee shares in our yeah, we can handle that attitude.
Our advice to #prfirms #adagencies & #eventprofs: Tune in. Take notes. Democracy doesn t wait, and we don t either.
Bonus: Forklifts for Dead Horses
????????Bonus: This one is more of an urban legend, shared among #eventprofs in hushed tones .
Horses are a crowd favorite during the before-times presidential parade. But if one happened to pass away en route, everything could literally stop in its tracks.
Event planners prepare for this heartbreaking scenario with two forklifts on standby, and the fervent wish they re never needed. This is hardly a fun fact, and absolutely our worst nightmare, but yeah, we can handle it.
Decibel Event Management Wins 6 Telly Awards
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVERYTHING ELSE, VIRTUAL EVENTS
Decibel Events is proud to have been awarded six Telly Awards in recognition of our partnership with the Library of Congress producing the 2020 Virtual National Book Festival.
This is a huge honor for Team dB, but not for us alone; this national recognition is shared by everyone that had an impact on this event: tireless leaders, designers, producers, peers, and staff at the Library of Congress, all of whom put in the hours, the effort, and the creativity needed to transform a massive in-person event to a successful virtual festival.
Out of adversity comes opportunity. When the pandemic hit, and the world shut down, we weren t sure if the event would even take place. But the dedicated Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, was determined to move forward. We accepted her challenge to transition this 20-year strong tradition to a safe-from-home format, without losing the intimacy and excitement of the Festival, or compromising any content and programming.
And we had 80 days to get it done.
That meant working with the team at the Library and recording all the authors through our cloud studio, editing hundreds of videos-on-demand, and building a comprehensive platform for our guests. The following stats remain staggering to us, still:
- 150+ Videos-On-Demand, Recorded, Edited and Hosted on Platform
- 120+ Authors
- 95+ Digital Sponsor Exhibit Booths
- 65+ Live Q&A Sessions
- 12 Live Virtual Stages
Far and away, this event was our most challenging and most satisfying of 2020, but not just because of the logistical and creative hurdles involved. The National Book Festival was created to share the power of literature across a myriad of ages and varied backgrounds and viewpoints. It is an event designed to build connections, foster conversations and curiosity, and a way to highlight diversity, culture and overlooked voices. Contributing that that important mission is reward enough; the Telly Awards are just icing.
We are forever grateful to the Library of Congress talented team and colleagues for their immeasurable contributions. And to our amazing production team, including Dave Nicholson with RelaTV Media, Melinda Curley with Cloverlea Entertainment, Josh Cook with EventEQ, for your unbridled passion and commitment to excellence.
Library of Congress: we love bringing your vision to life, and are truly grateful to have earned your trust. We can t wait to see you safely in person soon!
Holy Fuck, Apple. You Spent HOW MUCH?!
EVENT DESIGN, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, LOL, PRODUCTION
10 Major Events That Cost Less Than WWDC
Apple spent a whopping $50 million on its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. $50 MILLION.
This staggering figure was recently unveiled by Phil Schiller, former head of Apple s worldwide marketing, during his testimony at the ongoing trial of Epic Games vs. Apple, and it shook us to our core.
Yes, we know Apple is a billion-dollar company, and yes, we know they use their week-long conference to announce their shiny new gadgets (of which we re big fans), but it s still just. a. business. meeting. The set-up is super basic: a stage, some cameras, some speakers, and occasionally a musical guest (Weezer, Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and Good Charlotte), but nothing so spectacular or extraordinary or life changing that the event could run up that kind of bill.
To put this in perspective, we rounded up some other extravagant events that didn t cost nearly as much as Apple s week-long business meeting.
10. Naomi Campbell s 36th Birthday Party $1.8 Million
Supermodel Naomi Campbell rented out 18 floors of Burj Al Arab, the world s first seven-star hotel, to host her elaborate three-day birthday bash in Dubai. Each day featured a series of celebratory themed events for the OG Super Model and her high-profile guests, including David and Victoria Beckham, and Linda Evangelista. No assistants or phones were harmed at the big birthday bash.
9. Trump s 4th of July Event $5.4 Million
In 2019, during Donald Trump s presidency he hosted an over-the-top 4th of July event featuring tanks, fireworks, and a military flyover at the Lincoln Memorial. He called the event remarkable; we call it a misuse of public funds.
8. Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade $12.3 Million
This 2.5 mile parade with enormous balloons, unbelievable floats, and talented performers, dazzles crowds during the holidays each year. According to The Smart Shopper s 2016 report, the average total cost to host the parade is between $10.4-$12.3 million. Event logistics can cost up to $3.4 million.
7. Producing Hamilton on Broadway $12.5 Million
Everyone wants to be in the room where it happened. Mounting the show on Broadway took $12.5 million, or one-million-two-hundred-fifty-thousand ten-dollar bills featuring our founding father. There is nothing scrappy about the Tony Award-winning musical, which has grossed more than $1 billion in global revenue to date.
6. Jennifer Lopez & Shakira s Super Bowl Halftime Show $13 million
JLo and Shakira killed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2020. The 14-minute show included more than 130 dancers, 600 field team members, 5,350 pieces of pyrotechnics and some spectacular lasers. The televised performance won an Emmy Award, and resulted in millions of viewers feeling bummed out about their physical fitness and skin care regimen.
5. Opening of the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai $31 Million
With a goal to make this resort opening one of the biggest events of the year, event designer and producer Colin Cowie and Empire Entertainment turned up the flash to throw a lavish three-day extravaganza. Powerful video projections, pyrotechnics and fireworks told the story of the Atlantis across the outer facade, ending in the largest-ever fireworks display on record more than seven times larger than those used at the Beijing Olympic games.
4. 2021 Oscars $40 Million
The Academy Awards wanted to go big and go live this year. All attendees were required to take three COVID tests prior to attending, but considering they received a gift bag containing approximately $225,000 worth of goodies, it feels like a fair trade to us. Plus, ya know, human interaction.
3. Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics $42 Million
This spectacle was called Isles of Wonder. Directed by Academy Award-winning British film director Danny Boyle, the London Olympic opening ceremonies pulled out all the stops. With a television audience of 900 million, it became the most-viewed Olympic opening ceremony.
2. Burning Man Music Festival $44 Million
In 2018, Burning Man reported it took $44 million to produce the music festival focused on community, art, self-expression and self-reliance. The event creates a temporary city in a Nevada desert and features a 40-foot-tall burning effigy among hundreds of other elaborate art structures. Fun fact: they spend $1.4 million for sanitation services alone (aka: port-a-potties).
1. Prince Harry & Meghan Markle s Royal Wedding $45 Million
We watched, we wept, we drank tea at 5am. A royal wedding is more affordable than a work conference. <<
Apple: give us a call. We can produce a fantastic WWDC for you with a lower price tag and so much more than a stage with a screen and some lights.
2021 Oscars BINGO Card
EVENT INDUSTRY, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, LOL
It s almost time for the 93rd Academy Awards show!
Though we re starting to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, most of us are still planning to tune in to the 2021 Oscars at home, and we ve got the perfect free Oscars BINGO card to help you do just that.
This year the Oscars are going to be completely live that s right, with real people in the audience and everything! The Academy specifically said NO Zoom, NO sweatpants. While we can t promise that WE won t be donning some comfy clothes, we are excited to watch a fully live awards show again.
Enjoy this challenging and cheeky BINGO card that we have created to help your 2021 Oscars watch party really pop, all you have to do is print it out and play along. If you get BINGO, make sure you TAG us on Instagram: @@DecibelManagement for a chance to win an exclusive prize!
