Take A Look Behind The Most Exclusive Award Show Afterparties
NEWS
When you sit down to watch the Academy Awards or the Grammys what do you look out for?
See, we re the types of weirdos that have a group text during the Oscars with comments like, Did you catch that hot mic , or Who do you think they re using for those video back drops? or Why isn t there any love for Best Production Design?
Last week s Golden Globes kicked off the season of watching obscenely rich and attractive people congratulate each other for hours at a time on stage (see, Ricky Gervais s Golden Globes performance got to me). Mark your calendar- the Grammys are just around the corner on January 27th and the Academy Awards follow soon after on February 10th. There s not much time to rest here.
As you might imagine, the event planning scene in L.A. is in overdrive at the moment getting everything prepped for these two really high-profile events and their glitzy afterparties. Let s take a brief look at some of the event planners and event management companies, venues, and considerations involved in throwing afterparties at this caliber.
The Governor s Ball by Sequoia Productions
We know for a fact that The Governor s Ball is going to be thrown by Sequoia Productions who have been tricking out this exclusive event for the night s winners and nominees for nearly 30 years.
The ball is typically held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom, adjacent to the theatre where the main event is held. There are a handful of companies involved in making this event completely off-the-wall (see the above link) but in past years, the pastries and catering have been covered by such no-names as Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsey. We re still looking out for how this year s ball is shaping up but, I mean, if there aren t 800 lobsters this year it just doesn t seem worth it. I may just turn down my invite and spend that night washing my hair.
The Vanity Fair Oscar Party by Cornucopia Events
According to Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair s Oscar Party is one of the longest standing and most exclusive afterparties for the evening. I m being snarky, but truthfully Vanity Fair always throws an opulent super-exclusive afterparty full of A-listers and other people of significant influence in Hollywood. This year s afterparty is organized by Cornucopia Events from the UK.
For a measly sum of $52,000 you too can attend the Vanity Fair after party. You just have to be willing to put on a tie (there s always a catch!).
The Grammys Official Afterparty by The Recording Academy
As far as the Grammys go the official party is an in-house production handled by the Recording Academy themselves. According to Branden Chapman, the overseer of all the major Recording Academy events prior to and immediately after the awards ceremony, the event will be hosted at the Los Angeles Convention Center for nominees, awards winners and other who s whos of the pop music world. The theme of this year s afterparty has yet to be officially announced, but last year s theme was French Masquerade. Admittedly it s tough to get a good look at the party because all these random celebrities get in the way.
We highly suggest you check out that interview of Branden Chapman to read about the planning procedures for the event. It s an interesting and deeply stressful read.
Are you planning a luxurious, exclusive event filled with wealthy people of influence and celebrities? Are you Joaquin Phoenix? Reach out and get in touch with our team we d absolutely LOVE to be your new best friends and get that event started for you!
How to Make a Splash in Your Next Livestream
NEWS
The NFL s fully virtual 2020 draft wrapped up yesterday. For anyone who doesn t do sports, a pro draft is a lot like picking kickball teams in middle school gym class but instead of friendships there are multi-million-dollar contracts on the line. Under normal circumstances this event doesn t typically draw the same level of viewership as actual on-the-field competition. You can count on the die-hards, and football-starved fans who ll check in to get their fix.
But not this year. The 2020 NFL draft smashed all previous viewing records with 55 million viewers across various ESPNs, ABC, and the NFL network. Here is ESPN s stats flex:
Each day of the 2020 NFL draft set records, the league said. An average audience of more than 15.6 million viewers watched Round 1 on Thursday, up 37{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} over 2019. More than 8.2 million watched Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday, up 40{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} over 2019, and Saturday s coverage of Rounds 4-7 averaged more than 4.2 million viewers, up 32{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} over 2019.
This year the NFL fully embraced their lock-down circumstances and opted for an entirely virtual, completely unconventional media spectacle in the form of hundreds of live feeds from the homes of players, coaches, commentators, and fans across the United States.
This concept was so cool that the core of the event (the draft itself) were eclipsed by all the color of seeing everyone s quirky home war rooms. And there were hijinks! Bears GM Ryan Pace set up 7 monitors in his dining room and briefly lost his feeds when his wife vacuumed and pulled out all the cords. Seahawks GM John Schneider had walls in his house taken down to mount 25 monitors so he could view feeds and surveil Gotham s cell phone signals to locate The Joker at the same time. Patriot s head coach Bill Belichick said screw it and let his dog handle things because he has literally nothing left to prove:
Bill Belichick s House
Now that attempt at trading Tom Brady to the 49ers makes a lot more sense.
These types of hiccups were expected, and we suspect, actually counted on to make the draft memorable. Rather than detract from the event s goals they actually add a certain realness, variety and a human element that attracts people like me who watched despite having zero investment in the draft itself. It was all the more remarkable to watch live feeds from the homes of players and their families who crowded around webcams to celebrate picks.
So how in the hell did they pull this off? Which masterminds should receive all of our jealousy and admiration?
The NFL had been flirting with virtual in the lead up to the draft already. Even initial prospect player meetings, which normally take place in person, happened over Zoom for the past month. This presented new challenges for GM s who are trying to determine whether a potential player will be a huge pain.
The virtual draft required a big effort on the part of the NFL and event organizers, who had to outfit hundreds of homes with additional routers, generators, and other IT gadgetry to manage hundreds of simultaneous live feeds:
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced picks from a studio in his basement, with more than 600 camera feeds in the homes of 85 draft prospects, 32 head coaches and general managers, as well as fans and college football coaches.
The NFL shipped two iPhones one Interview camera running native apps like FaceTime for TV interviews and the congratulatory virtual hug with the commissioner and one Always On camera running the Larix Broadcaster app and coordinated by Amazon Web Services that will showed players and families waiting to be drafted and their reaction once their name was called. One big potential bottleneck was simply the bandwidth at the players homes. If they were in an area without reliable, high-speed Internet access, quality would suffer. Because of that, prospects were asked to get in touch with their internet provider to try to increase their bandwidth.
Among other fascinating details found in this behind the scenes video, we learned the NFL actually sent special mobile phone production kits to potential draft picks, coaches and GMs to set up at home. They look pretty similar to our own recommendations for home livestream setups that we shared earlier in the month:
The NFL even had 3 call centers set up to manage feeds from these mobile setups. Here s the chart they used to keep track of them all:
Video feeds
Clear as day, right?
In addition the NFL feeds, The Famous Group curated somewhere north of 1000 fan feeds which were displayed on background monitors to approximate the experience of a live in-person crowd. The Famous Group have been working with the NFL to produce the Super Bowl since Super Bowl 40 and have staged the in-person drafts for the past few years. These were the guys behind that totally wild augmented reality raven when the Ravens clinched the AFC North in December. It s no surprise to us they were involved here too.
So, are you organizing a draft? Get in touch with us today and we ll help you realize your dream of viewing live video feeds of all of your current and future employees in their homes!
AGDQ 2020 Should Inspire Event Planners to Embrace New Tech and Audiences
NEWS
Speedrunning? It s not parkour s boring cousin.
It s how the AGDQ gaming event pulls in millions for charity each year.
As event management experts, we re always thinking about innovative event planning processes to keep up with the times. Back in 2018 we posted a little think piece about how live events can stay relevant in the digital era (click the link for a refresher). How did our conclusions stack up, were we right on the money and a savant-level mentalist prediction machine? Eh, kinda, but stay with us here. The major takeaways here are 1) that live events need to embrace new media technologies and data analytics in order to maintain relevance and know what s working 2) that events need to connect with an audience and produce content they will love to share endlessly on social media, even long after the event is concluded.
We thought it might be a great time to revisit the major themes of this article by providing an example of a live event that makes a killing through streaming services. And here s the fun part you can check it out from your phone or computer right now.
Photo by Brian, Provided by GDQ CC4.0
We re talking about AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick). AGDQ is a yearly charity event that runs 24-hours a day for a full week (January 5th to 12th). The event is all about speedrunning , a practice by which gamers challenge themselves to complete a game as quickly as possible by working out optimal paths of movement, exploiting glitches to avoid huge portions of a game, and through a deep knowledge of the coding structure of the software itself. It s mad cap. Check out the highlights from last year s event.
Photo by NotManda, Provided by GDQ CC4.0
While GDQ s summer event is always held in Minneapolis, AGDQ has bounced around a bit. This year s event is held at the illustrious Double Tree Hilton in Orlando, Florida. It s like, right by Universal Studios. You know the one.
At each AGDQ, nearly 200 gamers, as representatives of game-specific speedrunning communities are invited to come in and perform speedruns in front of a live audience. Commentary and explanations of each speedrun s tricks are supplied by additional experts on-site in real time. All the while, each run is streamed through Twitch and Youtube and viewers at home are invited to send donations for the event s chosen charity (Prevent Cancer Foundation). It s as much a thrill to watch the donation counter tick upwards throughout the week as it is to watch some guy smash Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom in 15 minutes on a Playstation 2. Really, you d be surprised.
Sounds lame? Well guess what, during GDQ s summer weeklong event SGDQ 2019 brought in just over 3 million dollars for Doctors Without Borders from over 51,000 donations. Since AGDQ began in 2010, they ve raised 22.3 million dollars for charities. Let that sink in. They could ve bought this sick yacht with a jacuzzi by now.
Photo by Arael, Provided by GDQ CC4.0
Photo by NotManda, Provided by GDQ CC4.0
As you might imagine, holding TWO events like this each year is an incredible undertaking. Just think of what an absolute nightmare the scheduling is! Video submissions from gamers are collected months prior to the event. From there, event planners Mike Uyama and Kasumi Yogi aren t just tasked with whittling through the submissions and choosing the best videos. Human error and even plain old bad luck on runs must be expected and taken into account. What if a speedrunner chokes and loses 3 minutes on their live run? Will it throw off the whole week? Keeping a non-stop event like this on schedule in spite of all the variables in play is an achievement. You can check out their scheduling and submission rules to see how they ve handled this challenge.
Photo by Arael, Provided by GDQ CC4.0
Events like AGDQ succeed because the organizers go through great lengths to make an event that accommodates and celebrates the eccentric skills and cultural milieus of its target audience. They re embracing technologies and online platforms their communities are already using year-round to hone their skills. AGDQ provides a key service it s a meeting ground where otherwise separate, niche communities come together and get the rockstar treatment despite having an otherwise pretty unmarketable skill. The loyalty and sense of belonging it inspires translates into donations participation in the community and event means kicking a few dollars to a charity to support your speedrunning comrades.
Keep these in mind while you set your event goals and reach out to the event management experts at Decibel Management we d love to partner with you to bring your event to the next level!
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Check out the schedule to see when your favorite game is getting slayed:
https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule
Check out the action live here:
https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick
Confused by the lingo? This glossary of speedrunning terms should help:
https://www.gamecrate.com/speedrunning-terminology-glossary/17892
Want to see how the internet is reacting to AGDQ? Hit up their subreddit:
The NFL Went Big *and* Stayed Home
NEWS
The NFL s fully virtual 2020 draft wrapped up yesterday. For anyone who doesn t do sports, a pro draft is a lot like picking kickball teams in middle school gym class but instead of friendships there are multi-million-dollar contracts on the line. Under normal circumstances this event doesn t typically draw the same level of viewership as actual on-the-field competition. You can count on the die-hards, and football-starved fans who ll check in to get their fix.
But not this year. The 2020 NFL draft smashed all previous viewing records with 55 million viewers across various ESPNs, ABC, and the NFL network. Here is ESPN s stats flex:
Each day of the 2020 NFL draft set records, the league said. An average audience of more than 15.6 million viewers watched Round 1 on Thursday, up 37{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} over 2019. More than 8.2 million watched Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday, up 40{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} over 2019, and Saturday s coverage of Rounds 4-7 averaged more than 4.2 million viewers, up 32{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} over 2019.
This year the NFL fully embraced their lock-down circumstances and opted for an entirely virtual, completely unconventional media spectacle in the form of hundreds of live feeds from the homes of players, coaches, commentators, and fans across the United States.
This concept was so cool that the core of the event (the draft itself) were eclipsed by all the color of seeing everyone s quirky home war rooms. And there were hijinks! Bears GM Ryan Pace set up 7 monitors in his dining room and briefly lost his feeds when his wife vacuumed and pulled out all the cords. Seahawks GM John Schneider had walls in his house taken down to mount 25 monitors so he could view feeds and surveil Gotham s cell phone signals to locate The Joker at the same time. Patriot s head coach Bill Belichick said screw it and let his dog handle things because he has literally nothing left to prove:
Bill Belichick s House
Now that attempt at trading Tom Brady to the 49ers makes a lot more sense.
These types of hiccups were expected, and we suspect, actually counted on to make the draft memorable. Rather than detract from the event s goals they actually add a certain realness, variety and a human element that attracts people like me who watched despite having zero investment in the draft itself. It was all the more remarkable to watch live feeds from the homes of players and their families who crowded around webcams to celebrate picks.
So how in the hell did they pull this off? Which masterminds should receive all of our jealousy and admiration?
The NFL had been flirting with virtual in the lead up to the draft already. Even initial prospect player meetings, which normally take place in person, happened over Zoom for the past month. This presented new challenges for GM s who are trying to determine whether a potential player will be a huge pain.
The virtual draft required a big effort on the part of the NFL and event organizers, who had to outfit hundreds of homes with additional routers, generators, and other IT gadgetry to manage hundreds of simultaneous live feeds:
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced picks from a studio in his basement, with more than 600 camera feeds in the homes of 85 draft prospects, 32 head coaches and general managers, as well as fans and college football coaches.
The NFL shipped two iPhones one Interview camera running native apps like FaceTime for TV interviews and the congratulatory virtual hug with the commissioner and one Always On camera running the Larix Broadcaster app and coordinated by Amazon Web Services that will showed players and families waiting to be drafted and their reaction once their name was called. One big potential bottleneck was simply the bandwidth at the players homes. If they were in an area without reliable, high-speed Internet access, quality would suffer. Because of that, prospects were asked to get in touch with their internet provider to try to increase their bandwidth.
Among other fascinating details found in this behind the scenes video, we learned the NFL actually sent special mobile phone production kits to potential draft picks, coaches and GMs to set up at home. They look pretty similar to our own recommendations for home livestream setups that we shared earlier in the month:
The NFL even had 3 call centers set up to manage feeds from these mobile setups. Here s the chart they used to keep track of them all:
Video feeds
Clear as day, right?
In addition the NFL feeds, The Famous Group curated somewhere north of 1000 fan feeds which were displayed on background monitors to approximate the experience of a live in-person crowd. The Famous Group have been working with the NFL to produce the Super Bowl since Super Bowl 40 and have staged the in-person drafts for the past few years. These were the guys behind that totally wild augmented reality raven when the Ravens clinched the AFC North in December. It s no surprise to us they were involved here too.
So, are you organizing a draft? Get in touch with us today and we ll help you realize your dream of viewing live video feeds of all of your current and future employees in their homes!
Music Licensing for Live Events
NEWS
and the Decibel December Mix Tape
It should go without saying that music is an important part of any event. It quite literally sets the tone. You know for example, not to throw on a Slayer mixtape at a silent auction unless it s on the unlikely occasion you re trying to move some Metal-Memorabilia. But the issue with music that we d like to address today isn t about what is appropriate to play, but rather what is legally allowed.
We re going to hazard a guess and assume you may not be an expert in the exciting field of music licensing. That s ok, don t feel bad, you still have a lot of other great qualities and we have done our part to bone up on the subject. At this point in the article, we should stress that we are not lawyers (please consult with your lawyer, they love this stuff), but we can tell you what you need to know to make legal arrangements for music at your next event.
First let s consider the difference between public and personal listening. Whether you buy a track from iTunes, stream from a service like Spotify or Pandora, or own physical media (wow!), you are in the clear to play that stuff for personal use, but not public performance. Public Performance covers pretty much any kind of corporate event, meeting or conference even if it is an internal meeting and no tickets are sold. As you might imagine, any circumstances in which you are selling tickets, livestreaming, or broadcasting an event publicly, fall outside the legal spectrum of personal use.
In short, you need a license.
SPOTIFY:
While we re on the subject, hop on over to our Spotify December Doors Mix Tape and make personal use out of the most recent mix we used for one of our corporate events. You can t use this for public performance (as you now know), but you can still put it on blast as you digest the steps needed for proper licensing below.
So, who do you have to deal with to make sure you re in the clear? In the US there are three main groups that manage the licensing of music. You ve likely heard of ASCAP and BMI, but the third is SESAC. We could get into the minutia of the differences between each group but the bottom line is that you ll want to go ahead and get blanket licenses for all three. Why? Music licensing is messy. Sure, a songwriter might be attached to ASCAP, but the producers and various performers also involved on a track may well be attached to other organizations. Play it safe and cover all your bases.
But this isn t as bad as it sounds. The costs are actually pretty reasonable all things considered. Blanket licenses as described above are based on a per attendee basis. Expect to pay a minimum fee as low as $35, or a per-attendee fee as low $0.05 each. There are different levels of what is allowed and under what circumstances, and there are nuances to how each of the three groups approach public performance licensing rights, so the best thing you can do is work with each group to get a clearer idea of actual costs.
As event managers, we handle a lot of organizational details, but we cannot contract this for our clients. Licensing groups require clients contract directly. Check within your own organization before going down the licensing rabbit hole though! We ve found more often than not, there is already an existing agreement for other uses like commercials, videos, or music for retail locations that may well apply to your event.
We hope this primer showed you that this isn t a daunting process. This is totally doable. Check out our additional links and resources to determine licensing costs below!
So NFL, About that COVID Plan
LIVE EVENTS, NEWS
You know what? Let s talk about sports. That s a nice safe topic right? Can we all just be chill and talk about the NFL for a few minutes without anything bad happening? Can we just have that, universe?
We spent the summer watching the various ways different pro-sports leagues tried to push forward despite the circumstances. The MLB had an interesting strategy at the outset: test players constantly, maintain social distancing, keep the stands empty and pipe in crowd noise to the telecasts. That worked really well until a bunch of players got COVID like 5 minutes after the national anthem wrapped up.
The NBA by contrast created their Disney COVID bubble where players would live, hang out and play in a closed system. While this method was quite restrictive, it did actually work. Like it really worked. The NBA just wrapped up their their 2020 season with the Lakers winning their 17th NBA Championship title and (even more impressively) ZERO COVID cases.
We had zero positive tests for as long as we were here, MVP Lebron James said. That s a success for everybody that was involved.
Enter the NFL. This is likely the most challenging sport to pull off during a pandemic since gameplay requires 22 players to be packed into tight spaces where they just breathe on each other and occasionally move the ball 4 yards in either direction.
After putting on an excellent virtual draft back in the Spring, we expected the NFL to be absolutely on top of their game for their kick-off on September 10th. So how did the opening games pan out? What precautions has the league taken to ensure the safety of their players and confidence in their schedule?
Well, the biggest issues with the season plan were theoretically hammered out at the tail end of July. If any of you sports fans recall, the NFL and NFL Player s Association came to a lengthy agreement that included extensive testing, strict training regiments, new salary caps, roster changes, and everything else imaginable and unimaginable.
The NFL/NFLPA agreement is seriously exhaustive. There s pages of requirements detailing things like how air should be circulated in indoor stadiums. There s new rules about who teams can send out to witness the coin toss. There s rules about masks. There s even rules about how loud the piped-in crowd noise is allowed to be across the league so as not to provide an advantage to one franchise over another. Seriously.
And while the NFL teams would not be playing in a bubble like their NBA counterparts, the amount of logistical work that went into new rules for play suggests the NFL was at least as serious about protecting the health of their players as they were in protecting their finances. And really, that s just about the best we can all hope for this year.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (25) carries the ball against the Houston Texans in the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Another point of departure that the NFL took from other professional sports leagues was in the allowance of some stadiums to seat actual fans. Each franchise has been allowed to apply their own rules to live attendance based on local pandemic conditions, and the complete list of who is selling tickets can be found here. While some franchises like the Denver Broncos will only allow family and friends of the players to view games, the Kansas City Chiefs actually allowed 16,000 fans to spread out across their 70,000 seat stadium. This arrangement can be seen well here, as fans boo the Chiefs and Giants standing in silent unity to call attention to police brutality (btw, have you registered to vote?). The New England Patriots and several other franchises haven t ruled out the possibility of hosting fans until later in the season but did commit to keeping their stadiums empty at least through September.
Now aside from that unpleasantness in Kansas City, the remainder of opening weekend seemed to have gone off rather smoothly, albeit with a slight drop in viewership from past years. So clearly, the NFL seems to have figured this out and the rest of the season should go smoothly and as scheduled. There s no story here.
Oh no, wait. Hang on.
Yeah, nevermind. Actually there s COVID everywhere.
As rough as the NFL s opening weekend was, that seems to have thus far been the high point of the 2020-21 season. But don t just take it from me, I m only capable of informative snark. Here s ESPN s Dan Graziano with a breathless, dramatic rundown of the state of things at Week 5:
Already the most exhausting season in history, the 2020 NFL campaign now peeks its head around the corner into Week 5 amid cacophonous calamity. Every morning brings fresh news of positive COVID-19 tests, schedule delays, amended protocols, questions that spawn more questions. Two games were postponed last week, and two more already have been postponed this week. The Tennessee Titans are under investigation and have been banned from their own facility for 10 days so far. The New England Patriots two best players have tested positive for the coronavirus, and they haven t practiced yet this week after playing on Monday night. Both teams Week 5 opponents wait for final word on whether and when they might play. No one knows where the next COVID-19-related issue will start, only that it will, and bring with it even more questions and complications.
This week has seen some major changes to the regular season schedule to accommodate teams battling COVID. In the short term, the NFL just issued several changes to their management plan in response to the virus moving through the Patriots as quickly and easily as an opposing team breaks through their offensive line. Anyone exposed to COVID and anyone that person has come in contact with are now required to isolate for a minimum of 5 days, even if it means missing a game.
The NFL is now actually reconsidering the NBA s bubble strategy for the post-season and are potentially looking at Dallas and Los Angeles as their bubble sites before the Super Bowl takes place in Tampa Bay as scheduled.
So there you go. It was a nice try, NFL. Here s hoping things get back on track and everyone stays safe and virus-free for the remainder of the season.
What Does This Have to Do with Your Next Event Plan?
Are you planning to pull together your professional sports franchise for the 2021 season? For real, one of these is bound to be perfectly fine. Isn t that how the law of averages works? We re looking at you XFL third time s a charm.
In all seriousness, here at Decibel Events we look at each of these leagues, individual franchises and major events for key takeaways on what to do, but also more importantly what NOT to do going forward.
When it comes to these major sports seasons, it appears that only the bubble has worked so far. Does that mean that you need to do a bubble to successfully host your next conference or corporate meeting? Not necessarily. It s important to evaluate your ultimate goals with each event, and we re great at doing just that. Reach out to us today to see how we can help you plan and put on your next company event both safely AND successfully.
Elevating the Ambiance: 5 Awesome Ideas for New Year s Eve Events
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT COLLATERAL, EVENT DESIGN, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION, EVENT RESOURCES, EXPERIENTIAL, LIVE EVENTS, NEWS, PRODUCTION, TIPS & TRICKS
We don t do boring. Event management requires a high level of creativity. The ability to create inspired, original experiences is the mark of a competent and compelling event management team. At Decibel, we do exactly that. We re not simply talking about big-picture issues here. Consistency and attention to minor details elevate an event from average to exceptional.
Organizing events requires detailed planning and execution, design, marketing, production, stage management, and more. With New Year s Eve around the corner, here are five awesome ideas that can elevate a party s ambiance:
1. Immersive Experiences:
Taking advantage of technological creativity for entertainment purposes allows you to give your event an innovative, immersive aspect. Incorporating interactive displays and all-encompassing experiences will ensure your party is a memorable one. Cater to all five senses, mixed with thematic elements and story driven content. These elements can elevate your event from a typical end-of-year party to an unforgettable experience.
2. Creative Themes and Venues:
Theme and venue are paramount when it comes to event planning. On one hand, you need to make sure your venue aligns with your theme, while, on the other hand, it should check all logistical boxes for your unique event. Get creative, go bold. Try hosting your party in a museum, art gallery, brewery, or a bold architectural space.
3. Phone Charging Stations:
What s worse than an empty phone battery at a party? We ve got you. Include smart charging stations at crowded parties and events to give your guests the opportunity to charge their phones safely. They can pick up a portable battery, charge their phones, and return the battery to any station. These stations are present in many venues, including the Las Vegas Convention Center or MGM Grand Garden Arena.
4. Go Live With 3D Virtual Platforms:
Virtual and hybrid events can be just as entertaining, interactive, and professionally produced as in-person ones. When going live on a 3D platform, virtual guests can create their own holographic avatars that can run, jump, wave, dance, and do other things, making them perfect for participating in any party! Webcams on avatars may be turned on and off, allowing for live presentations or face-to-face chats. Attendees can also keep digital information in a briefcase to view or download directly to their devices.
5. Crowd Control Solutions:
When planning large scale events, there are a few safety measures one should consider. Floor mapping, organizing crowd control solutions, and COVID safety measures are essential for a safe and secure event. After being under lockdown and separated for two years, the intensity of the audience must be considered. Our team at Decibel provides custom plans for our clients in order to maintain safety and ensure a successful event every time. This is something not to forget.
We hope you have a very Happy New Year s Eve and wish you the absolute best for the upcoming year!
Want to learn more about planning and executing a successful NYE party? Reach out to our team of experts and we ll get it handled.
Negotiating Event Contracts In a Post-Covid World
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY, LIVE EVENTS, NEWS, TIPS & TRICKS
Les Goldberg talks with Cindy Lo from Red Velvet, Tim Glanzer from Elevated Meetings Solutions, David Sonntag from Decibel Events and Wendy Drake from The Webster Group about negotiating the contract in a post-Covid world.
Lessons for PR Agencies on taking live events viral
BACKSTAGE, EVENT DESIGN, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION, LIVE EVENTS, NEWS, TIPS & TRICKS
We love seeing great art installations, and wanted to take the time to recommend the In America: Remember flags exhibit on the National Mall. Developed by Suzanne Firstenberg, this exhibit honors the 650,000 Americans that have died from COVID-19.
Some great lessons can be learned from the concept and execution of this exhibit, and wanted to share some great key learnings for our Agency and Corporate clients as they concept and plan their own mobile media tours, exhibits, and touring events.
Start small, and evaluate:
Suzanne Firstenberg started with an installation at RFK stadium and 200,000 flags. The idea took off and the new exhibit on the National Mall is 640,000+ and covers acres. While this is a tragic reason to expand the art installation, it is a great lesson in starting with a smaller proof of concept, and then expanding in the future.
Simplicity and Scale:
This exhibit is not terribly expensive to execute. It is developed with simple white survey flags. More than 600,000 of them over acres on the National Mall. The simplicity and scale of this art installation gives it the gravitas to make it a show stopper. And this scale makes for a great photo. This is evident from images from the ground level of viewers, the aerial shots from the lifts, or the drone shots in the air.
Social Shareability
Most agency clients are looking for their events to be shared socially. This is a Master Class on how to make your message explode on social media. WIth the simplicity and scale mentioned above, this prints very well on camera. It is also a VERY simple message that helps the public visualize the scale of 640,000 deaths. Humans are very bad at estimating the scale of large numbers and this message is crystal clear and demonstrates it perfectly.
Press Attention:
Agency clients are always looking for the magic bullet for the press to take interest in their PR Stunt, media tour, or live event. The press has certainly amplified this exhibit. All the reasons mentioned above make for fantastic art. This really helps with the visual medium for outlets. It also makes a tough concept very easy to understand. But most importantly, there is no corporate agenda here. They are not selling anything and it is not commercial. This is the main challenge for corporate mobile media tours, events and exhibits that have an agenda. Where we come in at Decibel is how to craft these events to thread the needle for clients into a meaningful and impactful exhibit without too heavy handed corporate messaging.
All in all, this exhibit is a great opportunity to learn these techniques and apply them to your own Agency events, PR Stunts and marketing tours. And on a personal level, it s worth a visit on its own as well.
2021 Emmy Awards Reviewed- Hits and Misses
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT DESIGN, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, NEWS, TIPS & TRICKS, UNCATEGORIZED
Did you catch the 2021 Emmy awards ceremony this Sunday? We have fairly strong opinions here at Decibel about the production, and curious your own thoughts about the broadcast. Tl;dr tight shot was rubbish but we are encouraged to see live events happen safely.
The Emmy s saw attendees back in person (and in a fancy tent) this year. If you have ever designed and built out a production in a tent, you know what goes into the process. It is not easy, and a LOT goes into how these types of productions are designed. As you can see below, the event was built outside of the Staples Center. We have some great behind the scenes productions shots so you can see *behind* the facade into what it looks like backstage.
So what worked? I loved what I will call the attendee experience. The in-room experience looked great and I believe that the event guests had a great view and experience in the space. The long runs of LED down the length of the tent were solid as were all the graphics that made it to screen. I also loved the second stage backdrop and look. I am also thrilled to see the event pass COVID-19 protocols to get this many people in one place, all vaxxed and tested for the event. This should be a good model for other large scale events.
What fell short? The tight shot was absolute trash. I am actually really surprised this was able to make a national broadcast. It may have worked for those in the room, but any good producer learns early that you produce for your primary audience. This would be the television viewers and what did we get? A large solid color cyc that was wrinkled in the corners and a giant Emmy statue. In the tight shot, we only really got to see the mid section of the statue and the presenter. I would LOVE to know how in the world that made it through approvals.
In addition, there seemed to be a bit more gack in the different shots. In some instances, this was in the form of staff walking through the live shot, or just undressed hardware. I was also surprised about the audio quality for the broadcast.
All in all, I was glad to see a live event again and looking forward to the opportunity for more clients to take the leap safely and get back to these in-person events.
