Event Discoveries

Hollywood is known for its early risers, who flood the Runyon Canyon trails and local Starbucks as the sun comes up. But this day each year starts especially early: Today, more than 400 members of the international media attended the 5:38 a.m. PST press conference to hear the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards. Nominations for 10 of the 24 Oscar categories—which unsurprisingly recognized movies like The Social Network, Black Swan, and The King's Speech—were announced live by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak and Oscar winner Mo'Nique. Mo'Nique ...

Created by nightclub vet David Judaken with partner Tony Daly and designer Gulla Jonsdottir, Syndicate Hospitality Group’s newest venue, Eden, had its grand opening earlier this month in Hollywood. It occupies a former Syndicate space, which has undergone a complete renovation. The 5,000-square-foot space has room for 450. At Eden, a mirrored vestibule leads to an outdoor area complete with mature trees, and the patio bar is adorned with a 10-foot diameter sculptured teak-root back bar.

As big on concerts as it is on gambling, this town has some of the state’s best-equipped facilities. Take advantage of these popular performance sites for meetings or presentations. 1. Imax Theatre at the Tropicana The Tropicana Casino & Resort boasts the only cinema in town, an Imax theater that opened in 2004. With reception facilities, audiovisual and multimedia equipment, and a 70- by 50-foot screen, the 300-seat Imax Theatre at the Tropicana is offered for corporate and nonprofit meetings and presentations as well as private screenings.

To promote Face Off, its new competition reality series debuting on January 26, which will showcase the artistry of special effects makeup, Syfy took to the Grove on Thursday, for a consumer event designed to stop Starbucks cup- and shopping bag-clutching passersby in their tracks. Syfy senior vice president of brand marketing Blake Callaway worked with Minneapolis-based agency Fallon, who tapped TH Outdoor and Events for the production of the public event, which began at 10 a.m. and lasted through the day. A half-moon-shaped, 30-by-10-foot area at the Grove, with logos both front and back, was the backdrop for ...

To inject some color and whimsy into its scholarship fund benefit on Wednesday, the Bard Graduate Center partnered with husband-and-wife design team Isabel and Ruben Toledo to provide scenery at Bonhams that would complement an extensive silent-auction display. Around the collection of 1950s furniture, textiles, tableware, and accessories, the duo created a concept that mixed graphic wall coverings with vignettes of life-size dolls for the 250-person reception. The event, dubbed "Mid-Century Modern: Designs for New Lifestyles," was hosted by the institute's founder and director, Susan Weber, honorary design chair Eva Zeisel, and the event and alumni committees, and produced ...

Although it has garnered its share of hype and hope, Las Vegas’s 18-block downtown arts district has historically offered little in the way of full-service venues where organizations and events can tap into the vibe and sensibilities of the fledgling area. That changed last month, when husband and wife photographer Wesley Isbutt and graphic designer Debra Heiser added the bar to their Bar & Bistro @ the Arts Factory, a 32,000-square-foot, 17-gallery structure at Casino Center and Charleston boulevards near Interstate 215. The venue late last year secured the first urban lounge district license the city has issued for the ...

Flip-flops, tank tops, and colourful home accessories filled the Bellair Suite at the Hazelton Hotel on Wednesday for the inaugural Spring Fever product showcase hosted by three Toronto-based PR firms. Heather Ward of Bounce Publicity, Laurie Hall of FlexPR, and Michelle Calvert of Lucid Communications joined forces to present the two-day event, modeled on their annual Home for the Holidays press preview, held in July. "We're building on the Home for the Holidays concept, where we bring all our brands into this lifestyle environment," Ward said of the media preview, which wraps up Thursday. "There are so many great ...

On Tuesday, the Design Center of the Americas campus in Dania Beach unveiled DesignHouse, and its ongoing designer showcase titled "Film & Design: the Golden Age of Hollywood." The Tinseltown-themed V.I.P. preview gala garnered some 600 attendees, made up of members of the press, designers, architects, art collectors, and design enthusiasts. Tickets to the event were $100, with all of the proceeds benefiting the Wolfsonian FIU, the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, and the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. In a 10,000-square-foot showroom turned model house on the venue’s third floor, DesignHouse features 18 room installations inspired ...

BizBashLighting Orchestrates Emotion at Events Says LA Lighting Designer Raymond ThompsonBizBashAt the opening season and celebration the new conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, working with Gai Klass Event Production, I was able to put both ...

Baseball, music, and charity joined forces for the weekend-long Hot Stove Cool Music fund-raising series for the Foundation to Be Named Later, a branch of the Red Sox Foundation. The main event, an alternative rock concert at the Paradise Rock Club on Saturday night, included sets by headliners the Lemonheads and Buffalo Tom, and drew more than 300 guests and $300,000. A preconcert V.I.P. party took place in two parts of the Paradise—a downstairs bar, and the balcony with two separate bars—and included a new element this year: donated food from Boston-area restaurants. Guests sampled ...

The cupcake fad, for better or worse, doesn’t appear to be slowing down in Boston. Curly Cakes, the long-anticipated cupcake shop from the daughter of celebrity chef Todd English, opened in December in Beacon Hill. The bakery offers four “everyday flavors” including traditional red velvet, vanilla bean filled with Tahitian vanilla bean pastry cream, triple chocolate dipped in melted chocolate and dusted with Cocoa Puff streusel, and chocolate and peanut butter cup topped with Reese’s candies—all priced at $3.95 each. Two specialty flavors rotate, with pumpkin pie spice and apple streusel currently on the menu at ...

You’re probably aware of the major trends about trade shows: More exhibitors measuring their ROI; doing more with less, perceived competition from virtual trade shows; the shift to fabric graphics and custom modular exhibits , more interactive technology in booths, yadda, yadda, yadda...

A recent BizBash reader survey reports that event professionals say they plan to use email and Facebook to invite guests to events in 2011 more than printed invitations. While 83 percent plan to use email invitations and 72 percent plan to use Facebook, only 51 percent plan to use printed invitations.