2026 Winners
ILEA is proud to present the Winners of the 2026 Esprit Awards!
Best Overall Corporate Event
The Best Overall Corporate Event award celebrates an exceptional gathering that exemplifies excellence in corporate event management. This distinguished event seamlessly integrates strategic planning, innovation, and flawless execution, creating a dynamic and impactful experience for attendees. It represents the pinnacle of professionalism and creativity in corporate event execution, setting a benchmark for the industry.
On the Eight Track - ASC 2025
Company
Hello! Destination Management
Brief Summary of Event
This is what it looks like when every discipline in corporate event management performs in perfect harmony.
For the 2025 Brown and Brown Annual Sales Conclave, Hello! Destination Management delivered “On the Eight Track,” a multi day corporate experience that seamlessly fused strategy, storytelling, design, and operational excellence into a single, high performing system. Set in Nashville and inspired by the spirit of a late 1960s music festival, the program transformed a traditional conference into a fully immersive journey that balanced recognition, culture, and motivation.
Across multiple days, attendees moved through a carefully orchestrated sequence of general sessions, awards, immersive environments, and three large scale evening events, each designed to contribute to a unified narrative. Rather than a collection of standalone moments, the program functioned as a continuous experience, with every touchpoint building on the last.
Executed within tight logistical constraints, including a 15 hour overnight install and large scale room transformations, the event demonstrated precision planning and flawless execution at scale. From live foyer activations to intricately detailed environments, every element reinforced both the theme and the client’s culture.
The result was a program that not only achieved its operational and engagement goals, but elevated the perception of what a corporate event can be. With a 4.5 out of 5 satisfaction score, “On the Eight Track” stands as a fully integrated, high impact experience that attendees actively strive to earn, year after year.
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Best Overall Nonprofit/Association Event
The Best Overall Nonprofit/Association Event award highlights a remarkable gathering that goes beyond celebration, embodying the spirit of purpose-driven excellence. This event demonstrates outstanding planning, execution, and a commitment to the mission of the organization. It stands as a shining example of how events can effectively amplify and support the causes that matter, showcasing the ingenuity and dedication of those in the nonprofit and association event sector.
ILEA Build: Constructing Creativity
Company
CoveRock Consulting
Brief Summary of Event
BUILD: Constructing Creativity was ILEA's 2025 annual professional development conference, produced entirely by seven ILEA Boston past presidents who volunteered every hour of planning and execution. Held August 11-13, 2025, at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge, MA, BUILD brought together more than 100 event professionals from across the United States and internationally to explore something the industry knows instinctively but rarely examines directly: how creativity is built, not just sparked.
The conference was grounded in a clear philosophy: that creativity is fueled by inspiration, not instruction; that it is cultivated through habits and environment; and that removing barriers to creative thinking matters as much as the techniques that unlock it. Education featured keynotes, breakout sessions, and panels from speakers sourced globally, covering playful mindset, cultural influences on creativity, emotional intelligence, and visual storytelling.
Beyond the sessions, BUILD was itself a demonstration. Morning wellness programming, the Taste of Boston Welcome Event on the Charles River, nightly Blueprint Lounge activations, and a jewel-toned Esprit Awards celebration ensured attendees did not just learn about creativity. They lived it.
Supported by $283,900 in in-kind contributions from 34 industry partners, a $5,000 cash sponsorship from MeetBoston, and a host hotel donated by the Sheraton Commander, BUILD became the first profitable ILEA annual conference in at least 15 years. It proved that the association's mission-driven community can deliver a world-class conference on the strength of relationships, trust, and shared purpose.
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Best Overall Private Event
The Best Overall Private Event award signifies an unparalleled celebration that epitomizes the artistry of event planning. This exclusive affair demonstrates impeccable execution, personalized touches, and a seamless flow that reflects the highest standards in private event excellence. It is a testament to the exceptional skill, creativity, and attention to detail exhibited by event professionals in creating unforgettable moments for their clients.
DebFest
Company
Sara Walker Private Events
Brief Summary of Event
In December 2025, 800 guests arrived to the the Ft Worth Stockyards highly anticipating the most talked about event of the year. Debfest 2025 was the highlight event of the Steeplechase Debutante Season in Ft. Worth, Texas. Celebrating 3 girls, this non-traditional, black-tie event welcomed guests into a collaborative music festival where each deb had her own theme: Macie's "MACIE-El" an Austin City Limits spin off, Anna's "ANNApalooza" a spin off of Lala palooza, and Ella's "CoachELLA." Through different VIP lounges with different decor, custom merchandise store pop ups at every turn, interactive experiences for guests and a center stage that never stopped, guests enjoyed a night never to be forgotten.
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Best Overall Public Event
The Best Overall Public Event recognizes an extraordinary gathering that captivates the public with its innovative design, flawless execution, and immersive experiences. This event sets the standard for excellence in the realm of live experiences, showcasing the pinnacle of creativity and professionalism in the events industry.
Surrey Fusion Festival
Company
MRG Live Ltd
Brief Summary of Event
Surrey Fusion Festival is a far-reaching, free, family-friendly celebration of the diverse cultures that make up Surrey's population. Hosted annually in Holland Park, the 2025 festival featured 45+ Cultural Pavilions showcasing a variety of foods, art and education from their countries of origin. The event had performance areas highlighting music and dance from around the world, culminating in headlining performances by Ahi, Easy Star All Stars, Geeta Zaildar, and Miss Pooja.
The festival’s mandate is to provide ample opportunities for attendees to learn and engage with different cultures. In 2025, this included dance lessons, music, cooking demonstrations of cultural cuisines, a vendor area featuring local non-profits and businesses, and of course, the 45+ pavilions offering food for purchase and a cultural display. Surrey Fusion Festival offers something for everyone, providing a safe space to try new foods and experience different cultures.
The Parade of Culture, a festival highlight, showcased representatives from each pavilion proudly displaying their national flags in a vibrant procession, led by Ache Brasil. Cultural displays, performances, and food anchor the event, engaging participants of all ages.
By providing a platform for cultural exchange and celebration, Surrey Fusion Festival fosters understanding and unity among its attendees. The festival's commitment to inclusivity and cultural education, combined with its vibrant entertainment and diverse food offerings, creates a rich and immersive experience that reflects the multicultural fabric of Surrey. The 2025 festival was a testament to the power of community and cultural pride.
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Best Overall Wedding
The Best Overall Wedding award honors an exceptional celebration that showcases meticulous planning, impeccable execution, and a perfect blend of personal style. This event exemplifies the pinnacle of matrimonial bliss, where every detail is flawlessly curated, and the seamless orchestration reflects the expertise of a true event professional.
A Blooming Love
Company
Wilkinson Rhodes
Brief Summary of Event
A Blooming Love Story was an extraordinary wedding celebration eight years in the making, designed to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for 500 guests at the San Antonio Country Club. Every detail was crafted to honor the couple's enduring journey — transforming the venue into a breathtaking floral wonderland that stopped the internet in its tracks.
At the heart of the event was a jaw-dropping installation of over 150,000 flower stems in a soft palette of light pink and blue. The showstopping curved staircase draped entirely in live florals and a wedding cake table dressed in an all-live floral tablecloth both went viral. Cherry blossom trees, not native to Texas and well out of season, were coaxed into full bloom, making their presence alone a remarkable feat of event production and a testament to the team's relentless pursuit of the impossible.
The entertainment matched the grandeur of the setting. Texas-beloved country band Flatland Cavalry headlined the reception, delivering a performance that itself went viral and kept all 500 guests on their feet. Flair bartenders added to the energy, dazzling guests with bottle-spinning and crafting custom beverages throughout the night.
Personal touches made the event truly one of a kind. A custom groom's cake paid loving tribute to his passions — featuring his favorite steer, a duck, and a rattlesnake — perfectly capturing the couple's authentic Texas spirit.
The result was a seamless fusion of extraordinary scale, technical achievement, and deeply personal storytelling — all delivered flawlessly in one unforgettable Texas celebration.
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Catered
Catered recognizes outstanding design and production of food and/or beverage for an event, or series of events.
A Moderne Love Story
Company
D'Amico Hospitality
Brief Summary of Event
Delicious. Immersive. Chic. The dining experience designed to celebrate this classic couple was a true reflection of their impeccable taste and an aesthetic rooted in the concept of Art Moderne. From a completely vegetable-based menu, to honoring a favorite Pittsburgh dessert tradition in the heart of Minneapolis, to a wedding cake created to coordinate with the tableside butter towers, the intentional details filling this bespoke menu charmed each guest and surprised them at every turn.
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Ignite the Night - The Mayor's Party
Company
White Table Catering & Events
Brief Summary of Event
Ignite the Night: The Mayor’s Ball was a spectacular fundraising gala hosted by the Vancouver Firefighters Charitable Society, bringing together more than 300 guests, including community leaders, VIPs, celebrities, donors, and industry partners, in support of vital community programs. The event was designed to inspire generosity through an immersive blend of culinary excellence, experiential design, and meaningful storytelling.
Held at an expansive private residence, the property was transformed into a multi-zone event experience featuring custom-designed food stations, live-action kitchens, themed cocktail bars, and dramatic lighting installations. Guests explored a series of interactive culinary activations built around the event's signature “Bring the Heat” concept, including Short Rib Pasta Amatriciana, Gnocchi Pomodoro with peperoncino, dim sum with chili crisp, and tacos with chipotle chicken tinga. Complementing the culinary experience was a Fire & Ice beverage program featuring whiskey lounges, signature cocktails, and a poolside Ignite Martini Bar.
A key factor in the event's success was the collaboration between firefighters, chefs, volunteers, sponsors, and vendors, many of whom donated their time, expertise, and resources to support the cause. Hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, the evening fostered an atmosphere of generosity, connection, and celebration.
What set Ignite the Night apart was its ability to merge purpose with experience. Every detail, from the custom décor and culinary storytelling to the immersive guest journey, was designed to create emotional engagement and inspire giving. The result was a record-breaking evening that raised $3 million for community programs, making it the most successful fundraising event in the organization's history.
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Totally 90’s: A Throwback Feast
Company
White Table Catering & Events
Brief Summary of Event
The 90’s Summer Party transformed a corporate celebration into a fully immersive nostalgia-driven experience that blended culinary creativity, interactive entertainment, and experiential design. Hosted at the Roundhouse Community Arts Centre in Vancouver, the event welcomed 225 Nicola Wealth employees and guests for an evening that celebrated company culture while transporting attendees back to the iconic era of the 1990s.
Catered by White Table Catering, the event centered around a custom culinary journey inspired by childhood favorites. Guests enjoyed elevated interpretations of nostalgic classics including McDonald’s-style cheeseburgers, hand-crafted dinosaur chicken nuggets, Mr. Noodles ramen, Kraft Dinner-inspired macaroni, adult Lunchables, gourmet grilled cheese with tomato soup shooters, and a warm Pop Tart station. Custom packaging, branded service ware, and themed food stations transformed each menu item into an experience of its own.
Entertainment was woven into every aspect of the event. Roller-skating servers delivered canapés and cocktails during arrival, creating an immediate sense of excitement and surprise. Signature cocktails featuring Pop Rocks and Nerds candy garnishes, vibrant neon décor, and a late-night Corner Store stocked with classic 90’s sweets encouraged guests to explore, engage, and reminisce throughout the evening.
What made the event truly exceptional was its ability to create genuine emotional connection through shared memories. Every detail was intentionally designed to evoke nostalgia while maintaining the sophistication expected of a premier corporate event. By combining immersive storytelling, innovative culinary execution, and flawless operational delivery, White Table Catering created an unforgettable experience.
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Design/Décor
Design/Décor recognizes outstanding design and production of decor elements for an event or series of events.
A Blooming Love
Company
Wilkinson Rhodes
Brief Summary of Event
Refined Romance was the design concept behind A Blooming Love Story — a wedding celebration that asked a single question: what happens when a team of designers, fabricators, and floral artists are given full creative control over every surface, every stem, and every space? The answer was an immersive, multi-sensory environment spanning a church, eight interior spaces, a full lawn, and a custom-built after-party installation — all conceived, fabricated, and installed by one team with one vision.
The design language was deliberately intentional: soft whites, ivories, pale pinks, and the bride's specific shade of blue woven through custom linens, painted bars, monogrammed dance floors, and over 150,000 live stems — not one of them faux, not one of them filler. Every space engaged all five senses. The fragrance of fresh florals greeted guests before they entered. Textured linens and custom upholstered furniture invited touch. Evolving playlists and live performances marked each transition of the evening. Unexpected cocktails and curated menus surprised and delighted. And everywhere the eye landed — from the church exterior arches to the floral-embedded ice luges to the hallway trellis that seemed to stretch toward infinity — there was something extraordinary to see.
The result was not a decorated event. It was a fully designed world, built from scratch, for one couple's most important day.
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Beyond the Emerald City
Company
Cohera
Brief Summary of Event
What began as a COVID-era picnic in Central Park, equal parts fresh air, good intentions, and “let’s just see who shows up,” has evolved into Cohera’s signature annual client experience at Tavern on the Green, our most playful proof-of-concept for what happens when imagination gets a guest list.
Today, the event serves as a high-impact showcase of Cohera’s creative production capabilities for national hotel, venue, and DMO partners while engaging top corporate meeting planners across the Tri-State market. The goal is simple but intentional: deepen relationships, deliver value to sponsors, and transform a single evening into a living portfolio of what Cohera can create.
In 2025, inspired by the cultural momentum of Wicked, we reimagined Oz from an unexpected perspective. Instead of leaning into the familiar Emerald City palette, we ventured into the dreamlike tension of the poppy fields, creating an immersive environment called “Beyond the Emerald City.” Guests entered a richly layered world where storytelling and spatial design intertwined through serpentine tables accented with golden nods to the Yellow Brick Road and oversized hand-drawn poppies suspended throughout the glass-enclosed terrace.
The experience unfolded like a film, with each scene revealing a new layer of the story. Liquid nitrogen cocktails filled the air with theatrical haze. Guests were assigned playful “good witch” and “bad witch” personas. Roaming performers in sculptural poppy headpieces blurred the line between décor and character.
What set the event apart was sustained immersion, with guests engaged throughout an experience designed to reward curiosity, exploration, and connection.
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Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Initiative
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Initiative recognizes an outstanding event, or series of events that creates cultural inclusion and belonging, through workplace and/or attendee diversity, diversity intelligence & vendor/supplier diversity.
Mojave Moment Resilience Space - IMEX 2025
Company
Hello! Destination Management
Brief Summary of Event
At IMEX America 2025, inclusion took on a new form. It was not announced from a stage or outlined in a program. It was felt.
The Mojave Moment Resilience Space was designed to support neurodiverse attendees while creating a sense of comfort and belonging for anyone navigating the intensity of a large-scale event. Inspired by the Mojave Desert, the space offered a shift in pace and a change in sensory experience, inviting guests to step away, reset, and return on their own terms.
At a time when many events still design for a narrow range of attendee needs, this space was created with a broader lens. It acknowledged that up to 20 percent of the population is neurodivergent and that many others benefit from environments that reduce overwhelm and increase clarity and comfort.
The impact extended beyond the room itself. As part of a collaboration with the American Psychological Association and the Australian Psychological Society, IMEX America became the first and largest trade show to achieve Level III Comprehensive Neurodivergent Accommodation. The Mojave Moment Resilience Space was one of the audited environments that contributed to this recognition, helping establish a new benchmark for inclusive event design.
What made this initiative stand out was not only what it provided, but what it represented. It showed that when events are designed with more people in mind, they work better for everyone.
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Surrey Fusion Festival
Company
MRG Live Ltd
Brief Summary of Event
Surrey Fusion Festival is a far-reaching, free, family-friendly celebration of the diverse cultures that make up Surrey's population. Hosted annually in Holland Park, the 2025 festival featured 45+ Cultural Pavilions showcasing a variety of foods, art and education from their countries of origin. The event had performance areas highlighting music and dance from around the world, culminating in headlining performances by Ahi, Easy Star All Stars, Geeta Zaildar, and Miss Pooja.
The festival’s mandate is to provide ample opportunities for attendees to learn and engage with different cultures. In 2025, this included dance lessons, music, cooking demonstrations of cultural cuisines, a vendor area featuring local non-profits and businesses, and of course, the 45+ pavilions offering food for purchase and a cultural display. Surrey Fusion Festival offers something for everyone, providing a safe space to try new foods and experience different cultures.
The Parade of Culture, a festival highlight, showcased representatives from each pavilion proudly displaying their national flags in a vibrant procession, led by Ache Brasil. Cultural displays, performances, and food anchor the event, engaging participants of all ages.
By providing a platform for cultural exchange and celebration, Surrey Fusion Festival fosters understanding and unity among its attendees. The festival's commitment to inclusivity and cultural education, combined with its vibrant entertainment and diverse food offerings, creates a rich and immersive experience that reflects the multicultural fabric of Surrey. The 2025 festival was a testament to the power of community and cultural pride.
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Wing Luke Museum Dinner & Auction: Wing Luke Legacies
Company
GFS Events
Brief Summary of Event
The celebratory Wing Luke Museum Dinner & Auction: Wing Luke Legacies was a 500-person event held at the Sheraton Grand in downtown Seattle on March 22. The evening celebrated the organization's mission to connect everyone to the dynamic history, cultures, and art of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders through vivid storytelling and inspiring experiences to advance racial and social equity. With a cocktail hour, silent and live auctions, cultural performances, and an inspiring program featuring speakers and a Raise the Paddle, the event provided an immersive experience that engaged attendees on a deeper level than ever before.
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Entertainer/Entertainment
Entertainer/Entertainment recognizes an outstanding entertainer or entertainment production for an event or series of events.
IPW 2025 Opening Reception: The Ultimate House Party
Company
BeatMix Music
Brief Summary of Event
BeatMix Music transformed Chicago’s iconic Field Museum into a fully immersive, interactive ‘80s and ‘90s-inspired house party for IPW 2025’s Opening Reception, welcoming 6,000 of the world’s most seasoned travel and tourism professionals. This audience had truly “seen it all,” creating the challenge and opportunity to deliver something unexpected, universally engaging and impossible to replicate elsewhere.
Designed to position Chicago as a premier destination for meetings and events, the experience blended large-scale entertainment, technology and immersive storytelling across multiple themed environments throughout the museum. Guests encountered surprise pop-up performances, live musicians, DJs, dancers, silent disco activations, roaming performers, synchronized LED wristbands and interactive moments at every turn.
Custom-built performances, including horn and hip-hop mashups, Hiplet ballerinas paired with strings and high-energy percussion moments, ensured every activation felt authentic to the nostalgic house party theme while still delivering an element of surprise. From a Neon Jurassic arrival with lifelike dinosaurs and Chicago street percussion to a dramatic finale at guest departure, every moment was designed to spark discovery and participation regardless of language or cultural background.
A carefully choreographed entertainment schedule ensured the event continuously evolved throughout the evening, rewarding exploration and keeping energy high across each individual space within the expansive venue. By transforming a historic museum into an unforgettable celebration, BeatMix delivered a fresh, high-impact event that showcased Chicago’s creativity, hospitality and ability to produce world-class entertainment on a global stage.
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Performing with Purpose: Lightscape
Company
Fluxion Entertainment LLC
Brief Summary of Event
Lightscape is an event in the wintertime that transforms the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens into an enchanting walking trail meandering over a mile long, with larger-than-life sculptures, art installs, interactive elements, and more that all light up throughout the garden trails. The event is a major fundraiser to keep the garden's educational initiatives, school programs, and children's classes running while also allowing guests to experience Lightscape with minimal crowds.
Fluxion Entertainment LLC reached a 5 year milestone in 2025 - 5 years of bringing magic to this event with jaw-dropping live performance artists to one of Brooklyn's most iconic holiday events. 11 expertly curated performers took the Garden's by storm in the freezing temperatures of a winter night, spanning across 3 hours and a trail over a mile long. Each act and costume was selected with purpose and precision, each performer was strategically placed to maximize crowd interaction, create magically spontaneous photo moments, and deliver a spectacle that stops guests in their tracks. Every costume, character, and encounter was designed to elevate the guest experience far beyond what they expected.
Custom costumes pushed the boundaries of what typical wintertime entertainment looks like, turning Fluxion's performers into live installations that enhanced the Garden's own iconic light sculptures. Guests weren't just spectators, they were pulled into the magic by our performers who knew exactly how to make the ordinary, extraordinary.
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Event Capture
Event Capture recognizes outstanding capture of an event through social media content, photographs and/or video.
Brohn Homes: Havana Nights
Company
Nomad + Camera
Brief Summary of Event
Brohn Homes: Havana Nights transformed a corporate holiday party into a Cuban-inspired celebration in the heart of downtown Austin. Held at 800 Congress, the one-night event welcomed approximately 170 total attendees — including Brohn Homes employees, spouses, partners, and leadership — for an immersive evening of dinner, drinks, entertainment, company celebration, and team connection.
Following a more challenging prior year, the 2025 holiday event carried added significance. Brohn Homes wanted to create a fresh, positive experience that celebrated company accomplishments, strengthened internal culture, and gave employees a reason to stay fully engaged throughout the night. With downtown Austin offering endless Friday-night alternatives, the event needed to feel like the best place to be.
The creative direction layered tropical color, cigar and rum culture, Latin-inspired hospitality, textured tablescapes, warm lighting, live music, and a full dance floor to create an environment that felt elevated, social, and intentional. The venue’s industrial backdrop was transformed into a lush Havana Nights setting where atmosphere, guest experience, and production design worked together.
Photography played a key role in preserving the energy and intent of the evening. Over four hours of coverage, the final gallery captured the event’s full arc, from pre-event details and environmental design to leadership moments, candid interactions, entertainment, and dancing.
The result was more than a recap gallery. The imagery gave Brohn Homes a polished visual library for internal culture storytelling, social media, and future event promotion, extending the impact well beyond the night itself.
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Liz and Jon's Wedding
Company
Jessica Miller Photography
Brief Summary of Event
Set against the timeless elegance of downtown Columbus, Liz and Jon’s stunning early May 2025 wedding was a sophisticated celebration of classic style and modern romance. The day began at the luxurious Joseph Hotel, where Liz and her closest friends prepared for the festivities surrounded by natural light, excitement, and anticipation. Liz’s dress was a beautiful sleeveless design, complemented by a delicate lace-lined shrug.
After some photos at the hotel, Liz and her bridal party made their way to St. Joseph Cathedral, where family and friends gathered beneath the soaring architecture of one of Columbus’s most iconic churches to witness the couple exchange vows. As they took communion, a flash of red from the soles of Jon's Louboutin shoes offered a playful glimpse of personality amid the cathedral's timeless elegance. The couple made their marriage official and had the most classic wedding back-down-the-aisle shot.
Following the ceremony, guests arrived at the historic Columbus Athletic Club for an unforgettable reception designed in a striking black-and-white palette. Every detail felt intentional and refined, creating a setting that was both dramatic and inviting. Candlelight lined nearly every surface, casting a warm glow throughout the ballroom and transforming the space into an intimate, romantic retreat.
The floral design was nothing short of extraordinary. Lush arrangements cascaded from table to table, with blooms spilling from elegant vessels and centerpieces. At the head table, towering containers overflowing with flowers created a breathtaking focal point, framing the newlyweds as they celebrated with loved ones.
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The Bakken Museum: Sparking an Interest in Science
Company
Joe Szurszewski Photography LLC
Brief Summary of Event
The Bakken Museum in Minneapolis held an open house to celebrate Women in Science and to encourage kids, especially girls, to develop and explore their interest in STEM. Kids who attended were able to conduct their own experiments in a variety of specialties and talk to female scientists and science authors about what a career in the field could be like. From live 3D body scans to chemistry experiments with (gently) exploding purple foam, this was a fun and educational way for families to spend a Saturday!
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Innovation
Innovation recognizes an outstanding new element or idea that elevates an event, or series of events
Aroma Journey Friendsgiving Fragrance Blending Experience
Company
Aroma Journey LLC
Brief Summary of Event
The Aroma Journey Friendsgiving Fragrance Blending Experience was an intimate, sensory‑centered gathering designed to introduce a new, small‑group fragrance‑blending concept. Hosted for six women during a private Friendsgiving celebration, the experience transformed a traditional dinner table into a curated scent discovery space. A collection of fragrance notes, top, middle, and base was arranged in the center of the table, inviting guests to explore, smell, and blend at their own pace.
Each participant received a custom blending guide, a reflective journal, and a keepsake perfume bottle, all created specifically for this pilot activation. Throughout the evening, guests were guided through the fundamentals of fragrance structure and encouraged to connect scent with memory, emotion, and personal identity. The experience blended education, creativity, and mindful reflection, allowing each woman to craft a signature fragrance that felt deeply personal.
This pilot served as the first test of Aroma Journey’s new small‑group blending workshop offering. The goal was to observe guest engagement, evaluate the flow of the materials, and assess the emotional resonance of the experience. The overwhelmingly positive response confirmed the concept’s potential, with guests describing the activation as meaningful, relaxing, and memorable.
This Friendsgiving experience marked the innovative beginning of Aroma Journey’s expansion into guided scent‑blending workshops, showcasing how fragrance can foster connection, creativity, and sensory wellness.
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Mojave Moment Resilience Space - IMEX 2025
Company
Hello! Destination Management
Brief Summary of Event
At IMEX America 2025, one of the most memorable moments was not a keynote, a launch, or a spectacle. It was a pause.
The Mojave Moment Resilience Space invited attendees to step out of the pace of the show floor and into a multisensory environment designed for neuroinclusive guests and for anyone in need of a calm, restorative reset. Inspired by the Mojave Desert, the space translated the visual and emotional language of sand, stone, and stillness into an experience that felt both transportive and purposeful.
What made the space stand out was not simply that it offered respite, but that it changed expectations. It demonstrated that care, inclusivity, and strong experiential design do not compete with event energy. They deepen it.
The impact reached beyond the room itself. As part of a broader collaboration between IMEX, the American Psychological Association, and the Australian Psychological Society, IMEX America became the first and largest trade show to achieve Level III Comprehensive Neurodivergent Accommodation, the highest level of endorsement within the new framework. The Mojave Moment Resilience Space was one of the environments audited as part of that certification, helping establish a new benchmark for how large scale events can better support the full range of attendee needs.
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Symphony Soiree
Company
Cohera
Brief Summary of Event
Symphony Soirée challenged a simple assumption: that music is something you listen to.
We asked: What if music was something you could move through, taste, discover, and interact with?
The result was a multi-sensory experience that transformed the iconic Washington National Cathedral into a living symphony for 700 senior meeting professionals at the FICP Annual Conference. At the heart of the event was an innovative creative framework that translated music into a fully integrated sensory system. Sound became visual through projection mapping and dynamic lighting. Rhythm influenced culinary design. Live performances, architecture, technology, and guest interaction worked together as a single storytelling engine, allowing attendees to experience music in ways that extended far beyond hearing it. Rather than treating the Cathedral as a beautiful backdrop, Symphony Soirée activated the venue itself as part of the narrative. Every element was intentionally connected, creating an evolving environment that invited exploration throughout the evening.
The event became the highest-rated experience of the conference based on attendee feedback, a notable achievement given that the audience consisted of professionals who design and evaluate events for a living.
Symphony Soirée represented the culmination of a five-year creative journey that began as a live-event concept, evolved into a virtual experience during the pandemic, and ultimately returned as a fully realized live production. It also served as one of the first major creative expressions of Cohera following the merger of CSI DMC and 360DG, demonstrating how legacy ideas can be reimagined through fresh perspectives.
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Yes, Even the Cream Cheese Wonton.
Company
D'Amico Hospitality
Brief Summary of Event
This event celebrated the marriage of two incredible people whose vision went far beyond beautiful décor and an unforgettable backyard fairytale garden. Food took center stage, with elevated takes on beloved dishes crafted using high-end, thoughtful ingredients. The entire menu was gluten-free, dairy-free, nightshade-free, and kosher-style, proving that even the most complex dietary needs can be met without sacrificing creativity, indulgence, or joy.
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Logistics
Logistics recognizes outstanding problem solving for complex logistical challenges required to execute an event, event element, or series of events. Budget is not a challenge.
60th Birthday Party
Company
CORT Party Rental
Brief Summary of Event
Milestone birthdays deserve special parties, and this 60th birthday celebration was no exception! For this party, our celebrant invited 150 of his closest friends and family for an evening spent poolside celebrating with fabulous cocktails, bites, and a live band.
The party took place at the celebrant’s home in four locations. When guests arrived around 4pm, via either shuttle or personal valeted car, they were escorted to the welcome space, where they were greeted with a glass of champagne, tasty canapes, and a string quartet. Guests were also welcome to mingle next to the pool, but the main event began one hour into the evening, when attendees were ushered into the stunning Skyline Pavillion tent. Inside the tent, guests were wowed with a collection of the celebrant’s favorite foods, like Teppanyaki, Peking Duck, and a raw seafood bar. Once everyone was settled they were entertained with a collection of musical entertainment (including an accordion solo by the birthday boy’s father!) and videos of his friends from multiple stages of his life.
Finally, at 8:30pm guests were given light-up props and were invited to adjourn to the final location inside the house, where a live band kept the dance party going late into the evening and guests were kept satiated with late night snacks.
With a rental budget of $120,000, our products were heavily featured in all of these spaces, but the crowning glory was the new Skyline Pavillion tent, our first installation of this structure after our own grand reveal.
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A Blooming Love
Company
Wilkinson Rhodes
Brief Summary of Event
A Blooming Love Story was an extraordinary wedding celebration eight years in the making, designed to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for 500 guests at the San Antonio Country Club. Every detail was crafted to honor the couple's enduring journey — transforming the venue into a breathtaking floral wonderland that stopped the internet in its tracks.
At the heart of the event was a jaw-dropping installation of over 150,000 flower stems — every single one live, with not a faux flower anywhere on the premises — in a soft palette of light pink and blue. The curved staircase draped entirely in live florals and a wedding cake table dressed in an all-live floral tablecloth both went viral — and for good reason. Cherry blossom trees, not native to Texas and well out of season, were coaxed into full bloom, making their presence alone a remarkable feat of event production.
The entertainment matched the grandeur of the setting. Texas-beloved country band Flatland Cavalry headlined the reception, delivering a performance that itself went viral and kept 500 guests on their feet. Flair bartenders added to the energy, dazzling guests with bottle-spinning and crafting custom beverages throughout the night.
Personal touches made the event truly one of a kind. A custom groom's cake paid loving tribute to his passions — featuring his favorite steer, a duck, and a rattlesnake — a detail that perfectly captured the couple's authentic Texas spirit.
The result was a seamless fusion of extraordinary scale, technical achievement, and deeply.
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Emerson College Alumni Weekend 2025
Company
Emerson College
Brief Summary of Event
Emerson College’s Alumni Weekend is a vital opportunity for Emerson alumni to reunite with classmates and connect deeply with current students, faculty, staff, and leadership. It allows the College to showcase innovative programming and capitalize on critical avenues for high-level stewardship and engagement. Following a multi-year lull due to the global pandemic, staff turnover, and leadership transitions, the 2025 Alumni Weekend was completely reimagined from a quiet summer footprint into a complex, high-density, four-day fall experience.
Logistically, the weekend was engineered to intentionally coincide with both the Board of Trustees fall meeting and a major Admissions Open House. To handle the massive operational footprint and influx of visitors to our tight urban campus, the Advancement Events team co-chaired the Emerson Events Network for cross-departmental governance and implemented Almabase to scale up registration infrastructure and experience. Our team managed tight room-turnarounds through a master shared-space matrix and entirely transformed campus aesthetics by internally procuring and staging brand-new physical furniture and custom AV setups.
The weekend successfully launched the new Emerson College Master Classes program, featuring filmmaker, alum, and trustee Seth Grahame-Smith ’98, and culminated in the Extraordinary Together: Alumni Awards Celebration, a seamless, high-end three-course seated dinner and awards program for 200 guests. Ultimately, this logistical strategy shattered previous engagement metrics by bringing 400+ total registrants to campus, flawlessly navigating intense spatial restrictions, and earning formal praise from President Jay Bernhardt and the Board of Trustees for elite-level operational execution.
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Khatsahlano Street Party
Company
MRG Live Ltd
Brief Summary of Event
Since 2011, the Khatsahlano Street Party has grown from a single block with attendance in the hundreds to a 10-block festival drawing 150,000 in 2025, becoming the largest free outdoor music and arts festival in BC and a staple of the Kitsilano community. The event provides West 4th businesses with exposure to customers from across Metro Vancouver and is curated with a focus on the local community, including shops, food, artists, and performers.
Music is at the heart of Khatsahlano, with eight stages — two main stages at either end and six side-street stages — all showcasing talented local performers. Khatsahlano 2025 featured performances by Meltt, Missy D, ALPHA CENTAURI, Cherry Pick, and more than 60 additional BC artists across genres.
The festival also transformed a block and a half of West 4th into a culinary hub with over 50 food trucks celebrating the city’s diverse cultures. More than 325 vendors, including local shops, restaurants, and businesses along the street, activated the festival, making it one of the largest markets in the province. Sponsors added interactive experiences, creating a dynamic celebration of community and culture.
In 2025, the festival embraced the theme, “Camp Khats,” transforming West 4th into an urban wilderness. Activations included a climbing wall, football toss, and mini golf hosted by Arc’teryx, the Indigenous Artist Pavilion, a Camp Khats Scavenger Hunt, and Camp Crafts where attendees participated in the “Pin It Forward” challenge. Camp Khats badges could be earned and collected, tying together the immersive, playful festival experience.
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US News Award Celebrations
Company
Glickerman Productionz
Brief Summary of Event
This surprise, company‑wide celebration was a fast‑moving production carried out across 8 primary live event locations, celebratory deliveries to more than 350 additional sites, and one highly specialized banner installation, all within a 12‑hour window. Created to bring every employee into the experience at the same time, the event featured coordinated activations including photo booths, ice cream service, t‑shirt distribution, and fresh fruit stations.
With only 10 days to plan, the team organized 8 managers to oversee the live events while a separate delivery team handled more than 350 additional locations. Routes were mapped for speed and efficiency, and every detail, from site visits to activation timing, had to remain completely confidential to preserve the surprise.
What set this event apart was its scale and attention to every employee, no matter their location. Each person received a giveaway delivery, and every major site enjoyed an in‑person activation. Pulling this off under a tight timeline, while keeping the entire effort under wraps, required exceptional coordination and problem‑solving.
The result was a memorable, organization‑wide celebration that connected thousands of employees in a single day and demonstrated what can be achieved with clear planning, teamwork, and commitment to creating a shared moment for everyone.
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Makes an Impact/Gives Back
Makes an Impact/Gives Back recognizes the positive social, environmental, or cultural impact of an event or series of events.
CTC Presents: The HOSPY'S 2025
Company
CTC Destination Management, A DMC Network Member
Brief Summary of Event
The HOSPY Awards, is CTC's annual signature event dedicated to celebrating the individuals and organizations that make Chicago’s hospitality and events industry exceptional. Created as a way to recognize the often-unsung professionals who work behind the scenes to create memorable experiences for others, the HOSPY'S shines a spotlight on the talent, creativity, and dedication that drive Chicago’s meetings and events community.
In 2025, approximately 260 hospitality professionals gathered at The Geraghty for an immersive, secret-themed experience honoring 44 nominees and 18 award recipients across 13 categories. Each year, the event theme is kept under wraps until guests arrive, with clues hidden throughout invitations and social media posts to build anticipation. This year, guests discovered a fully transformed Matrix-inspired environment designed to surprise and delight an audience that understands event production better than anyone.
The invitation-only event brought together hotel partners, convention and visitors bureau representatives, venues, caterers, production companies, entertainers, photographers, and other hospitality leaders from across the Chicago market. Beyond celebrating award recipients, the evening provided valuable opportunities for networking, relationship building, and professional visibility within the industry.
More than an awards program, the HOSPY Awards is CTC’s investment in the community that supports its business year-round. By recognizing excellence, elevating industry talent, fostering meaningful connections, and creating an unforgettable experience for the professionals who spend their careers creating experiences for others, the HOSPY Awards continues to strengthen and celebrate the vibrant hospitality ecosystem that makes Chicago a world-class destination for meetings and events.
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GO WEST Future Leaders Program
Company
OneWest Events Design & Production
Brief Summary of Event
For the third year, OneWest Events fully funded a group of SAIT Event Management students to attend GO WEST, Western Canada's premier conference for event professionals.
In 2025, we decided students deserved more than a conference pass.
Instead of attending as observers, 13 students became the face of a custom trade show activation designed and sponsored by OneWest. At a retro game show inspired booth, attendees answered fun industry survey questions and entered to win a $1,000 WestJet gift card.
The giveaway helped spark conversations, but the real value came from what happened next. Attendees stayed to share stories, career advice, industry insights, and plenty of opinions. In the process, they connected with the next generation of event professionals.
When they weren't hosting the booth, students attended keynote presentations, breakout sessions, and networking events, gaining firsthand exposure to the industry they are preparing to enter.
More than 50% of conference attendees engaged with the activation, making it one of the most memorable experiences on the trade show floor.
What started as a student sponsorship program evolved into something much bigger: a hands-on talent development initiative that built confidence, created meaningful industry connections, and demonstrated what can happen when an industry makes room for its future leaders.
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How we achieved a legitimate Zero Waste Wedding
Company
Eclipse Event Co.
Brief Summary of Event
How do you Tie the Knot without tying up the Planet in Waste?
Achieving Zero Waste for an event simply means you've diverted 90% of the waste produced away from Landfills. Corporate Events and Non Profits have fine tuned and promoted Zero Waste Events for years. Couples however have found a hard time aligning the priority for Zero Waste with their own Wedding Goals. For Kelsey and Jeremy though, limiting the waste footprint of their wedding was THE goal. Through multiple conference calls with the couple and the vendors, all the pre-planning was in place to create a fun and beautiful wedding environment, with the ultimate goal achieved of producing minimal negative impact to our actual environment. In the end, we were able to divert over 95% of the waste away from landfills.
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Marketing Campaign
Marketing Campaign recognizes an outstanding event or series of events that achieves marketing objectives.
Cohera Brand Launch
Company
Cohera
Brief Summary of Event
Most companies announce a merger with a press release.
We announced ours with 1,500 industry friends, a confetti cannon, a nationwide launch tour, and enough buzz to make IMEX America feel like one giant group chat about Cohera.
The Cohera Brand Launch was the public debut of an entirely new company born from the merger of two DMC powerhouses: 360 Destination Group and CSI DMC. The goal? Introduce a new era for the industry.
With just six months to build a brand from the ground up, merge teams across the country, and prepare for the industry's biggest stage, we created a fully integrated marketing campaign designed to leave the industry asking: "What are they up to?"
The campaign combined social media, email and SMS outreach, destination launch events, tradeshow experiences, and immersive brand activations into one coordinated story. Through teaser campaigns, easter eggs, exclusive insider content, and a carefully guarded reveal strategy, we built anticipation while keeping the secret under wraps.
Enter IMEX America. On October 6, 2025, Cohera officially stepped into the spotlight with a launch event attended by more than 1,500 hospitality professionals. Simultaneously, the brand launched across every digital touchpoint, debuted on the tradeshow floor, and came to life through destination celebrations across the country.
The result? Attendance exceeded expectations by 50%, the campaign generated more than 164,000 organic impressions, attracted nearly 5,700 new followers, and transformed a brand that didn't exist six months earlier into one of the most talked-about names in the industry.
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SickKids 150: #Balloonspotting
Company
Citizen Experiential
Brief Summary of Event
To mark The Hospital for Sick Children’s 150th anniversary, Citizen Experiential and Citizen Relations launched "SickKids 150: #BalloonSpotting," a campaign designed to make the hospital's birthday its biggest story yet. The centerpiece was a global installation of 150 blue balloon sculptures, each contextually placed to connect to a unique story of SickKids’ impact on pediatric healthcare through medical breakthroughs, global partnerships, and clinical care. Identifying 150 stories and managing the global logistics of these installations was a year-long undertaking involving hundreds of supporters.
The campaign kicked off on April 3—exactly 150 years after the hospital admitted its first patient—with the unveiling of the inaugural balloon during a celebration for doctors, staff, patients, and volunteers. Throughout April and May, 148 additional sculptures were installed across Toronto, Canada, and four continents, covering 86,500km and sparking global conversations about the hospital's necessity. These installations prompted widespread sharing of personal SickKids stories, including by actor Ryan Reynolds.
The celebrations culminated on June 7 at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Over 8,000 attendees gathered for a community festival featuring family-friendly activities and the public reveal of the campaign's massive centerpiece: a custom hot air balloon reading “Happy 150th Birthday SickKids.” The event attracted major media coverage, further amplified by a surprise appearance from Ryan Reynolds. This monumental campaign successfully reconnected the world with SickKids' history, ensuring that the hospital’s 150th year was not just a celebration, but a transformative moment for its future impact.
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Marketing Collateral
Marketing Collateral recognizes outstanding media material (print or digital) used to promote or provide engagement for an event - in person, hybrid or virtual.
Alyssa and Justin's Wedding - A Family-Forward Nuptials Event
Company
Aly Am Paperie
Brief Summary of Event
Alyssa and Justin's wedding was a family-forward celebration designed to honor not only the couple's marriage, but the joining of two families, cherished memories, and the people who shaped their story. The wedding welcomed 198 guests for a heartfelt day centered on love, legacy, and togetherness. The event collateral was created to do more than communicate logistics. It was designed to set the emotional tone of the wedding from the first printed piece through the final guest experience. The creative direction centered on a rustic hunting-inspired aesthetic rooted in the groom's childhood memories of a meaningful set of antlers and the bride's affinity for Browning camo design. These influences shaped a custom new-family crest and antler monogram frame that became the visual identity for the entire collateral suite. Across approximately 2,000 individual printed and custom pieces, the crest and rustic design language appeared on the save-the-date, invitation suite, welcome signage, bar signs, menus, table signs, maps, road markers, insulated drink holders, custom napkins, rice paper confetti cones, and a custom acrylic laser-cut cake topper. Special table name assignments paired with meaningful photos transformed basic seating information into storytelling moments. With many guests traveling from multiple states and a venue capacity limited to 200 because of Texas heat and site constraints, the collateral served as both a design statement and a practical guide. The result was near-capacity attendance, little to no guest confusion, and a cohesive guest experience that felt personal and connected.
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On the Eight Track - ASC 2025
Company
Hello! Destination Management
Brief Summary of Event
In 2025, Brown and Brown Insurance welcomed 1,850 of its top performers to Nashville for its Annual Sales Conclave, a three day experience designed to celebrate achievement, reinforce company culture, and inspire future growth. Under the theme On the Eight Track, Hello! Destination Management developed and executed a fully integrated marketing collateral and storytelling system that transformed the resort into a cohesive, immersive brand environment. Inspired by late 1960s music festivals and aligned with the company’s eight billion dollar sales milestone, the creative direction was anchored by a comprehensive visual identity system. This system informed more than 200 pieces of custom collateral deployed across the program, including environmental graphics, wayfinding, general session design, registration, and event specific applications.
What set this experience apart was not the volume of collateral, but its intentionality. Every element served a dual purpose, functioning as both communication and narrative. Attendees engaged with the brand through layered moments of discovery, from festival inspired registration and retail style ribbon displays to scenic wayfinding and tactile dining details that extended the story. Rather than applying branding onto the event, the Brown and Brown identity was embedded within a fully realized world. The result was a seamless, story driven experience where marketing collateral unified the attendee journey, elevated engagement, and positioned the brand as something not just seen, but felt.
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Multi-Day
Multi-Day recognizes an outstanding event spanning the course of more than one day with set up and breakdown days not included.
Charlotte SHOUT!
Company
Charlotte Center City Partners
Brief Summary of Event
Charlotte SHOUT! is an annual, multi-week festival that celebrates the creativity and diversity of Charlotte through a vibrant mix of art, music, food, and ideas. Produced by Charlotte Center City Partners in collaboration with the City of Charlotte and various sponsors, the 2025 festival brought Uptown Charlotte to life with over 200 activations and experiences, most of which were free to the public. The event serves as a platform for local, national, and international artists to showcase their work, while fostering community pride and encouraging people to engage with the city in new, inspiring ways.
Targeting a broad and inclusive audience, Charlotte SHOUT! offered something for everyone, from immersive art installations and interactive performances to thought-provoking speaker panels, live concerts, and unique culinary experiences. The festival took place across multiple venues and public spaces, creating a dynamic atmosphere that welcomed hundreds of thousands of attendees.
Notable outcomes included increased visibility for local artists and vendors, strong social media engagement, and record-breaking attendance at many activations. Signature events such as the Charlotte StrEATs Festival, the Charlotte Ideas Festival, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Student Art Gallery received particularly enthusiastic responses.
Charlotte SHOUT! stood out through its inclusive programming, strong community partnerships, and citywide impact. By blending cultural celebrations with economic development and civic engagement, the event exemplified how public festivals can uplift a community, spark creativity, and draw people together in powerful ways.
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ILEA Build: Constructing Creativity
Company
CoveRock Consulting
Brief Summary of Event
BUILD: Constructing Creativity was a three-day international professional conference produced by seven volunteer ILEA Boston past presidents, held August 11-13, 2025, at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge, MA, with the Taste of Boston Welcome Event off-site at CRI Community Rowing in Boston. The conference brought together event professionals from across the United States and internationally to explore the craft of creativity through education, community, and experience design.
Each day of BUILD was its own chapter. Day 1 opened with ILEA Chapter Leadership Day and the Annual General Meeting, then moved to the Charles River for the Taste of Boston Welcome Event, which drew 163 attendees. Day 2 delivered a full day of dual-track education sessions and keynotes across two simultaneous ballrooms, alongside nightly Blueprint Lounge programming. Day 3 completed the education program and transitioned directly into the Esprit Awards ceremony and a closing celebration featuring a live band, DJ, and roving entertainers.
What made BUILD exceptional was the discipline behind the flow. Setup began August 9. AV and lighting infrastructure was built over two pre-conference days. Rooms turned multiple times throughout the week. Thirty-four in-kind partners, a volunteer team of seven, and a volunteer corps of 15 delivered a conference that was as logistically demanding as it was creatively driven, and that became the first profitable ILEA annual conference in at least 15 years.
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White Cap: Champions Club Incentive
Company
AOO Events
Brief Summary of Event
White Cap's Champions Club Incentive transported 354 associates, leaders, and supplier
partners to one of the Midwest's best-kept secrets: Mackinac Island, Michigan. The journey itself
- flights into Traverse City, a scenic coach ride along the coast with a distillery stop, ferry
crossings, and horse-drawn carriage arrivals at a historic property - set the tone for an
experience unlike any other incentive program.
For three transformative days, White Cap bought out the 187-year-old Grand Hotel, reimagining
it as their own. Corporate flags flew alongside U.S. flags for the first time in the hotel's history.
Staff wore White Cap aprons. A Hall of Champions lined the corridors with gallery-framed
portraits of the very associates walking past them.
The program celebrated both internal achievers and top supplier partners - a distinction that
sets Champions Club apart from other programs. "A Red,White & Brew"; Americana Brunch
honored supplier relationships with craft beer, seafood boils, and casual Adirondack charm. The
Awards Gala transformed the hotel's historic theater into a 1940s Hollywood premiere, complete
with popcorn, branded retro glasses, a black-and-white newsreel, and a cinematic destination
reveal that burst into color the moment guests donned their INNOVISION glasses.
Every detail was intentional, every moment curated. The program succeeded because it didn't
fight the destination - it leaned into it, letting the island's magic amplify White Cap's message of
recognition and pride. Guests left not just celebrated but genuinely moved.
Champions Club wasn’t a trip, it was a story guests will never stop telling.
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Planning
Planning recognizes outstanding achievement in planning for a live event.
A Blooming Love
Company
Wilkinson Rhodes
Brief Summary of Event
A Blooming Love Story was a wedding celebration eight years in the making — and a masterclass in what becomes possible when a single team controls every element of an event from concept to execution. For 500 guests at the San Antonio Country Club, the result was a seamless, immersive world built entirely around one couple's love story, delivered without a single visible seam.
At the heart of the event was an installation of over 150,000 live stems — not one faux flower on the premises — draped across a 150-foot custom trellis hallway, a curved staircase, a fully floral cake table, and every surface in between. Cherry blossom trees, non-native to Texas and entirely out of season, were coaxed into bloom on the wedding day. The curved staircase and cake table went viral. So did Flatland Cavalry's surprise performance — kept secret from the groom for months and revealed in a private ballroom moment the couple will never forget.
What made this event exceptional was not any single element. It was the fact that every element — the custom-fabricated props, the hand-built trellis walls, the in-house floral design, the custom graphics, the 26-vendor production, the seven-day installation — was conceived, designed, and executed by one team with one vision. Nothing was lost in translation. Nothing was left to chance.
The result was a celebration that felt effortless to every guest who experienced it, and represented an extraordinary feat of planning, design, and production for the team that built it.
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Love Purse
Company
GYM Events
Brief Summary of Event
The Love Purse Casino Royale: Betting on the Purse Gala delivered a night that felt both glamorous and deeply meaningful. Held at the historic Wilder Mansion on October 2, 2025, the event transported guests into a Bond-inspired world of elegance, energy, and immersive storytelling, all in support of Love Purse’s mission to serve women in need.
At its heart, the gala was more than a beautiful evening out. Every dollar raised supported Love Purse’s mission of “putting love on the shoulders of women in need, one #LovePurse at a time,” helping provide new purses filled with full-size toiletries and thoughtful essentials that remind recipients they are seen, valued, and cared for.
Created for supporters, donors, and partners, the evening was packed with moments that kept guests engaged, from casino games, live entertainment, and signature cocktails to elevated bites, a lively raffle, and a standout silent auction featuring travel packages, exclusive experiences, and carefully curated items.
What made the event stand out was how seamlessly it blended style and purpose. From the red-carpet arrival to the immersive installations and mission-forward branding, every detail worked together to create an experience that felt polished, cinematic, and intentional, without ever losing sight of why everyone was there.
That approach paid off in a big way. The gala drove strong guest participation, encouraged social sharing, and delivered fundraising results that exceeded expectations. Just as important, it raised Love Purse’s visibility and set a new standard for what its fundraising events can achieve.
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Tennessee Twilight
Company
Hello! Nashville Destination Management
Brief Summary of Event
For Herbalife’s global sales leadership event in Nashville, Hello! transformed a high-energy honky-tonk venue into an elevated, immersive brand experience with a custom concept: Tennessee Twilight. Designed for 1,200 attendees, the event balanced a sophisticated, space-inspired aesthetic with subtle nods to Nashville’s musical roots, intentionally avoiding overused “Neon Cowboy” tropes.
The design seamlessly aligned with Herbalife’s goals: celebrate top performers, highlight leadership visibility, and create a memorable, highly shareable experience. Through strategic space planning, dynamic digital environments, and layered branding moments, from custom cocktail toppers to branded cotton candy, the event delivered both scale and intimacy.
A complex venue footprint was reimagined to include dual VIP environments, high-capacity guest flow, and interactive activations without compromising energy or sightlines. The result was a visually striking, fully immersive environment that felt both locally inspired and globally relevant, an unforgettable night that elevated expectations of what a Nashville event can be.
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Scenic Design, Installation or Exhibit Design
Scenic Design, Installation or Exhibit Design recognizes outstanding design and production of scenic/set design, temporary installations and or exhibit or tradeshow booths.
Flower Wedding Event
Company
VIVAS Inc.
Brief Summary of Event
VIVAS Inc. transformed The Conservatory at One Sansome into a breathtaking floral
environment for a private wedding celebration through the design, production, and
installation of a large-scale custom scenic graphic experience. Partnering with the event
planner, our team was tasked with reimagining key areas of the venue by concealing
existing artwork and architectural elements that did not align with the couple’s vision.
The centerpiece was a dramatic 25-foot-wide by 12-foot-high floral backdrop, direct
printed on Ultra-board with a matte finish, complemented by custom floral static-cling
graphics and frosted window film installations. Together, these elements created a
seamless, immersive environment that celebrated love while transforming the visual
identity of the space.
What set this project apart was the combination of scale, precision, and visual impact.
Despite its size, the installation maintained exceptional color accuracy and detail with no
visible pixelation, creating the appearance of a luxury floral installation while leveraging
the flexibility and efficiency of large-format scenic graphics. The result was a complete
venue transformation that elevated the guest experience, enhanced photography
opportunities, and demonstrated how innovative scenic design can turn an existing
space into a fully customized event environment.
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Pigment of Your Imagination - IMEX 2025
Company
Hello! Destination Management
Brief Summary of Event
At IMEX America 2025 in Las Vegas, Hello! Destination Management redefined what a tradeshow booth could be, transforming its presence into an immersive, multi sensory experience designed to bring its capabilities to life. Rooted in the belief that creativity belongs to everyone, the booth became a pigment of your imagination, inviting guests into a space where ideas unfolded around them.
Purple, rare in nature yet closely associated with imagination and joy, became both a visual signature and a signal of what the experience would hold. Beneath a sweeping canopy of macramé leaves and fringe, illuminated in a soft lavender glow, the booth emerged as a creative oasis designed for connection. Towering printed fabric tree trunks extended the environment upward, creating a sense of scale and enclosure that made the space feel layered and distinct from the surrounding show floor. Inside, the atmosphere shifted. What might have been a booth instead felt like a place to gather, exchange ideas, and imagine what could be created next.
Handcrafted elements, live greenery, and vintage objects were balanced with contemporary finishes. Rugs, pillows, string accents, and velvet drape layered texture and depth throughout the space. Guests moved naturally between structured meetings and relaxed conversations, supported by a layout that encouraged both connection and curiosity. A custom scent program and rotating activations ensured the environment could be felt as much as it was seen, creating a destination attendees returned to throughout the show.
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Santa’s Workshop presented by Shoppers’ Drug Mart
Company
Citizen Experiential
Brief Summary of Event
For decades, Shoppers Drug Mart has been a Canadian holiday staple. To address 2025 economic pressures, Citizen Relations and RAMM Design created an immersive, nine-day "Santa’s Workshop" at The Well, Toronto. Moving beyond retail, this 360-degree brand experience featured five themed zones, including a Beauty Gift Gallery with a 10-foot rotating fragrance ferris wheel and an Elves Emporium featuring a peppermint spin wheel for rewards. Logistically complex, the team transformed an empty retail space into a whimsical factory staffed by Toy Soldiers and Elves, offering professional Santa encounters and a gold-and-red sleigh photo op. This approach humanized the brand, positioning Shoppers as a source of holiday magic and financial relief. The activation was a social media success, particularly on TikTok, driving over 6,000 consumer engagements and exceeding Santa photo goals by 120%. By distributing over 3,750 exclusive PC Optimum offers and 2,000 gift cards, Shoppers Drug Mart successfully turned holiday stress into spirit, solidifying its status as Canada’s premier holiday gifting destination.
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