Plus: The 15 Most Innovative Meetings in North America · EVENTS MEETINGS MARKETING STYLE STRATEGY...

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EVENTS MEETINGS MARKETING STYLE STRATEGY IDEAS Plus: The 15 Most Innovative Meetings in North America $9.95 WINTER 2014 BIZBASH.COM APRIL 29, 2015 FORT LAUDERDALE CONVENTION CENTER bizbash.com/expofl FLORIDA THE OF CATERING IN 2014 20 Catering Chefs & Their Freshest Ideas

Transcript of Plus: The 15 Most Innovative Meetings in North America · EVENTS MEETINGS MARKETING STYLE STRATEGY...

EVENTSMEETINGS MARKETINGSTYLESTRATEGYIDEAS

Plus: The 15 Most Innovative Meetings in North America

$9.95 WINTER 2014 BIZBASH.COM

APRIL 29, 2015FORT LAUDERDALE

CONVENTION CENTERbizbash.com/expofl

FLORIDA

THE

OF

CATERINGIN 2014

20 Catering Chefs & Their Freshest Ideas

BizBash Media Do Not Copy

Readers’ Forum 37 Readers discuss their biggest

upcoming event challenges 38 Design Exchange’s Gillian Hoff

shares her rules for fund-raisers, fashion shows, and more

39 #BizBash on Instagram 40 Leslie Gallin, the woman

behind the footwear shows at the fashion industry’s Magic, shares her favorite places

The Scout 43 A production company’s

gravity-defying optical illusion 44 A look at the highlights—and

lowlights—of the event industry in 2014

48 Festive dishes for end-of-year gatherings

51 20 ideas to freshen up your next company meeting

54 How planners are using wireless technology to improve guest experiences

55 Staging ideas from recent concerts and music festivals

56 What top designers are renting now

58 Tips for creating a user-friendly, information-rich mobile app

59 Newsflash: What’s on our minds this season

60 Ideas, products, and trends to have on your radar

Venues 63 Why chef’s tables are growing

in popularity 66 New spaces for events in

Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami/South Florida, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix/Scottsdale, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington

Event Reports 87 From Atlanta: the

TomorrowWorld electonic dance festival

90 From Chicago: the Museum of Contemporary Art’s David Bowie gala, ComEd’s Icebox Derby

95 From Clermont-Ferrand, France: Ikea’s store opening

96 Coast to Coast: Arizona Jeans Company’s flea market

98 From Los Angeles: the Emmys, Ferrari’s 60th anniversary, the Teen Choice Awards

105 From Miami: the Seed Food & Wine Festival, the InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball

109 From New Orleans: the Make It Right gala

110 From New York: Fashion Week, Nike’s Court collection launch at the U.S. Open, StriVectin’s skin cream launch, Microsoft’s Advertising Week activation

118 From Orlando: Hope & Help Center’s Headdress Ball

120 From Toronto: Perrier’s Street Art collection launch, the Toronto International Film Festival, Rethink Breast Cancer’s Boobyball

126 From Washington: 360 Live Media’s office party, Washington’s Parking Day

Features 133 The Art of Catering in 2014:

20 catering chefs and their freshest ideas

144 The 15 most innovative meetings of the year

Special Advertising Section 154 Caterers

Checklist 160 8 things to ask your rental

vendor before an event

Winter 2014 © 2014 BizBash Media

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At the TED Conference in Vancouver—one of our most innovative meetings of the year—TEDx organizers snowshoed to their workshops on top of Grouse Mountain. Check out what else made our list of 2014’s top meetings on page 144.

On the cover: Eatertainment chef Chris Matthews sketches dishes before serving them, like an heirloom tomato and micro-herb gelee, asparagus royale, chilled beet consommé, and stem salad of parsley, beet, chard, and watercress. His goal is to give each plate a sense of balance, proportion, and scale. For more from him—and 19 other creative catering chefs—turn to page 133. Photo by Bruce Gibson Photography

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bizbash.com winter 2014 133

HOW WE CHOSE THE LISTLooking specifically for chefs responsible for menu development and execution at full-service, off-premise catering companies, we compiled this list after reviewing work from candidates across North America. We looked at not only the quality and volume of their off-premise work—specifically those that regularly cater events for more than 200 guests—but also the chefs’ clients and reputations. The list favors those who work on corporate and nonprofit events, and some caterers preferred not to highlight a particular chef in a team of many, opting out of the feature. There are familiar names but also some new-on-the-scene faces. Most importantly, we sought innovation—dishes and presentation that made the editors gasp or say, “That's really cool.”

Thanks to a social-media-hungry public and the rise of foodie culture, today's cater-ing chefs need to be constantly feeding the imagination of event guests with new, original, and—above all—delicious cuisine. Gone are the days of lowly puff pastries

and lukewarm shrimp cocktail. Now, food has become a sophisticated medium and an integral element to an event’s theme, brand message, or identity. As such, catering chefs are stepping up to the plate, constructing elaborate interactive food stations to engage guests and impress clients, inventing restaurant-worthy cooking techniques, and push-ing the limits of the industry as a whole.

To celebrate this culinary revolution, we designed this feature to highlight some of the most creative chefs—those who are redefining what event catering looks and tastes like—along with their most unusual, inspiring, and innovative dishes of the past year, which include everything from edible dirt to dainty Indian appetizers. The chefs also shared some insight into their cutting-edge methods. The selected group heads up the kitchens of catering companies across North America, dishing out fare at thousands of events each year, including galas and benefits, award shows and premiere parties, prod-uct launches and marketing events, and much more. Here is who we think represents the creativity and innovation of catering chefs today. —Jenny Berg & Michele LaufikPH

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the ART of catering in 2014

20 Catering Chefs and Their Freshest Ideas

BizBash Media Do Not Copy

bizbash.com winter 2014 137

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CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWSEATERTAINMENT

“ The dish was abalance of simplicity and elegance using two unique flavors that represented the land and the ocean. This is an example of my philosophy of keeping a dish simple, using just a few select ingredients, and then highlighting and balancing each one within the dish. ”

Pasta with gold leaf, porcini powder, shaved truffle, and squid ink

With former experience as a restaurant owner and a caterer for airlines and cruise ships, Christopher Matthews has been the executive chef at the Toronto catering company Eatertainment for five years. When he cooks, Matthews focuses on achiev-ing balance between flavors, textures, and colors; specialties include color-blocked dishes that incorporate seasonal ingredients. Recognized for his striking presentation styles that don’t overwhelm a small plate, the chef is known to sketch his dishes before he prepares them.