The Fabulous Showcase Event

Events-within-Event Showcase Creative Ideas for Production, Entertainment and More

Published in December 2006 The Idea Factory 2006 in Review

Images

The Fabulous Showcase Event is Event Solutions’ signature event, and from projections on the natural rock background at Red Rocks Amphitheatre to the once-in-a-lifetime chance to party the night away on a stage that regularly hosts music legends, the event producers made sure that this year, it was a signature writ large.

Given Red Rocks’ natural beauty, it only made sense to theme the Showcase “Keep it Pure,” says executive producer Renee Ortiz, president of Denver-based Eventful Productions Inc. Four area producers created different “events within events” based on that theme.

“There were so many different components — no one came out of there empty-handed,” says Ortiz.

One such attendee was Keely Grayson-Inman, who’s in DST Systems Inc.’s corporate conferences and events group. She took away an idea from the “red room” in one area, Pure Colorado — she wants to recreate the vases she saw there. She’d also like to find a way to use the lasers that put huge messages on the rocks.

“I wanted everyone from around the country to see what Denver and what Colorado has to offer the events community,” says Ortiz. “At the very last part of the event [in Pure Ra] where people really had a chance to kind of rock out, I saw so many people just having a blast of a time — that was the payoff moment for me.”

Pure Relaxation

Pure Relaxation was a Richard Carbotti transformation of the wide open entrance space and rugged Western atmosphere of Red Rocks into an intimate, tranquil Asian spa that allowed guests to relax and recharge as they prepared to encounter the raw energy and hundreds of ideas throughout the other spaces in the Red Rocks venue.

“The most innovative thing that I tried to do is take a big, empty space and create a very dynamic entrance,” says the well-known event designer, who is the founder and design director of Perfect Surroundings Inc., based in Newport, R.I.

Accordingly, he worked hand in hand with furniture rental company Unique Option to create panels to direct traffic, place raised and low lounges in the middle of the space and make sleek bars. He also brought in a DJ from New York, provided health drinks and installed a working Jacuzzi.

“The challenge was really to make people come in and take a deep breath,” says Carbotti.

And if the number of guests in the Jacuzzi near the end of the night are any judge, he did just that.

Pure Energy

“Meeting planners are the hardest group around to impress because they have seen it all,” says Chris Starkey, chief entertainment officer of Denver-based Starkey Productions/Pro Entertainment and producer of Pure Energy.

Well, not everything.

To give Fabulous Showcase Event attendees new entertainment ideas, Starkey brought in Acrodunk, slam dunk performance artists out of Dallas. Another of his favorite entertainment elements was a gospel choir.

The venue itself was key to the entertainment, he says.

“Because of the atmosphere of Red Rocks, with so much music history and the acoustics itself, with the sound bouncing off the rocks, it’s such a magical place to perform. Having a 10-member gospel choir there — it’s just a cool, unique experience.”

The venue is also an excellent backdrop for lighting, he notes.

“My goal as a producer is to find products that are sellable, and also are unique that meeting planners can bring to their clients to have something they’ve never seen before at their events,” he says. “Clients are looking for different, exciting experiences that can create a message as well, and hopefully Event Solutions continues down that path that helps planners see the products that are out there.”

Pure COLORado

Produced by the LINK Event Network, a group of Colorado event professionals, Pure Colorado aimed to show the worldwide event community in attendance what the Centennial State has to offer.

“Our big thing was to show people that a city between the coasts that doesn’t necessarily get a lot of recognition has some really fantastic event professionals,” says Zack Strober of LINK member The Arrangers DMC.

The group created a red room, which featured salsa dancers — and the vases Grayson-Inman liked so much — and a blue room where a DJ spun music and guests feasted on dessert sushi served on platters made of carved ice.

In another area, an airbrush artist disguised women to blend into a wall made of tree stumps — much to the surprise of unsuspecting passersby!

All in all, it was a success, says Strober. “It was a lot of fun for me to be on the trade show floor the next day and hear people talk about it,” he says. “It was really well received.”

Pure Ra

PRI Productions’ realization of the Pure Ra theme on the stage of Red Rocks is bound to go down as one of the iconic events in Fabulous Showcase history.

The space’s most striking elements were the huge chandeliers swaying overhead that made the space seem at once vast and intimate. The innovative ceiling treatment, which had attendees buzzing, consisted of a 15-foot by 15-foot fabric chandelier and four additional 8-foot by 8-foot fabric chandeliers.
Together with 40-foot-long panels of white sheers, the chandeliers moved with the breeze, creating an ambiance that added to the space’s intoxicating effect.

In the center of the stage was a dance floor, where attendees grooved under the watchful eyes of Ra, the Egyptian sun god, as a DJ dressed in Egyptian-inspired attire spun music.

Punctuating the space were lounge areas where attendees took time off from the dance floor to network, discuss the evening’s events and give their feet a well-deserved break.

If the lounges weren’t oasis enough, PRI also created inviting bars fitting in with the theme.

Executive producer Derek Eaton of PRI couldn’t have been more pleased.

“People danced until midnight,” he says. “Overall it was an incredible event.”

Producer

Eventful Productions, Inc
www.eventfulpro.com

www.ceavco.com
Colorado Party Rentals
www.classic-party.com
Distinctive Tent Rentals
www.distinctivetents.com
Grosh Scenic Rentals
www.grosh.com
Line Level ShowTek
www.linelevel.com
Lodge Enterprises Inc.

www.weddingfeatherbanners.com
PBG Event Productions
www.pbgevents.com
Quest Drape
www.questdrape.com
Radios USA
www.radiosusa.us
TLC Creative Productions
www.tlccall4ideas.com
Tribe Inc.

www.tribedesign.net
Unique Option
www.unique-option.com

www.tentsunlimited.com
We Rent Atlanta
www.werentatlanta.com

www.funproductions.com
Gourmet Fine Catering
www.gourmetfinecatering.com
Image Audiovisuals
www.imageav.com
Jerry Barnett Entertainment
www.momentsnotice.com
Mister Neat’s Formalwear
www.misterneats.com
The Perfect Petal
www.theperfectpetal.com
Presidential Worldwide Transportation
www.presidentiallimo.com
Richter Scale Productions
www.richter-scale.com

Additional Contributor

Consolidated Display Co. Inc.

www.letitsnow.com

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The Fabulous Showcase Event

Events-within-Event Showcase Creative Ideas for Production, Entertainment and More

Images

Pure Relaxation

Pure Energy

Pure COLORado

Pure Ra

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Host

Area Producers

Link Event Network

Perfect Surroundings, Inc

PRI Productions

Star Pro

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LINK Event Network Members

Additional Contributor