event profile

Not all events are centered around lavish floral displays, buffets of fine cuisine and silent auctions of luxury items. In the village of Nashville, Ind., the community comes together once a year to have fun and raise money for the We Care Gang, a local charitable organization.

In late September, teams of executives and planners from leading incentive companies descended on Vail, Colorado to experience the delights of this destination wonderland. But rather than guidebooks, they had iPads in hand.

While Hurricane Katrina came and went almost six years ago, there are still thousands of “forgotten” families still homeless or living in FEMA trailers. Enter Operation Outreach: Event Pros in Action (OO), founded just four months ago by Susie Perelman and Stacey Mehalik of Mosaic Inc., Pittsburgh, PA.

When you bring 42,000 salespeople together in one place, there’s bound to be a lot of noise—130-plus decibels, to be precise, about the level of a rock concert. It happened recently in Atlanta, where the recognition/motivation event for a large financial services company took place over a three day period.

Every four years, the Salvation Army gathers its volunteer and uniformed leaders from across the country for its National Advisory Organizations Conference (NAOC).

Intended to inspire, encourage and equip its local and national board members to further advance the organization’s mission, the five-day conference includes award ceremonies, musical tributes and keynote speeches.

For the launch of Sprint’s new Kyocera Echo dual screen Android phone, event producer Fresh Wata decided to go double—big time. From the furniture to the picture frames, the theme of duality was incorporated into many of the event’s elements.

When you decide to have a party on the roof, and the only way up is a passenger-sized elevator, what do you do? Bring in a 265-ton hydraulic crane, of course, and hoist everything up, from tents and furniture to HVAC units.

The Arab nation of Oman, located in southwest Asia, may not get as much attention as many of its neighbors recently—it’s one of the most developed and stable countries in the region—but when it comes to its annual Muscat Festival, it knows how to pull out all the stops and let the bells and whistles blow.

If you’re a foodie who loves to travel, put Singapore on your calendar. Its annual Food Festival, which takes place in July, typically draws more than 350,000 people to the island; about 28 percent of these are international travelers.

“Seven years ago, it was just Maria, me and a small staff sitting in a room wondering what direction this all could take,” said Carl Bendix, president of JupiterPx/Ambrosia. The “Maria” was Maria Shriver, and the event in question was The Women’s Conference, which Bendix has produced since Shriver became first lady of California.