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Our WM Events team was thrilled to work with TechBridge again this year to plan the organization’s Digital Ball. The 2018 event we designed won an Allie Award for Best Non-Profit/ Fundraiser, and we knew we had to outdo ourselves for the 19th-annual installment. Inspired by this year’s theme “Achieving Bold Transformations,” we set about to transform the Hyatt Regency into a place of light and magic to captivate the 800+ savvy guests and keep them talking until 2020.
Bewitching Branding
While our design begins with a theme and a color palette, branding an event to highlight the host organization is also key. In the case of the Digital Ball, in addition to incorporating TechBridge’s messaging, we needed to seamlessly introduce a variety of corporate sponsors into the evening’s program. We started in the pre-reception with features like logo gobo lights on the lobby floor, a custom box environment including sponsor graphics, and a rotating cylinder promoting TechBridge statistics. The step & repeat was branded with the host logo, and guests had the chance to choose from messaging props to rev up their selfies.
Because this organization and many of the guests are part of the technology world, we also brought in some more high-tech displays like the 80-in. seating chart monitors and two 60-in. monitors showcasing sponsors and the evening’s honorees. We included plenty of branded signage throughout, directing guests to registration, the pre-reception VIP, and later to the ballroom.
Dazzling Décor
Within the ballroom, 95 round tables draped with TechBridge green, blue and turquoise linens featured pops of color from warm orange florals in modern glass bowls or lighted spheres reminiscent of gyroscopes and the event’s theme graphic. Keeping the tablescapes low maintained sightlines throughout the large ballroom. With such a spacious area, we added table wayfinding signs directing to numbered table sections so that guests would not need to scout an entire room before locating their seat.
Throughout the ballroom, we continued honoring sponsors and transformed the space through the use of light. Gobos directed sponsor logos along the walls, while the stage was lit up with LED tubes and LED spandex cubes. Combined with four giant monitors, which displayed multiple images and messages, the stage lighting and twisted, glowing cube formations imparted a definite high-tech vibe.
Enchanted Entertainment
The stage was set for a spectacular program, and we brought in emcee and auctioneer TiWanna A. Kenney to kick things off – and help raise plenty of money, of course! After wowing the Digital Ball guests with a little bit of magic provided by a mentalist last year, we upped the ante with The Digital Illusionists who combine digital technology, sleight of hand and psychological surprises. Coming to Atlanta all the way from the U.K., Keelan Leyser and Matt Daniel-Baker make magic with the use of today’s technology like smart phones and LED walls. Their jaw-dropping act filled with virtual reality, augmented reality and reality we don’t even have a name for proved the be the perfect fit for the TechBridge audience.
This year’s Digital Ball was capped off with an after party with DJ Tim DeGroot with Rare Form DJ Crew spinning tunes that inspired magic on the dancefloor. Guests who were more interested in relaxing could kick back on glowing cubes and white leather furniture like round sectionals and a double-sided serpentine lounge – tossed with branded pillows, of course.
Before The Digital Illusionists headed back to the U.K., we asked to take a look into their magic crystal iPad. We’re happy to report that we foresaw a wondrous future for TechBridge.
Event Planning, Management & Design: WM Events
Venue & Catering: Hyatt Regency
Photography: PWP Studio
