Beyoncé accepts the Innovator Award from Stevie Wonder onstage during the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California . Photo courtesy Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
Christine Dwyer, who played Elphaba on Broadway, sang a performance of “Defying Gravity” in a mic-drop finale of Pzazz Production’s Wizard of Oz/Wicked -themed performance for the Opening General Session.
Pzazz Productions was seen on the trade show floor and during the Opening General Session with a timely Wizard of Oz/Wicked theme.
Two years ago, the movie Barbie inspired shades of pink across events. The effects are still seen today, like in the costumes of the Closing General Session performers.
the Industry . From musical influences like Beyonce and Sabrina Carpenter, to film influences like Gladiator II and Nosferatu , well-branded artists and their work offer go- to theme inspiration in today’s events. That doesn’t mean copy-and-pasting, however. “There’s ways to dissect that and distill it,” said Diamanté, meaning you don’t need to blindly make every part of your event pink and green (à la Wicked for example). The best event pros are pulling from these themes and reinventing them into something new and personal. For example, Sophia Kanno (Access DMC) shared about a floating buffet her team created that was inspired by Rihanna’s floating stage from Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show during the session Design Roulette: Influence of Major International Events on Design & Themes . Major events like the Super Bowl, Grammys, Olympics, or Oscars are huge influences on the culture and what clients look to for inspiration. “The reality is that when we draw inspiration, we truly
can just take bits and pieces,” said Kanno. Whether taking tennis-chic inspiration from Challengers or coordinating a performance on a barge à la the Olympic 2024 Opening Ceremony, it’s important to take pieces of the cultural moment you’re referencing and scale it to fit your event. Today’s event attendees want to recreate what they see but in an original, unique way. We know everyone at CS+TSE left recharged and inspired, already calculating ways to incorporate these trends into their events. We can’t wait to see the ways these trends develop and manifest throughout the year as event pros put their creativity to work.
Want more trends?
For food and beverage trends, turn to page 26 of Catersource in the adjoining issue. For entertainment trends, turn to page 12.
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SPECIAL EVENTS SPRING 2025
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