*Photo credit Karlie Louise Photography
This quarter was packed with energy as we brought together more than 500 attendees across New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. From exclusive dinners and VIP executive summits to intimate conversations with an artist merging AI and VR in her work, and our marquee forums, the past three months brought us together with attendees shaping the future of AI, TV advertising, and global finance. All while scouting new venues, tracking the latest trends, and setting the stage for our biggest and boldest events yet in 2025 and 2026.
Q3 Highlights
We grabbed hold of a unique opportunity to work with San Francisco-based Misalignment Museum to incorporate a few of their AI props into a recent Executive Summit. Attendees interacted with a reimagined Michelangelo piece The Creation of Adam with AI-generated Computer Vision bounding boxes, linking the visual classification of objects to the concept of language and creation as reflected in Large Language Models. There was also a self-playing piano performing AI-composed music generated from bacterial patterns, exploring the intersection of nature, machine creativity, and non-human authorship. And a 1970s payphone that allowed guests to converse with AI that emulates Fred Rogers’ speech, combining speech-to-text, large language models, and text-to-speech to recreate his distinctive voice and diction. To say these offered a unique experience is an understatement!
Pinball anyone? For a September annual summit, we worked with an arcade vendor to replicate an energized arcade setting at a recent conference. You should have seen the crowd forming (and cheering) at the claw machine activation! Post-event, we were told to 3x the arcade experience next year because it was such a hit!
At this same event, we had the opportunity to hear Allison Elsworth, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor of poppi share her story of pioneering a digital-first approach for the marketing and brand promotion. Fun fact: Allison is now making history as the first entrepreneur to return as a Shark on the show - a fantastic example of women leading the way in business!
Another client hosted their annual 1,000+ person customer conference in San Francisco and brought cred along to curate a Day 0 exclusive VIP experience for their top Enterprise customers. The goal was to host an interactive cocktail hour, something more than just passed apps and open bar, and we delivered! We worked with Michelin-starred O’ by Claude Le Tohic to offer guests a rare truffle shaving experience, caviar tasting, and an opportunity to learn how to make a quenelle - both paired with a distinct wine chosen by their Sommelier. Attendee survey responses proved that our spin on a traditional cocktail hour left a lasting impression!
We’ve been hard at work in Q3 - here are a few industry developments and trends we took notice of:
When art imitates life…has never been more real! Recently we had the pleasure of working with conceptual artist, producer and technologist Sarah Meyohas for a September event. Hearing Sarah guide attendees through her practice and methods for weaving virtual reality and AI into her works of art was fascinating. Next time you need to think outside the box for an attendee experience, consider something in the art space! You’d be surprised how many attendees have a genuine interest.
Engaging attendees before the event begins is a powerful way to maximize impact. By asking guests in their registration forms what stories, demos, or content they want to see, you can tailor the event to the audience, creating a more relevant and impactful experience. This early involvement not only builds anticipation but also encourages accountability and deeper, more meaningful participation during the event itself.
Speaking of engaging attendees - if you find yourself wanting to fill a need of alerting attendees about the day’s upcoming sessions or meals, we implemented a texting service to stay in touch with attendees throughout a recent conference. We used this to the event’s advantage to keep guests on time, excited for what was to come, and organized. Our team received rave reviews about how helpful it was. We definitely recommend considering it for your next event with moving parts!
We’re on our phones more than ever—and event organizers are taking notice. In today’s hyper-connected world, attendees are constantly capturing, sharing, and engaging with content in real time. For event organizers, that means taking advantage of SMS messaging for important reminders and event marketing and creating shareable moments at your event.
Creating memorable moments could be a celebrity keynote, an unexpected performance (flashmob anyone?), or an immersive installation (see earlier point about incorporating art!), these moments can spark conversation, extend your reach online, and amplify your event far beyond the room. Crafting experiences that naturally encourage your attendees to post and tag helps build excitement, drive engagement, and attract future participants.
*Photo credit Karlie Louise Photography
Who’s counting? A few quick stats to call out from this past quarter:
90,000 steps taken by our team while onsite at events, on both coasts (shoutout to our Oura and Apple watches for tracking!)
100% of the dinners we planned this quarter included a reception-style cocktail hour prior to the seated dinner, as well as brief welcome remarks (always a nice touch!)
A big quarter for NYC-based events: over half of our Q3 events were hosted in NYC! The remaining events were held in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
30+ venues & vendors worked alongside to bring these events to life
475 attendees showed up to our events this quarter
We have no idea how we’re already in October (!!), but we’re super motivated to end the year on a high note. For a sneak peak, here’s a few things we’re working on between now and then: Dreamforce, sponsor booth builds, traveling to be onsite in the UK, planning private dinners at hot spots across the country, traveling to Napa for a 2nd annual client summit, organizing a meeting lounge at AWS, and a Warriors NBA suite experience. It’s safe to say that Q4 will keep us busy with a wonderful variety of projects.
Signing off with a fun bonus below - this quarter, cred was named one of the Top 12 Event Companies in California by Eleven8 Events!
Have an event you are looking to bring to life or need help finalizing your 2025 event strategy? We’d love to help - email us at events@credpr.com.
