by Debbie Hall, Exhibit City News
A night of festivity illuminated the Balkan Bar & Grill in The Historic Commercial Center District in Las Vegas. Exhibit City News its Q1 2025 print edition, and The Experiential Design Authority CES BOSS (Best of Show Stand) Award Show debuted.
The exclusive gathering of the tradeshow industry’s top creators was an unforgettable evening of networking, recognition, and live entertainment. A showgirl greeted guests before walking the red carpet. The décor of Balkan Bar & Grill shined with chandeliers and other glamorous touches adding to the allure of the evening.
The BOSS Awards celebrate groundbreaking innovation, creativity, and excellence in experiential design. They recognize the most impactful projects showcased at CES each year. The Experiential Design Authority (TEDA) evaluated booths on a criteria considering not only the execution of a booth but the ability to transform the audience experience.
One of the judges of the esteemed TEDA panel for the CES 2025 BOSS Awards, Frank Jones, Experiential Producer for A-Team Experiences, shared his experiences.
“Travis Stanton asked me to be a part of the board of judges through the Experiential Design Authority. I was really pleased with the outcome in that those that were in the top five were also my top picks,” said Jones.
As for the event, “The team at Exhibit City News gave us a warm welcome. I sense this camaraderie and unity between the staff there. I thought, wow, this group of individuals is responsible for this production,” added Jones.
Jones was seated at the table of Exhibit City News founder Donald Svehla. “We started a conversation, only to learn we had a common acquaintance through Robert Larhoven. I’ve worked with several exhibit houses, Larhoven Design and E4 Design, and we had a great conversation.”
“We just had a wonderful time just sitting and talking and having an opportunity for the ‘how are your family’ talks that we never get to do on a day-to-day basis on the show floor or putting together booths or fitting graphics to the structures. The personal side of it was incredible,” added President of Design to Print, Josh Bevans.
Travis Stanton, Director of Strategy at Storylink Creative and Executive Director of The Experiential Design Authority, emceed the awards show.
“The Experiential Design Authority is proud to play a role in spotlighting exceptional experiential design, and we look forward to our BOSS Awards becoming a staple of CES, as well as many other domestic and international events moving forward,” said Stanton, who recently began accepting entries into the organization’s ExSys Awards (which honor exhibits designed using pre-fabricated system-based components), as well as TEDA’s upcoming World Expolympics competition, which will recognize the most exceptional experiential designs on display at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan.
Throughout the night, Whickett Funk Bank entertained with its range of R&B, pop, rock, and funky beats. Then, the allure of belly dancing Vegas Raqs shared passion through performance as guests got up and shook their bodies to the movements of the dancer.
“I haven’t been to many events lately with belly dancing, with fire hats on, and so that was fun. We enjoyed that,” said Bevans.
Balkan Bar & Grill, specializing in Balkan, Mediterranean and Eastern European food, wines, and spirits, served a fantastic meal with fine cocktails and wines available.
Many of the sponsors attended the inaugural event, including members of the Design to Print team covering the Las Vegas and Utah regions and many of their partners.
“We have been a partner to so many, almost all, exhibit companies and general contractors in the Las Vegas area. These awards represented a great opportunity to thank all our customers for supporting us and letting us support them. What a great opportunity. The Boss Awards, the best of show services, is incredible,” explained Bevans.
“This is such an outstanding new award for our industry and will build opportunities for people to be proud of their work and showcase it more. We do such incredible work in an industry that’s recognized worldwide as far as viewing and for companies, but so rarely are the companies behind the scenes, which are our customers and our company, recognized for their work.
“The Fortune 500 companies we’re building these booths for get great accolades, look beautiful and make more money from the money they put into their presence. What a great thing to recognize the people who put their creativity and work behind these booths, presences, and shows. It’s a great opportunity for us to thank the people we work with in this industry,” said Bevans.
“I’m super happy that we were able to be part of the inaugural awards show and event, which means we’ll continue to sponsor and be part of this and grow with the event and the awards because this is something that needs to happen, and is a positive for our industry. We had an amazing night,” stated Bevans.
The Boss Awards is an international event recognizing accomplishments at the CES trade show. It is an opportunity for those working in the trade show and expo industry to come to Las Vegas, receive these awards, and be part of the community.
Thank you to sponsors Aluvision USA, NewGen Business Solutions, Design To Print, All Exhibit Solutions, and Corp Events New England.
For more information on the BOSS Awards, visit: https://www.experientialdesignauthority.com/best-of-show
For the full list of award winners please visit: https://www.experientialdesignauthority.com/post/ces-2025-boss-award-winners-revealed-during-las-vegas-event
For images of all 30 finalists please visit: https://exhibitcitynews.com/boss-awards/
