“We had our first meeting crashers,” Ben tells me with a huge, excited grin on his face as we’re going up the elevator to where our attendees are mingling for dessert and after-dinner drinks.

We were staying at Montage Beverly Hills, which is sleek and elegant, gorgeous and well put-together. Our event, which is designed to get (and successfully does get) business done, was attracting random hotel guests.

And why not? It was our biggest event ever, with nearly 100 attendees filling the stunning 5,000-square-foot Marquesa Ballroom for a dinner that felt like a Nordic hall decorated with elegant Beverly Hills style and a $300,000 painted ceiling.

During our meal (oh, that coffee-crusted steak!), we planned a surprise game of switcheroo. Hotel representatives and our staff, after the first course, picked up our name tags and found a new seat, expanding the networking opportunities that can be limited by an hour-long stationary meal and keeping the “speed-dating” element going.

After the switch, the jazz trio, part of music by MG Music Events, Inc., launched into a subtle and relaxing version of “Stairway to Heaven,” which I was particularly fond of. But the musical highlight was upstairs after dessert. We were being serenaded by a solo guitarist and singer, when our event planner, Ben Partin, slipped him a few notes about our founder and publisher Marin Bright. He came up with a song on the spot that had the whole crowd in stitches. We’ll try and get an MP3 of it up soon.

We’ll be talking about this event for a while yet to come. All the planners we spoke with were excited at the opportunity to meet so many properties at once and connect with people they’d been eager but unable to see. So we brought them together. (Because, put simply, it’s just what we do.)

And no, the party crashers were not allowed in. It was an exclusive affair.

We’d also like to give a huge thanks to our Smart Mart sponsors and partners who helped make the night so great:

Montage Beverly Hills
South Coast Winery Resort & Spa
CJ Matsumoto & Sons
MG Music Events, Inc.
Albert Postel Photography
PSAV Presentation Services