The 10th Annual Shorty Awards
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Shorty Awards continue to honor the best influencers, celebrities, brands, and agencies on social media across Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and other platforms. The show returned to PlayStation Theater in the heart of Times Square in New York City for the ceremony, amplified by the sponsorship of DIRECTV NOW.
Over 800 influencers, brands, agencies, and guests packed the theater for the ceremony, which featured a cocktail reception, a seated dinner, and an afterparty at the Moxy Hotel. The staged event streamed live on YouTube and DIRECTV NOW’s Twitter feed to over 9 million viewers (and counting!) internationally, as fans all over the globe tuned in to watch their favorite social media stars.
Kicking off the festivities, Queer Eye’s Fab 5 hosted the teal carpet, interviewing the social media royalty as they arrived at the event.
Singer, songwriter, and actress Keke Palmer hosted the show and kept the audience entertained, while presenters including Casey Neistat, Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez, Ronny Cheing, and Roy Wood Jr. of the Daily Show, gave out awards.
This was the most competitive show to date, as over 7 million votes poured in from fans all over the world, a record for participation. Winners of the signature Whale-Tail Trophy included MKBHD, Backpack Kid, Spencer Pratt, Fuck Jerry, Vlog Squad, and Topher Brophy. JJ Watt was honored with the Shorty Phenom Award for his philanthropic work for hurricane victims, and Erica Garner received an award posthumously for the Best in Activism category.
Rising star musical artist Betty Who amazed the crowd with energetic performances of her songs “Mama Say”, “Ignore Me”, and an energizing cover of Donna Lewis’ song “I Love You Always Forever”.
Empire is proud to partner with The Shorty Awards for our fourth year and we congratulate all the 2018 winners, as well as an even larger congratulations to TEN successful years of the Shorty Awards!
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
