Planning Your Award Ceremony

 

 

When it comes to an award ceremony, regardless of the reason for it, you want to be sure that the purpose and meaning behind the occasion are demonstrated and fully celebrated. Awards are a popular way of boosting motivation, particularly within a professional environment, because (as we all know) the proper motivation can greatly boost performance. One of the most important factors is, as you would expect, the planning that goes into the ceremony.

Venue;

The first stage of proper awards ceremony planning is figuring out where to host it. There are a number of factors you will need to take into consideration, such as how important the event will be, how long it is likely to last, what the theme or level of professionalism there is likely to be and of course how many people you will have attending. Take into account the size of the venue, the proximity of the venue to your usual location (your business or organisation’s office) and what the venue actually offers. Popular venues such as hotels will often provide a selection of packages which will include catering and even some entertainment; these may be worth looking into if you want to save a little money.

Food & Drink;

Of course, if the venue you have selected do not have a catering option you’re going to have to arrange that. Take into account the number of options you’re going to have to provide and the number of people you’re going to be feeding; will there be served meals or an open access buffet? Will there be alcohol served or access to a bar on the venue property? Some venues prefer that you don’t provide alcohol with your catering so that they can make more money from selling drinks at their own bars, while others are happy enough for you to provide anything you like. Wine and champagne are often perfectly acceptable and set the theme very well for a mature, professional ceremony.

Staffing the Ceremony;

Who is dealing with the preparations? Have you decided on a host or will you be doing that yourself? Are there waiters on hand to serve food and drink or are you entrusting your staff not to turn it into a free-for-all? You’re going to need people who will greet your guests, people who will provide information and ensure that everything is running to schedule, people who will operate the bar or buffet if you have one, people who will serve the food and drink. You’re going to have to deal with just about everything if you aren’t using a venue that handle all of the work. From preparation to operating there will have to be people on hand to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Preparing the Materials;

Ceremonies these days usually come with presentations; photos, information, videos and so on. They provide a way of presenting the information in a way everyone can see and understand and offer a focal point for your ceremony. Who is going to prepare the PowerPoint presentation? What will be included in it? Where are they getting that information? Have you given them the pictures that you want included? Is someone going to manually change the slides during the presentation or are you just hoping you get your timing right? Have you run through it and checked that everything is there? Have you decided on seating arrangements during the ceremony? Do the people getting awards know they’re getting awards? Everything you need has to be prepared in advance and checked to ensure all of the materials are there.

Prepare the Awards;

Naturally, one of the most essential parts of your award ceremony, is ensuring that the awards are selected and prepared. Decide on the sorts of awards you’re going to give, take suggestions and ensure that the selection process for the winners is fair and carefully thought through. What are the qualifications for the awards? Why were the winners selected? What will you say about them once you have declared them the winner of the award? If you’ve ever watched any sort of awards ceremony you will understand what is expected; you name the award, you explain the characteristics of the winner and why they were selected for the award, then you call them up to collect it.

Acquire the Awards;

This is one of the most essential parts and should certainly not be forgotten. Buy the awards! You will have to decide whether the same award will be used each year, kept for a year and then returned to be awarded again (common with sports trophies), or whether it will be made specifically for that person to be kept and treasured by them forever (more common with things like retirement plaques) and of course deciding on this will impact on your decisions with regards to things like engraving the awards.

About the Author;

Kate Critchlow is a passionate young writer with a keen interest in business and corporate awards.