There was a time when a decent salary and smattering of perks was enough for businesses to retain their biggest and brightest talents. However, the modern workplace is constantly evolving, and there will always be bigger companies offering better financial packages. This means that employers who prioritise the short-term fix of wages alone might quickly realise they’ve overlooked more valuable forms of motivation — with recognition being top of the tree.
Acknowledging good work should be regarded as one of the basic business essentials. It doesn’t cost a penny and, as we’re about to learn, the potential benefits are huge. However, a quick, “Well done!” should ideally be seen as a jumping off point, rather than the be-all and end-all. If you really want to make a concerted effort to display gratitude, you could follow the lead of thriving businesses across the UK and host regular award ceremonies.
When combined with positive feedback, awards ceremony production can be a potent tool for creating a great working culture. It makes employees feel noticed and provides some much needed relief from the daily grind. However, these occasions are fast-moving operations with lots of moving parts. In short, they’re by no means easy to execute.
Our seven tips to create amazing awards ceremonies are all you’ll need to supercharge workplace morale and have a great time to boot.
What are the Benefits of Awards?
There are a host of benefits to awards for employees. Statistics suggest that any kind of recognition can have a surprisingly big impact on both engagement and staff retention. As a result, businesses who implement this type of initiative could find that they keep hold of their best staff while also increasing their profits.
Keen to know more? Here are a few eye-opening stats about the brilliant benefits of awards:
- According to over 80% of surveyed workers, recognition makes them feel more engaged and better motivated to perform their roles.
- Individuals are almost three times more likely to feel motivated when their efforts are noticed.
- Companies that do a better job of engagement make more money. To put a figure on it, these businesses are, on average, over 20% more profitable.
- Almost 80% of employees say that being recognised is enough to make them feel more loyal to their employer.
Pretty incredible results, right? It seems clear from this that awards ceremony production should be a staple feature of any healthy organisation. And if you can combine these events with frequent acknowledgments of a job well done, then the sky truly is the limit!
Top Tips on How to Plan an Awards Ceremony
Once you’ve understood the impact awards ceremony production could have on your business, we’re sure you’ll be itching to get started. But, before you dive in, there are a few factors you’ll need to master. If you can smash the likes of content, entertainment, and event design, you’ll be on your way to succeeding in sizzling style.
Planning an award ceremony for employees can be a rewarding experience when you know what to look out for. Our exclusive tips will help you to meet even the highest expectations::
Knowledge is Power
Before you get to work on the finer details of awards ceremony production, it’s important to dedicate some time to ticking off the basics. Everything builds from, firstly, knowing your audience, and then using the opinions gathered to inform every subsequent decision. These steps will make it much simpler to add the remaining building blocks.
At the centre of these ‘blocks’ is a compelling central theme. This will be applied to the other major factors, including the absolutely critical choice of venue.
You will need to pinpoint the following as early in the planning timeline as possible:
- The Audience: The better you have a feel for your employees’ preferences, the easier it will be to find a unifying concept that resonates with them. If unsure, you could always send out some voting options to whittle down the most popular choices.
- The Theme: Essentially, this is the underlying concept, which could be anything from ‘Superheroes’ to ‘Summertime BBQ’. Once you know yours, you can incorporate it into your design work, venue-finding, props, and everything in between.
- The Venue: Being armed with a theme and purpose should quickly clarify your venue options. While your choice might be limited by the budget, it makes sense to push the boat out as much as humanly possible here. The reason? The location is both a major tone setter and the sandbox that either opens up or limits what you can do from a practical and technical point of view. To illustrate, imagine what would happen if you rushed venue selection and chose a building with patchy wifi, no catering, and scant capacity for anything beyond the most rudimentary lighting?
Go With the Flow
If you’ll pardon the impromptu poetry, every good show has its own flow. However, this doesn’t happen automatically, in fact it takes time and effort to work out a sequence that seems organic, while having the right combination of high drama and gentle lulls. Resist the urge to speed run or dawdle, and concentrate on generating a steady pace that picks up as you reach the final crescendo.
Ideally, the final showpiece should be reserved for the biggest and best award of the evening. One dedicated to outstanding teamwork in the face of adversity or other improbable feats of individual brilliance.
Embrace Audiovisuals
An award ceremony for employees will need to have a few basic technical elements to succeed. First of all, you’ll need crystal clear sound for speakers, music and presentations. Next up, employees will expect some fun visuals, such as team montages, messages of gratitude from management, and award announcements.
However, these should really be regarded as starting points. To take your AV game up a notch, why not embrace the possibilities of light shows, special effects, and interactive elements? The latter is especially effective in boosting engagement, as you can encourage people to take part by voting for their favourite managers, employees and moments of the year.
Don’t Overlook Entertainment
It’s easy to get so swept up in planning content that you forget one of the other big benefits of awards — treating your teams to a good time. You can avoid this by thinking about what kind of entertainment suits your theme and will please the most people. There are some evergreen favourites, including live music, DJs, and comedians but you should also see this as an opportunity to do something fresh and fun.
If you fancy blowing minds (and what remains of your budget!) why not try:
- Fire breathers
- Carnival games, acrobatics, and jugglers
- Augmented Reality displays
- Virtual reality stations
- Projection mapped light shows
In essence, don’t play it safe, just let your imagination run wild!
Be More Inclusive with Virtual Streams
One of the possible downsides of staging an award ceremony for your employees is that not everyone will be able to attend in person.. However, you can make sure that fewer people miss out on the post-event banter by incorporating a virtual stream that anyone can join. You could even highlight their attendance by having a virtual wall of the people taking part remotely. Assuming they don’t mind being filmed in their dressing gowns, of course!
The Personal Touch Goes a Long Way
Finally, it’s really crucial to ensure that your employees are the beating heart of your awards ceremony production. Ultimately, this is their chance to shine and, because it might only come around once a year, this needs to be really clear. By personalising certain elements you can make the occasion much more meaningful.
Our favourite suggestions for customising the experience include:
- Personalised trophies
- Stories about individual achievements
- Thank you notes from managers
- Video messages to congratulate star performers
Ultimately, the little touches can go a long way, so even thoughtful gifts can elevate an award ceremony for employees into something memorable.
Hire an Established Events Management Company
If you’d rather focus on enjoying your event than getting bogged down in details, hiring an expert event management company is the obvious solution. The very best in the field don’t just tackle logistics, they also add a wealth of creativity, industry contacts, and hard won experience. Their understanding of the latest venues and technical elements means you’ll be free to push the envelope without risking event-threatening hiccups.
However, should the unexpected happen, there’s nobody better to handle sudden challenges and keep the show moving. Hiring an event planner could save you time and stress while also delivering a sparkling end result that reflects well on your business. All of this, and more, makes them an understandably appealing proposition for companies across the UK.
On a Mission For Recognition? We’ll Be Your Guide
Awards ceremony production is a challenging operation. Even relatively simple shows require a keen eye for detail and consummate control over the tricky logistics. There’s a venue to find, entertainment to plan, catering to be arranged, and lots more besides. At times like this you need an experienced event manager by your side to spin those plates and bring everything together on time and within budget.
ConnectIn Events has been at the forefront of event management since 2009. We’ve worked with a wide range of clients from all over the country and all kinds of industries. Innovative, interested, personal, and professional, we’re everything you could need to treat your employees to an evening of flawless fun.
We can handle as much of the process as you need, all tailored to your requirements. Just drop us a line to talk about your visions and we’ll make them a reality.
For more information about what we can offer, get in touch today!
