Many organizations have annual award ceremonies in the fourth quarter to celebrate outstanding performances and team accomplishments. However, it’s common for annual events to become a little tired year after year. To keep things fresh and exciting, you need to introduce new elements to your event. One way you can enhance the award experience is by changing your recognition award.

This year we set an ambitious goal to bring you an even larger selection of new trophies and awards for your year end award ceremonies. You can now shop 75 new trophies and awards in our trophy collection, many of which are exclusive Baudville designs! For a little guidance on adding extra “oomph” to this year’s award ceremony, we’ve put together five ways you can freshen up your annual award ceremony with new Baudville trophies.

1. Select a Colorful Trophy.
Traditional award trophies are beautiful creations made out of glass, crystal, and wood. Why not add some extra pizzazz to your award ceremony by introducing some color? Our new Brilliant Colored Glass Awards still offer the prestige of a glass trophy while adding a little fun with the bright graphics. For a sophisticated award, our Art Glass Trophies double as art for an office or home.

2. Incorporate Your Recognition Theme.
Several of our new trophies incorporate our well-known recognition themes into their design to complement your existing recognition program or event theme. Your annual award ceremony is a great time to reinforce the theme you’ve been using all year. You can try the new Themed Plaques, Desktop Acrylic Trophies, or Crystal Character Trophies for formal themed awards.

3. Create a Custom Award.
Make your awards unique to your organization by adding custom engraving. It’s easy! You can add your own logo or write your own award verse. When you order $100 or any one trophy, customization is absolutely free. Our new trophies offer large engraving areas so you have an even larger canvas to use to create your own award.

4. Choose a Character Story Award Verse.
Some of our most popular awards incorporate a Character Story. Our Character Stories eloquently express appreciation for unique traits and skills. There are over 100 stories to choose from, so you’re sure to find one for every award recipient! Our Jade Character Trophies are the most popular award for delivering a Character Story, but don’t forget about silver engraved gifts. These practical gifts will be a lasting reminder of the award for years to come!

5. Add a Gift Bag.
Vital to the success of your award ceremony is how you present the awards. To make the award presentation go smoothly, download our Award Presentation Guide and practicing your speech. Then order gift bags for each recipient. Prior to the award ceremony, place the trophy boxes in the gift bags. This will make it easier for recipients to carry their awards and will create a nicer presentation at your event.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

The fourth quarter is the most common time of year for award ceremonies. Companies are completing their fiscal year, individuals are wrapping up projects, and teams are evaluating goals. When all the analyses and evaluations are done, it will be time to recognize outstanding performers and performances from the year.

When you honor an individual at a public award ceremony, you have a great opportunity to impact their motivation, dedication, and engagement. You can also inspire everyone in attendance! Careful planning of your awards event will make sure your recognition hits the mark.

We’ve created many resources to help you to create a memorable awards event. Start with our highlighted content below then browse through our collection of Award Ceremony information  in the Recognition Resource Center.
 
Award Presentation Guide – Say all the right things during your award presentation when you practice with this helpful guide. It walks you through the key elements of an award presentation so you know what you want to say ahead of the event.

Award Presentation Ideas  Webisodes – Baudville recognition experts share valuable advice and tips for award presentations. These short videos are packed with ideas that will make your awards more memorable.

Trophy Videos – We have over 70 new trophies available for this year’s award season. To get the best feel for these new awards, watch our products videos. They are the best way to understand the size of the award and its different features.

Free Recognition eBooks – Get ideas to make your awards sparkle and make a grand impression on both your recipients and your guests. Winning Ways to Recognize Your Stars ebook   includes handy hints to make your recognition more effective. If you’re looking for ideas on how to celebrate your employees’ accomplishments, read the Milestones chapter from the Team Up! eBook. Both of these should provide some inspiration for your next awards event!

Award Ceremony Newsletters – We’ve carefully selected a few of our Recognition at Work newsletters from the archive that are all about award ceremonies. Learn more about formal awards, tips for recognizing with award certificates, and more.

Gift Finder – Don’t let the title fool you! Our popular tool can help you find a trophy that will fit your budget and occasion. Begin by selecting the “Award Trophies” product category then continue to refine the results by price, occasion, and theme until you find the award that’s just right for your event.

Formal awards and award ceremonies are part of an effective recognition strategy. If you take the event seriously and plan carefully, your employees will feel appreciated and motivated for another year! For even more resources, tips, and ideas, visit our Recognition Resource Center.

What are your best tips and advice for upcoming award ceremonies? What have you learned from trial and error? What are your best practices? Tell us about it here!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

The holidays are here! It seems like all the major retail areas are already bustling with holiday shoppers looking for the best gifts for everyone on their list. Have you thought about appreciation for your team yet?

The holidays and end of the year are an important time to reflect upon the contributions, accomplishments, and successes of your team. At Baudville, we celebrate with our Year End Party which includes awards, employee gifts, and lots of fun! Our employees always look forward to our event, so I’ve put together three areas of tips and ideas to help you make your own year end efforts successful. You can also get all these tips in our Recognition TV video.

1. Event Themes
Your year event or award ceremony should have a theme! It can be simple or as creative as you can imagine. Some of our past themes for the Baudville Year End Party have been game show, roaring twenties, and casino. Regardless of the theme you choose, you should always make it about the guests of honor: your team.

Your theme gets applied to all the communication about your event including the invitation, presentation slides, menu, directional signs, table cards, ID cards, even your follow up newsletter article. ID cards are an important element of our year end party. Every employee receives a card (we make them with the IDville ID Maker system) when we arrive at the party. The ID card reveals table assignments and makes employees and guests more comfortable because they don’t have to remember everyone’s name! 

2. Awards
The end of the year is a popular time for the presentation of awards. Most organizations have some form of an award program. Award programs are an important part of your culture because it expresses what’s important at your organization and gives real life examples of your values. When it comes to presenting awards, your speech and prepared remarks are extremely important. Download our Award Presentation Guide for help writing an excellent award presentation.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about popular year end awards. You can get all the details in my Popular Year End Awards Motivate Performance article. These awards are great for public recognition at a company-wide year end event.  However, not every organization gathers together at the end of the year.

Even if your organization doesn’t throw a holiday bash, you should celebrate and recognize your team! I recommend using award certificates because they’re an inexpensive option and can be personalized for the recipient. My tip for recognizing a small team is to create a unique award title for each recipient. We have some sample recognition award titles you can download from our Recognition Resource Center. Bring your team together to enjoy some holiday treats and call each member up to the front to receive their certificate. The camaraderie and public recognition may make this your employees’ favorite holiday event!

3. Gifts
Finally, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without gifts! What’s your plan for recognizing your team? When you give your team a gift at the holidays, it expresses your appreciation for their presence, contributions, and loyalty. In our last Recognition TV webisode, our product manager shared a few of her favorite gifts. Watch her video and read her suggestions on the Baudville blog. Here are a few more tips to help you with your team gift shopping:

Make it personal. Recognition that’s sincere and personal is the most effective. When your gift is personal for the recipient, it shows that you know them and value their preferences. Of course, you’re faced with the challenge of selecting something personal for every member of your team. To streamline your gift giving, you can get variations of the same item. Our gift books are perfect. They focus on a variety of different topics, like teamwork, making a difference, or thank you. Select a different book for each member of your team and write a note on the inside cover. Sign your name and date it, so the recipient will always remember where it came from.

Make it last. You also want your gift to last - not be tossed out in the post-holiday rush. Choose a gift that your team can use in the office. Take a look at ourdesktop gift collection. You can engrave the character story of your choice on several of the items, so your gift is personal and lasting. Some of my favorites are the journals and folios. We've found this kind of gift to be very effective. For example, for her first holiday at Baudville one of my coworkers received a folio from her manager. Her manager had written a personal note on the inside of the folio expressing how excited he was to have her on the team. That’s memorable!

Make it meaningful. Your recognition during the end of the year is purposeful: you want to reinforce desired behaviors and make your team feel appreciated. But your team won’t know what you’re recognizing if you don’t tell them. When you present your awards, be sure to give specific examples of the award recipient’s successes and accomplishments from the year. At Baudville, the accomplishments and contributions of our Inspire Award winners are listed before their names are revealed! It’s very effective and fun for everyone in attendance.

How do you recognize your team during the holidays? What are your best practices?

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.