Back in 2009, Baudville decided it was time to re-invent itself. We hired a consulting firm who redesigned our logo, our color scheme, the look and feel of our marketing materials, and the tone of our messaging. As I write this, I feel like I’m revealing the man behind the curtain; but, hey, we’re all business people here and we know that this is what happens in the corporate world. Meijer did it. JCPenney did it. We did it.

This was an incredibly exciting time for everyone in the creative group, including me, a very recent hire. Our big reveal was going to be at the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Annual Conference and Expo in July of that year, and between January and that date, huge amounts of time and energy and resources went into making it the shindig of all shindigs.

That was the year that our now-famous Baudville T-Shirts made the scene as well, and, like everything else we did, it was a team effort to write the witty sayings that emblazoned each shirt back.

Fast forward to 2012 and we’re on our fourth iteration of our team’s tees. Being the copywriter, I'm the one who is supposed to responsible for them these days; but I have to tell you: after fishing from the same pond for several years, all I’ve managed to catch from my own brain are an old tire, a rusty hanger, and something that looks like it was once a toy truck.

I knew I was going to need some help, so I enlisted a group of some of the most talented people I know: the Baudvillians! But the thing about Baudvillians is that they like to compete and they’re in it to win it. So, I couldn’t just schedule a brainstorming meeting; I had to challenge them with a contest and, of course, the opportunity to win prizes.

For about a week, I accepted ideas from everyone: on paper, via email, shouted at me from across the lunch room… and I ended up with more than 100 individual sayings by the end of the day Friday.

I worked with my immediate team to narrow them down, and was happy to announce winners from almost every department in our company. How cool is that?

Here are our contest winners:

In addition to other glamorous prizes, they got to choose a favorite shirt from the winning mix. As you can see, some were really popular! 

Their shirt ideas are being sported RIGHT NOW by our team at SHRM in Atlanta, Georgia! You can follow all the hoopla happening there on Facebook and Twitter now through June 27!

Do you have a favorite shirt from this year? Or a favorite way to engage your team in company activities? Tell us about it here!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She’s been writing for Baudville for three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!  
 

The Baudville team took some time to reflect on their experiences at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference in San Diego, California. They each shared their favorite memory from the few days we spent at the conference. You can see the pictures from the event on our Facebook page. What did you like most about the conference? Share it with us here!

“I loved spending time with other HR professionals discussing the fun topic of recognition.  Because I am HR, it was an instant connection with the attendees. “  Cindy, HR Manager

“I really enjoyed the Tweetup on Monday night. It was a great opportunity for Baudville to meet in-person the bloggers we follow online. I also love talking to customers and hearing how they do recognition and use our products in their organization.” Cori, Public Relations Coordinator

“I would have to say some of my favorite memories from SHRM would have to be the exuberant reactions people had to our products. There was one lady who couldn’t proclaiming that our products were brilliant. It was just great to hear so many compliments and put faces to our customers.” James, Designer

“I enjoy talking to customers who take some time to linger in the booth, learn who we are and really look at our stuff. While the opening night is exciting and busy, I appreciate even more the people who are genuinely interested in starting or continuing recognition.” Laura, Creative Manager

“I was literally shocked at the amount attendees and how they surrounded our booth trying to get our HR tote bags.  I felt like I was in the running of the bulls with the amount of people coming at me.” – David, Inside Sales Representative

Didn’t make it to SHRM? Baudville will be exhibiting at the International Association of Administrative Professionals Office Expo and the Michigan SHRM Annual Conference. We hope to see you there!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (officially, she's 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.

Welcome back from the holiday weekend! I hope you had a fun and safe holiday and enjoyed some relaxation over the long weekend. I know I did. I used my extra day to recuperate from the Society for Human Resource (SHRM) Annual Conference in San Diego. I spent four days in San Diego working the Baudville booth, mingling with the crowd at the SHRM-Monster Tweetup and talking to thousands of human resource professionals – literally!

If you’ve ever attended the SHRM Annual Conference, you know that it can be an overwhelming, exhausting and fabulous few days. You can see all the pictures from our trip to San Diego on our Facebook page.

Our focus at SHRM is the expo hall. We spend months planning our booth layout, graphics, giveaways even staff outfits, and it’s all designed to support our newest products. Last week, we launched over 250 new products that are designed to make you a Day Maker, a positive force in the office who makes someone’s day, and we were excited to show all the new products to the SHRM attendees. You can learn a few day making techniques in our Day Maker episode of Recognition TV.

We started the show with a bang by inviting attendees to enjoy red velvet cupcakes in our booth. While attendees mingled under our Tokens of Appreciation chandelier, we showed them our latest and greatest products. And when they moved on to the next booth, they took with them an exclusive “I put the HR in hero” tote bag, product samples, and a hot-off-the-press catalog.  Many attendees looked through the catalog at the end of the day, and came to the booth a second time to get another look at the products! (You won’t get your catalog for another week, but you can see all the products on our website.)

I talked to a lot of HR professionals in the expo hall, and I was excited to hear that many of them plan to implement a recognition program soon. Even the attendees who don’t have a formal budget for recognition plan on personally purchasing our products because they feel recognition is too important to ignore. Talk about dedication! If you’re one of those human resource pros still trying to convince the CEO to invest in recognition, check out our free white papers loaded with stats about the benefits of regular recognition.

One of my main takeaways from the conference was recognition is easy. It was awesome to watch attendees’ eyes light up when they saw how simple our products make recognition. There’s no complicated software, points formula or logins required. It’s all about personal, tangible pieces of recognition that convey the message, “you are appreciated.” It’s as simple as a handwritten note, a small keepsake or a token of appreciation.

Everyone can and should do recognition, but HR has the unique opportunity to be the recognition strategist and champion. By making simple solutions available to managers and providing simple training, HR professionals can encourage a culture of appreciation and engagement with little investment and big return. 

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (officially, she's 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.

Temporarily, that is. A delegation of Baudvillians is packing up and moving out for next week’s Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference. We’ve spent the past several months planning our strategy for SHRM, getting the coolest giveaways, designing a show-stopping booth, and we’re finally ready! We have a few big things in store, and we hope you’ll join us next week at booth 831 to learn more! Here’s a taste of what you can expect in the Baudville booth:

• New Product Premiere. We’re releasing over 250 new products at SHRM this year. June 28 is the first day the products will be available on our website, and SHRM attendees who stop by our booth Sunday night will get a sneak peek. This product roll out includes a new signature day-to-day recognition product, six new themes, and sweet new Cheers Kits that you will want to get your hands on!


• Cool New Shirts. Attendees loved the fun sayings on our staff t-shirts last year. The shirts are back with new sayings that are sure to earn a few chuckles.


• Special Gifts for the Media. This year, we created a special media kit and offer that’s sure to cause the media to pause. I hope you’ll stop by the booth to chat, reach out via Twitter, or find me at the Monday night Tweetup. I guarantee you’ll be inspired by what you learn about Baudville!


• Sweet Swag. I don’t want to give away too many details, but HR attendees are going to have to have this bag!


• Cupcakes Galore. Once again, we’re partnering with a local gourmet cupcake bakery to celebrate the opening of the show and our new products. Stop by early on Sunday though, because these red velvet cupcakes are so delicious, they’re going to go fast!


• Show-Stopping Booth. We put a few special touches into the booth this year, and we have double the space. You’ll find Baudville in a 20x20 island booth in San Diego. We are super excited! We gave a sneak peek to some local customers a few weeks ago, but we kept a few surprises for SHRM attendees. We’re in booth 831 this year, and we hope you see you there!


• Not Going to San Diego? Bummer. You can follow all the excitement from the Baudville booth through social media. Follow @Baudville and me, @coricurtis on Twitter for the most recent updates direct from the conference. And check Facebook regularly for pictures, videos and more!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (officially, she's 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.

That seems to be the favorite t-shirt saying of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference attendees. We wrap up our exhibiting at SHRM today, and everyone on the Baudville team is excited about the feedback we’ve received from attendees. It seems SHRM can’t get enough of our new branding and products!

Our witty t-shirts and Stupendous bags have caught the attention of bloggers, attendees and even other exhibitors. It seems like recognition with humor is a welcome addition to today’s workplace. Using the witty sayings from our Exclamations line is a great way to encourage reluctant managers to recognize; giving recognition that’s funny makes it easier and more accessible for those who may be uncomfortable with it.

We’ve been proclaiming our new message loud and proud on social media throughout the conference. This year, SHRM has been dominated by active Twitter accounts and live bloggers. This group of experienced HR professionals is writing about their experience at the conference, the trends in the industry, and reporting on sessions and speakers. We even got a shout out on our friend Michael VanDervort’s blog! You can see what else the talk of the conference is by following our Twitter account.

We finish up the conference today at 2pm. We hope to talk to many more interested attendees and hopefully reunite with some of our new friends for one last time!

 See pictures of our booth, staff and popular t-shirts on our Facebook page.