Well it’s Friday again! And I don’t know about you but I have been sooo busy this week with school and work.  So, I am really excited that I get a chance to share with you what I found to be pretty awesome this week.

1.    Pinterest Contest Entries: We have been receiving "Baudville Employee Appreciation Day Gifts" Pinterest boards from you guys all week! I've been checking them out and can't wait to announce a winner on Thursday. Remember you can still create a board and enter by Sunday, February 19. Check out Cori's "Employee Appreciation Day Gifts Pinterest Contest Begins!" post for more information.

2.    Baudville ePraise: Since the launch of the new ePraise functionalities, I have received some great ePraises from my co-workers. I feel so special when I open up my Outlook and there in my inbox is a nice note of recognition. Make someone you know feel appreciated this week by sending them an ePraise.

3.    Marble Magnets: I actually made these a couple weekends ago and have them hanging on my refrigerator at home.  They are so easy to make and are perfect for embellishing your dull cubicle or office.  You can use any paper that you would like in order to create a personalized magnet.

4.    Free Office Compliments: Print this notice of free compliments and post it in a gathering area at your work.  Let employees tear off the compliments at the bottom in order to appreciate other co-workers.

 

 

5.    Paczkis for Fat Tuesday: Paczkis are Polish pastries that are eaten on Fat Tuesday, right before Ash Wednesday. Although I normally don't give up anything for Lent, I love to go out and pick up a box of paczkis for my friends and me to enjoy. Make your own Paczkis and bring them to work with you on Tuesday (or just buy them like me ).  

 

---------------------------------------- 

Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.

 

 

If you are new to the whole Pinterest scene, let us help you get started. Baudville’s Pinterest gives you great ideas for Holidays and Celebrations, Baudville Products We Love, Office Potluck Ideas, plus a lot more great ideas. For more about Baudville’s Pinterest, check out our blog post "Make a board for office ideas. Baudville just got a Pinterest!" Who knows you could be winning prizes from Baudville for creating a Baudville employee recognition Pinterest board!

 

First things first, we need to establish a "Pinterest Dictionary" with Pinterest words and definitions.
    

Pinterest: A virtual pin board that helps you organize and share your ideas, favorite products, and recipes. Pretty much anything you want to share or remember that’s on the web.

Board: A virtual place that houses your pins. Boards can be a part of different categories in order to help you find more relevant content.

Pin: A pin is each individual idea, favorite product, recipe, or web inspiration.

Repin: Pinning someone else’s pin that you enjoy, want to remember, and share with your followers

Pinners you follow: Your Pinterest friends!

 

5 steps for creating a Pinterest:

1.    Create an account

Printerest makes you request an invite in order to create an account before you can start pinning on your boards. When you first visit Pinterest.com, click on the red "Request an Invite" button. Simply enter your email address and Pinterest will email you an invite link. Requesting an invite through Pinterest can take up to 2-5 days to receive your invite link. If you wish to start pinning sooner, email Baudville at recognition@baudville.com. We will send you an invite within a day (if sent during the weekday) and then you can start pinning!

 

2.    Create Boards    

When you first access your Pinterest account, there will be 5 boards already created for you to start pinning on. Favorite Places & Spaces, Books Worth Reading, My Style, Products I Love, and For the Home. To add another board like Favorite Baudville Products, simply click the Add + button. Create a name for the board, "I love Baudville!" and then choose a category that the board would best fit in, Products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.    Pinning

There are two main ways to pin ideas, products, photos, etc. on your Pinterest boards.

First, you can repin someone else's pin. When repining, choose the board you want the pin to be a part of, write a brief description about the photo or product, and then Pin It!

 

Second, you can pin photos off the internet. In order to do this you must add the Pinterest bookmark to your toolbar. Further details about how to install the bookmark on your browser can be found here. When you find a photo of something you want to pin, click the "Pin It" bookmark and choose the photo you want to share. Then choose a board that you want the pin to be a part of and write a brief description of what you pinned and why.

 

4.    Following other Pinners

Go to your name and click “Find Friends” This syncs up with your Facebook and you can see what Facebook friends of yours are on Pinterest. If you want to invite someone click "Invite" and type in their email address.

 

5.    Look at Pins

After you have everything set up you can start to look at other Pins! To view the pins of the people you follow, click on "Pinners you Follow". This will show you their most recent pins.
Or, choose a category from the "Everything" drop down menu. This shows you what everyone on Pinterest is posting in a specific category at that moment.

 

 

There you have it, a simple way to start your own Pinterest account, boards, and pins.To find out more visit the help section found on Pinterest.

 

Don't forget, there might be another contest coming up soon….. I would start creating a board of Baudville employee recognition gifts you would like to receive or give!

If you have any questions or concerns please leave a comment and we will reply back in a timely fashion. Enjoy!

 

---------------------------------------- 

Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.

 

I don’t know about you, but I am terrible at sending written notes. I hear it is a problem with my generation, but I think every generation is losing their will to send out hand written notes. This is really too bad because people truly feel appreciated and cared about when you take a little extra time out of your day to write a special note. Luckily for us, we can start 2012 off right because January is National Thank You Month!

 

First let’s recap on how to write a thank you note. (For some of us it might have been awhile!)

1.    Start with a greeting and the Recipient's name.
           a.    Dear Baudville Blog Readers,
2.    Express your gratitude to them for something they have specifically done.
           a.    I really appreciate your dedication to reading our blog posts and your desire to change your employees’ experience in the workplace. I truly enjoy all your wonderful comments and ideas.
3.    Express your thanks once again and sign your name.
           a.    Thanks for being so awesome,
                  Kendra

Dear Baudville Blog Readers,
I really appreciate your dedication to reading our blog posts and your desire to change your employee’s experience in the workplace. I truly enjoy all your wonderful comments and ideas.
Thanks for being awesome,
Kendra 

WOW, it really is that easy to brighten up someone’s day! So why don’t we write thank yous more often?

Here to help are some of Baudville’s great products and themes that you can use to say thanks! 

 

 

Write a hand written note of thanks on our Thanks for All You Do! themed Shout Out,  then post the Shout Out. The nice thing about Shout Outs is that it gives you a little cheat sheet with ideas to recognize team members for. This is located right above the individual Shout Out sheets that you tear off to write a note.

 

Recognize a job well done with one of our fun and colorful Thank You themed pocket praise. Pocket Praises are small cards that are perfect for setting on a desktop or hanging on the wall of a cubicle.
        

 

Say thanks in a unique way. Our G-Thanks themed Birchwood note cards  are an eco-friendly way to express your gratitude.  Wooden note cards can be easily written on with a pen, pencil, or marker.

 

Leave a quick thank you sticky note at a team member’s desk. Our Thank You themed Sticky Note Booklet  comes with many sized sticky notes for you to choose from.

So, let’s take 5 minutes out of our weeks this month to write a team member a thank you note. That’s 5 thank you notes and 25 minutes out of the whole month of January. We can do it!

 

Share some of your hand written thank you note tips with me!

---------------------------------------- 

Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.

 

Last Friday night, Baudvillians gathered together to see who had Lady Luck on their side at Baudville’s Vegas themed Year End Party. Baudville played their cards right, because the party was a blast for all!
    

When we arrived each employee received an envelope filled with playing cards. The cards were used to raffle off dozens of gifts that were lined up on a table. Throughout the night, employee’s names were called and employees won gifts from a 32” T.V. to gift certificates for dinner and a movie.  
    

Enthusiasm about our own individual Pinterests prompted some of us to create a Baudville Pinterest! Our Baudville boards share great office ideas, events, gifts, products we love, and office potluck ideas.

New to Pinterest?

Pinterest is a virtual idea board where you can "pin" ideas, projects you want to do, things you like, or whatever you want. The best part about Pinterest is how you can follow other people's boards and see what they're pinning.  Following other boards lets you discover new ideas, projects, photos, recipes, and fashion styles.  

Don’t have a Pinterest?

Just visit www.pinterest.com  and request an invite. Then start sharing your pins.

Baudville’s Pinterest:

We've set up a couple different boards with ideas and products that we think are fun employee recognition ideas.

Baudville Boards:
    

    Baudville Products we love:
This board is filled with our products that we love! We will be posting our favorite new products .  Get ready, we have a new product launch coming in January, so this board will be growing!
    Fun at Work:
        Mundane is not the Baudville way, and we don’t want it to be yours either! Our fun at work board contains a bunch of ideas to help create pizzazz into your everyday work life. We will be posting anything that catches our eyes, like how to do a cookie exchange to mustache cups. (Really who wouldn’t want these!)