When we set out to create our own internal peer recognition program, we had a pretty good feeling it was going to be popular. We’re Baudville, after all; if anyone knows how to recognize, we do. But I don’t think anyone expected that it would be this popular:

If you’re wondering what, exactly, you’re looking at, this is Baudville’s Shout Out wall where employees post recognition notes about their coworkers. It’s part of our peer recognition program, called Shout Outs, which encourages staff to recognize each other based on our company’s seven core values: inspire, nurture, share, perform, innovate, respond, & excel (it spells INSPIRE; clever, eh?).

At any point in the day, you can find a Baudvillian paused at the wall to read the latest post. People get excited to write them, read them, and most importantly, receive them. At the end of each month they get distributed to the recipients, who can’t help but post them up at their desks. What a way to spread positive mojo!

But, what we really love about peer recognition is the way it enhances our already thriving recognition program by giving staff the opportunity to share their input. Employees also have a better understanding and appreciation of the contributions of their coworkers—especially those they don’t work directly with. And, because managers see the Shout Outs, they get the inside scoop on all the day-to-day greatness going on.  

Thinking you want to try it at your office? Well, after test driving our program for about six months (and seeing amazing results), we decided it was a no brainer to bring this product to our customers. And we know you like variety, so we developed the program in three of our most popular themes: 

Shout Outs are inexpensive (only 50¢ per note), really easy to implement (you pretty much just need a wall), and a great way to energize a team without a lot of work from managers. See, really—a no brainer!

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Allison is Baudville’s one (and only) Copywriter. She’s been writing for a variety of media for more than eight years, so if she tells you she has been there and done that, she probably has. Before embarking on a career in writing, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!

This blog entry defines Twitter vocabulary for all of those still unfamiliar with Twitter

(*twitterverse = the body or community of Twitter users)

That’s right, Baudville is on Twitter. While our follower numbers are modest, we like to think our tweets (posts we make under our account) reach far and wide to our tweeps (friends on Twitter) around the world. We’ve recently contributed a new hashtag (trending topic on Twitter) to a majority of our posts, #positivemojo.

We pride ourselves on being the office of positive mojo at Baudville headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Daily recognition is our mission, and we strive to create a great working environment within our own walls. We carry out this mission in the recognition tools and products we design to bring positive mojo to our customers and our great customer service (talk to a real person when you call, for real).

Now we’re spreading positive mojo throughout Twitter! We’ll be using the positive mojo hashtag (#positivemojo) on posts that recognize someone or offer fun and humor for the workplace. Once you’ve received positive mojo, retweet it (a repeat of someone’s post)!

Here’s an example of a worthy #positivemojo retweet:

thisisjohnny* my officemate just got a performance award; told him it's the first of many for rm 112. we're going to make this place look like a dr office

( *This is an example of one of the many user names you'll find on Twitter.)

And here’s an example of a company in need of some serious #positivemojo. We hope this doesn’t sound like your organization:

beneubanks I used to work for a company that had an annual employee appreciation. They ignored us the rest of the year!

When it comes to spreading positive mojo on Twitter, the greatest challenge will be keeping it under 140 characters! Become a follower of Baudville, and watch the positive mojo grow!

The other night I was getting a pedicure at the local cosmetology institute and having a conversation with my assigned student about “pursuing your dream.” She told me that her husband is currently living his dream as a guitarist in a rock band, and that she is working full time during the day and taking cosmetology classes at night to follow her own aspirations. I told her that I, too, had finally landed my dream job—as a copywriter for Baudville.

I love explaining to people what Baudville does. If they haven’t experienced recognition in their jobs, they are often somewhat mystified. It’s true, that while we do have a huge customer base, there are still many companies that do not practice any form of employee recognition. In fact, the past two companies I worked for did not (note: I’m not working there anymore!).

Our conversation led to her day job, which she explained once had a very extravagant year-end celebration, but followed the next year with a much more modest version. The year after that, they eliminated the party altogether and made a small donation to a charity instead. We both agreed that the charitable donation was a nice gesture, but because of past events, it was a bit de-motivating to the employees.

At this point, I couldn’t stop myself from making my Baudville pitch. It went something like this:

You know, if your company practiced employee recognition, especially day-to-day recognition, then big year-end celebrations—or lack thereof during tight economic times—wouldn’t be the centerpiece of employee motivation. Giving genuine expressions of appreciation at regular intervals is a proven way to encourage and, more importantly, retain key staff (remember those other companies I worked for?). Big celebrations become less important, and less likely to be missed if budget constraints put the kibosh on them.

I love it when a conversation plays right into my hands.

I think we both learned something really important that night; plus my toes look fabulous!

We’re back, and SHRM 2009 has officially come to a close! The entire team feels the show was a complete success. We could not have received more positive feedback from attendees about our new products and marketing. Here are a few highlights:

Our delicious hook on Sunday night drew attendees to our booth with the sweet smell of chocolate, white almond and butter cream. The gourmet cupcakes were a huge hit among the attendees! In fact, they were so popular that no one on the Baudville team had a chance to sample them! All 500 cupcakes were devoured in a mere 40 minutes. Those HR professionals are hungry people!

We’ve always known our customers to be Stupendous people, and now they have the tote bag to prove it! Our “I’m with Stupendous” bags generated quite a buzz around the tradeshow floor for their high quality material and witty line. The bag is one of 25 brand new products in our Exclamations theme. If you like the bag, you’ll love our Pocket Praise cards and other themed gifts.

Our sassy t-shirts were popular among attendees. Which saying is your favorite? Write us a comment with your pick. Any new ideas? Let us know!

1. My boss thinks I’m kind of a big deal.
2. File me under fantastic.
3. Does my positive mojo go with these shoes?
4. Awesome is my favorite accessory.
5. Medium t-shirt, x-large super star.
6. I’ve got a serious case of the positives.

Our favorite part of the conference was the positive feedback from attendees about our new products. Throughout the development process, our excitement for the new products has grown. It was thrilling to hear attendees began to echo our sentiments of praise for the new designs, sentiments and products. Attendees found the new products to be cute, clever affordable and easy to use. We hope they’ll soon start using the new products and put day-to-day recognition to work for their organizations.

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Baudville booth and experienced the place for daily recognition. We hope you’re as excited about the new Baudville and our new products as we are! Remember our launch has only just begun – the first batch of new catalogs hit mailboxes July 13th!

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.