Awards & Recognition
When recognizing the performance of your top employees you must tap into the emotional, right side of the brain. Winning an award is an important acknowledgment of one’s hard work and success, and that appreciation coming from an audience comprised of your colleagues makes it even more meaningful.
The motivational power of an awards ceremony is huge and entirely right-brained. Americans love winning and we love our moment in the sun as loud and in your face as possible. There’s nothing quite like the buildup from when the category is announced, to hearing the winner’s name, to the long walk up to the stage, complete with moving lights and music playing.
The winners will have a cherished memory for their entire life. The non-winners applaud graciously and go home with a focused sense of purpose and drive to be the one up on stage next year.
Keys to a great awards ceremony are:
- Focus on the main awards. Don’t drag out the ceremony with long speeches and lesser awards.
- Highlight the specifics of what made the winner a winner. Discuss the lessons learned so everyone can replicate these characteristics next year.
- Moving lights are a very cost effective, energetic staging technique as the award winners walk to the stage.
- Use high-energy music for each winner. Personalize it for the city they are from or for the specific award that they won. (See this month’s Meeting Mix, which includes some of my favorite awards songs.)
- Take photographs of each winner and have them ready to take home or post them online.
