Are you looking into business events that can bring teams together and treat them to a well-earned good time? You can't go wrong with awards nights! These events are one of the best options out there for acknowledging great work and having fun with colleagues. Plus, turning staff recognition into a social activity not only helps people to feel valued, but also creates special memories that can last for the rest of the calendar year.
But where do you start when planning award events? Who better than the UK's expert planners of great occasions — ConnectIn Events — to explain.
5 Ways to Make Awards Nights Amazing
There's a lot to think about when you're planning award events. From working out your budget (and sticking to it!) to keeping the audience entertained between presentations, you'll need an eye-for-detail and outstanding organisational skills to hit the heights. To make your life easier, here are the absolute essentials you will need to master:
1 - Choose a Unique Theme
While there's nothing wrong with going for an established theme, doing something new and exciting is usually better. The reasons? The theme you choose will distinguish you from other awards nights and the last thing you want is for them to be predictable — which is more likely if you hold award events every year. You can win the battle against blandness by opting for a fresh concept that runs right through every element of your show.
Top tip: The theme should be relevant to your business goals. For example, if your organisation is trying to become more sustainable, why not make this the big feature of your occasion by factoring eco-friendly travel, lighting, refreshments and content into your show?
2 - Book the Venue
Once you've chosen a theme, your next step should be hiring a complementary venue. The location will need to tick a lot of boxes, including style, convenience, accessibility, and technical capacity. As the first thing your guests will see, this decision will also have a big impact on perception. An impressive venue can quickly convince attendees that they're on the cusp of a special evening.
Top tip: Lots of venues have adaptive/seasonal pricing models so, if you can be flexible over dates, you might get that dream spot for a fraction of the peak price.
3 - Draw up an Agenda
The dream for any live event is that everything will run like clockwork and nothing will go wrong. If you've ever been to a flawless award event, the chances are that whoever planned it had a clear agenda. Think of it as a blueprint for everything you've planned and consider how everything flows between speeches, presentations, and entertainment. The easier you can slot each element together, the more seamless everything is likely to turn out.
Top tip: Book key elements early so there's no confusion over the lineup. Once they're in place, you can then start to piece everything together with greater clarity.
4 - Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Planning a social gathering is a bit like conducting an orchestra; every individual element will need to be slickly coordinated in order to maintain harmony. This means that the bigger the cast of supporting musicians, the harder it can be to stay in control. Rather than trying to keep on top of catering, lighting, entertainment etc all by yourself, drafting in extra ‘conductors' to manage individual features will ensure that you will share the load and won't get burned out.
Top tip: Once you've delegated tasks, have regular checkups with the rest of your team to ensure things are running smoothly.
5 - Keep the Crowd Engaged
If you've ever attended a presentation or conference and found yourself tuning out, it was probably the result of a lack of interaction. Perhaps you were being talked at for long stretches and found it hard to stay interested? In the modern age, there are so many tools for interaction that there's no excuse for disengagement. You're strongly advised to use them.
Top Tip: Install interactive apps to turn the average awards evening into a lively get together where everyone feels involved. You could even invite attendees to vote for some fun categories for themselves.
Ready to Use Award Events to Boost Morale?
Award events are the ideal solution for businesses who want to show recognition and have fun. However, with so many elements to stay on top of, you could be forgiven for finding the planning process slightly daunting. If you want to reap all the benefits without the stress of putting it together yourself, there's no better time to get in touch with an event specialist.
Based in the North West of England but operating globally, ConnectIn Events has been helping clients to plan awards nights and more for over 15 years. In that time, their highly-skilled team has arranged one-of-a-kind experiences for clients as varied as Microsoft and Dr.Oetker, all to the same premier standard.
Contact them today to find out more about what they can do to make your event the highlight of the working year.
