If you are currently planning an award ceremony (or are about to soon) you are likely wondering what to do for the event. By its nature, an award ceremony is going to be a high-profile event, so the best advice would be to plan well ahead. Another option is to consider hiring a professional event planner who can help create a fun and memorable day for everyone.
Top Tips for an Award Ceremony
These tips will help ensure your event goes smoothly and your bosses appreciate the effort that you made to make the evening a success.
1. Keep the speeches short
Make sure you set a time limit for each speech. If the speaker drones on and on for more than a few minutes, the audience is going to start losing interest. Also, make sure you don’t try to squeeze too many speakers into a short amount of time. Your event can go from being fun and memorable to boring and drawn-out if you are not careful about how much time each person takes for their speech.
2. Rules of etiquette
Create your own ‘rules of etiquette’ so each person knows what is expected of them when they are up at the podium speaking. We’ve all seen celebrities come under fire for their ill-conceived ‘jokes’.
3. Choose an awards venue
Whether you are organizing a ceremony in a hotel ballroom or in an office conference room, it is important to choose an appropriate place. It will also help your awards ceremony to go without a hitch if you employ the services of professional waiting staff including event bartenders.
4. Rehearse the speeches
Simulate your awards ceremony several times over the weeks leading up to the day of the event. You don’t want to be surprised by last-minute problems that could take away from the fun aspect of your event.
5. Make sure you have enough food, drinks and entertainment
The best events are those where you keep within budget without being stingy. Just because you’re having an awards ceremony, it doesn’t mean that your budget has to be expensive, in fact a small budget can lead to a more creative event – thus making it more memorable.
6. Simplify the presentation of awards
If you have a large number of attendees, you might want to consider simplifying the process by having all your nominees up on stage. You could read out all their names, let them come up on stage, and collect their awards in front of the audience. Alternatively, this is a good time to take a photo or video for social media.
7. Keep it short and sweet
Remember that an awards ceremony is supposed to be fun and memorable. Your event will only be seen as a success if you keep it short and make sure that it’s highly organized from start to finish.
As you can see from the above tips, having an award ceremony is not rocket science. It’s simply a matter of planning ahead which can make all the difference to a memorable and successful day for both you and your clients.
