Hosting an awards ceremony for your employees or team members is a great way to make them feel valued, seen, and appreciated.
However, planning the ultimate event is no easy feat. With countless venues to choose from, a theme to pick, vendors to select and countless other challenges along the way, it’s not always easy to enjoy the process.
That’s where we come in.
At Blackberry Events, we have over 25 years of experience in event planning and organisation. What’s more, we love helping our clients celebrate their teams’ achievements by planning unforgettable awards ceremonies.
That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide. We’ve rummaged through our bag of tools to include some to give you everything you need to know about planning and hosting an awards ceremony.
If you’re new to the events planning biz, it can be a daunting place. With countless things to check off your list, it’s sometimes impossible to know where to start.
So, to make the planning process a little more palatable, we’ve divided our tips and tricks into 3 timelines:
Before you can enjoy your fabulous event, you need to actually plan it. Luckily for you, we’ve done the hard part and figured out how to plan an awards ceremony, and all you need to do is follow our simple steps, outlined below.
Having a visual representation of your available time will help you to divide it wisely. Include key deadlines, such as the main event, deposit due dates, and event planning meetings, to add structure and help you see tasks within the bigger picture.
At the beginning of each planning day, take time to write down your goals for the day. Having them in writing always seems to make goals more achievable.
Hosting an awards ceremony is not for the faint-hearted, and it’s certainly not something you should be organising on your own. Share planning tasks between people to make goals more attainable and to avoid burnout. After all, what’s the point in planning an event if you’re too exhausted to enjoy the end result?
Although many tasks are unavoidable in the planning process, sometimes, you just have to say no. If there are any non-essential things you can remove from your workload, do it.
If you struggle to keep yourself accountable, try enlisting the help of digital award ceremony event management aids. Apps like Cvent, Eventbrite, and Whova often have built-in checklists and task management systems to help you optimise your time.
No one knows the trials and tribulations of event planning like a professional award ceremony planner. If you’re struggling to manage your time and are concerned you won’t be able to pull it off alone, there’s no shame in asking for help.
Before you even think about spending a penny, you need to establish the following things:
To create a watertight budget, you need to clearly define where the money for the event is coming from, and how much of it you’ll have. Estimate your income by calculating ticket sales, any existing funds set aside for the event, donations, and more.
Within your budget, you should have sections dedicated to the various cost types. For example, you’ll need separate sections for:
At the beginning of the process, create a spreadsheet or use a budget tracking app to compare your predicted costs with your actual costs.
Having a real-time comparison of the two will help you to have a holistic view of your spending and give you the best chance of coming in within budget.
Think of your venue as the crux of your event; it can make or break your big event. Award ceremony venues directly impact every element of your event, including first impressions, accessibility, transport and budget. To find your dream awards ceremony venue, follow our tried and tested steps:
You need a venue that suits the style and size of your event.
Among other things, it needs to have the capacity for your guest list size, the right layout for your evening’s plans and needs to be in a location suitable for guests and caterers to travel to.
Decide how much of your overall budget can be put towards the venue. Make sure you factor in all costs associated with the venue, including:
As we all know, everything is not always as it seems online. If you want to get a real feel for a venue, the best thing you can do is visit your top three venue choices in person before making a decision.
Before settling on a vendor, it’s important to know who you’re getting into bed with. Here’s what you need to do:
When scouting vendors for your awards ceremony, it’s important to be upfront about your needs and expectations from the get-go. This will help rule out any unworthy candidates and help the right ones to shine.
When sourcing a vendor, it’s important to think outside the box. Instead of just typing in ‘local vendors near me’ in Google, consider other methods for finding the right choice, such as:
If you’re hosting an awards ceremony, you’ll likely be enlisting the services of multiple vendors. To keep on top of your various vendor collaborations, make sure you keep distinct notes and plans for each one.
Possible vendor categories include:
What’s an awards ceremony without any attendees? One of the most important things to keep on top of during the event’s planning process is your guest list, and here’s how you can do it:
Although this may seem obvious, a lot of people fail at this first hurdle.
Depending on the event, not all invitees will be able to attend. So, if you want to reach a specific number of guests, consider overreaching with the number of invites to account for those who won’t come.
To give yourself the best chance of hosting a showstopping event and ensure your guests can attend, make sure your invites are sent out in advance. In general, we recommend sending them out at least 2-3 months before the big day.
Keep track of RSVPs by creating an Excel spreadsheet of your guest list. Not only will this enable you to stay on top of numbers for the big day, but it also gives you the chance to make note of guests’ reasons for absence, in case your manager or client needs to know.
To keep your hosting duties as seamless as possible, make sure your venue is set up well in advance of the guest’s arrival time. Keep an eye on your timeline to ensure each of your vendors arrives and sets up on time.
Leaving excess time will help you account for any unforeseen issues, like missing chairs or technological mishaps.
If any elements within your ceremony could go wrong, make sure you run through them first. Whether your speaker needs to know where to stand, or you need to coordinate your music with your lighting, a quick run-through of things on the day will set you in good stead for the real thing.
One of the best ways to ensure a successful event is to welcome your staff members with clear instructions. If servers need to be in a specific place at a specific time, let them know.
During the event, make yourself available to staff members in case they have any questions to help streamline the evening.
Once your event has begun, give yourself a pat on the back and relish in the knowledge that the worst is over. You did it! Although there will still be plenty of things to keep an eye on, try your best to relax and watch your hard work pay off.
Before you go, you need to make sure you leave the venue exactly as you found it, within the venue’s time regulations.
This includes:
If there are any outstanding balances to your vendors, venue, or staff, make sure you don’t forget to pay them. Thanking everyone for their hard work can also go a long way.
Reach out to your client or attendees for their honest review of the event. This will not only make them feel valued, but it will also give you insight into what you did well, and what you can improve for your next event.
Finally, it’s important to evaluate the success of the event. If you planned the awards ceremony as part of a team, make sure you have a debriefing meeting to discuss the event and any available feedback together.
Hopefully, this blog gave you a flavour of what’s required to plan a successful awards ceremony. But if you’re still feeling overwhelmed, don’t hesitate to reach out to an expert.
For over 25 years, we have collaborated with clients to plan and execute unforgettable events that exceed their expectations, and you could be next.
As you can see, hosting an awards ceremony is anything but simple, and a little help from our expert team could go a long way in making your experience as smooth as possible.
We know how important and highly anticipated awards ceremonies are, and we love the challenge that every one of these event briefs brings.
So, if you’re looking for a team to bring your vision to life with expertise, you’ve come to the right place.
Contact our lovely team today to find out more about our awards ceremony planning services.
If you found that interesting here are some suggestions from us to find out a bit more about Blackberry Events and our events management services.
If you found that interesting here are some suggestions from us to find out a bit more about Blackberry Events and our events management services.
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