We all know what award ceremonies are. With online events becoming so popular, we believe you also have attended a few online award ceremonies in the past few years. But is there any particular award ceremony you enjoyed thoroughly and wished to replicate the experience? Well, you can replicate such amazing experiences in your online award ceremony with the best online award ceremony ideas and practices.
Here, we have put together a blog that brings you some tips and ideas you can use in your strategy. So, without further ado, let us get started with the blog.
Best Online Award Ceremony Ideas and Practices for Employees:
1. Make Your Award Categories Fun:
Now that you have decided to host a virtual award ceremony, you must have decided on some categories. Of course, you need to have some genuine categories for the event. However, add a twist of humor, and make some entries fun and witty. Go beyond regular and boring categories; We all know you will have a ‘Best Employee of the Year’ award.
Some ideas you can use are:
- Social Butterfly: The one who comes up with the ideas of meet-ups.
- Online Meeting Expert: The one who can host online meetings flawlessly, and has a solution to all your problems related to online meetings.
- Most Disciplined: The disciplined one, every time.
- Gossip King/Queen: The one who has it all when it comes to gossip. Every office has one; you will have one too, and many more such quirky awards.
2. Replicate Your Company Ethos:
Another online award ceremony idea that you can consider is representing your company ethos and values through your online event platform and the awards. Beginning with the platform, choose a platform that comes with customization. With this feature, you would be able to personalize the event and add elements that you like. Not only this, with your awards replicating your brand values, you can pick 4-5 values and make awards for them. Give these awards to those employees who exhibit the values the most.
3. Send Official Invitations:
Though it is an in-house event, and all your employees already know about it, even then you should send official invitations to them. An award ceremony is one of the grandest events of an organization, and your employees should get all the feels about the event. Send an official invitation to all your employees. Make the invitation as creative as you can. You can add videos, graphics, and pictures from the previous ceremonies. Not only this, you can make a teaser about the award ceremony. It will add to their excitement.
4. Sponsor Attendees’ Dinner:
Since it is going to be a virtual ceremony, it won’t be possible to have dinner together with your employees. But, what you can do is sponsor your attendees’ dinner. It would be a token of appreciation from your side and make them feel special. However, it is recommended to be clear from the beginning about the budget for the food.
5. Set a Theme:
Let your employees ditch their formals for a day and ask them to get into their fancy clothes for the party. Deciding on a theme for the online annual award ceremony will not only boost a sense of excitement among the attendees but will also bridge the gap between a virtual event and a real award ceremony. To make everything more exciting and happening, ask your attendees to dress up according to the theme. Not only this, but you should also design your online event platform as per the theme. There are several online event platforms available in the market that help you learn how to design invitations such as DC Mixhub, that come with customization. These platforms make it possible for users to add a touch of personalization to their virtual events.
6. Send Post-Event Recap:
Once your event gets over, send a quick recap to all your attendees. You can either send an award ceremony video highlight or an email to those who couldn’t make it to the event. Not only this, but you can also send a quick summary mentioning who won what. Along with it, you can also add announcements, if there are any.
7. Take Your Event to Social Media:
Expand the reach of your award ceremony by taking your events to social media. You can either create a different page solely dedicated to your award ceremony or post it on your organization’s social media page. The idea is to cater to your audience’s attention and build hype amongst your employees. You can create a buzz of excitement by updating your social media regularly. Post pictures, clips, and videos from previous editions; you can also drop a trailer for your employees. Apart from it, you can also conduct social media contests to add to the liveliness, excitement, and thrill of your upcoming award ceremony. The idea is to ask your employees to gear themselves up filled with fun and frolic.
8. Invite Friends and Family of the Winners:
Winning awards is great, but it becomes extra special when your friends and family are there to witness it. We are sure your employees too will feel good when they will have their near and dear ones to witness their special moment with them. Hence, invite friends and family of your ‘winner employees’ and make their day more memorable.
9. Announce Winners with a Twist of Trivia:
No one will accept it but the heartbeats of all the nominees go up when the results are about to be announced. But, even you know announcing winners directly is too common and boring too. Make it more interesting by adding a twist of trivia to it. Hence, instead of announcing the winners directly, go with some trivia related to the winners, and let the audience guess the name.
10. Give Lifetime Achievement Awards:
We are sure several employees have dedicated more than 7-8 years to your organization. It’s time to recognize their effort and reward them for the same. Present those employees with Lifetime Achievement Awards, and thank them for their contribution, time, and effort to your organization. It won’t only make them feel valued but also motivate them to work harder.
11. Host a Post Award Ceremony Party:
Every party deserves an after-party, and so does your award ceremony. Host a fun post-award ceremony party, where your employees will get to interact with each other and have a chill time together with their fellow employees. Online event platforms such as DC Mixhub come with several audience engagements and networking tools. Since with remote working, interaction with fellow employees becomes challenging, these tools will enable them to interact with each other in real-time. Hence, at your post-award ceremony party, your employees will mingle with their work buddies and interact apart from work.
Top Tips You Need to Host Memorable Online Award Ceremony
- Always begin your preparations by creating a strategy. Make a checklist of everything you wish to do at the award ceremony, and move ahead by checking them off one by one. It will make things easier for you.
- Make your online award ceremony a place where everybody enjoys and has fun. Start by having a diverse team. Not only this but make sure that the date you choose for your ceremony doesn’t clash with any other significant national or international holiday.
- Create attractive packages and invite sponsors for your award ceremony. Since online award ceremony platforms come with endless display spaces, it comes as a great opportunity for you to attract extra revenue.
- Choose a reliable and trustworthy online event platform. Always keep your requirements in mind while choosing a platform. Some of the factors that one should consider are customization, budget, audience engagement and networking tools, interface, user-friendliness, etc.
- Leave no stone unturned when it comes to the marketing and promotion of your event. Even though it is going to be an in-house event, marketing and promotion will attract an audience to your brand.
- Always host a trial run before going live with the event. A rehearsal session will help you know the loopholes of your platform as well as the strategy.
Some might feel that an online award ceremony cannot compete with a real one. However, it is somewhere true and somewhere not. While an in-person ceremony has its advantages, its online counterpart has its own. However, you might find it difficult to understand it, online event platforms such as DC Mixhub are actually capable enough to replicate a real-life event experience online. Hence, if you are also searching for a suitable platform, your hunt stops right here.
DC Mixhub is a self-managed platform that comes with a customizable interface, enabling you to plan and ideate your award ceremonies by yourself.
FAQs
Q. How do I plan an online award ceremony?
Planning an online award ceremony involves determining the purpose, selecting appropriate awards categories, setting a date and time, choosing a virtual platform, inviting participants and attendees, creating a schedule, preparing speeches or presentations, and ensuring technical requirements are met.
Q. What are the benefits of hosting an online award ceremony?
Hosting an online award ceremony offers several benefits, such as the ability to reach a wider audience, flexibility in scheduling, cost-effectiveness, convenience for participants to attend remotely, and the opportunity to incorporate interactive features and multimedia elements.
Q. How can I create a sense of excitement and anticipation during the online award ceremony?
To create a sense of excitement and anticipation, you can build suspense through engaging introductions, use visual effects or graphics, incorporate music or sound effects, reveal the winners in a dramatic way, and encourage attendees to share their excitement through chat or social media.
Do you know what’s the best part about this platform? It comes with a first-month free plan. Know more about it by booking your free demo today.
