12 Ideas for Your Next Award Show

When you think of an award show, you may think of the red carpet, the celebrities, and the beautiful gowns.  And while the typical award ceremony the average planner organizes is not quite as glamorous, it’s still one of the most exciting parts of having an awards program. But how do you make your award show stand out? What are the must-haves of award ceremonies?

To help planners think outside of the box, we’ve outlined the 12 ideas planners should follow to create a memorable award show for their attendees. Check them out.

The Top 12 Ideas for Your Next Award Show

1. Choose a Theme

A non-themed award show, like any non-themed event, is more likely to be forgotten. So build your award show around a theme. Make sure the theme reflects your company’s goals and includes your branding.

Bonus Tip: If you used an integrated event management software platform to manage your past events, utilize this data to help determine what attendees are looking for and build your event’s theme around that.

2.Choose a Unique Venue

When choosing your award show venue consider these criteria:

• Destination
• Capacity
• Amenities
• Uniqueness
• Proximity to local attractions
• The ability to create immersive, engaging attendee experiences

You should also consider the location. Is the venue easily accessible to attendees? Does the city have an airport? We’ve researched the top-rated event cities in the United States. Check them out below.

10 Top-Rated Event Cities in the U.S.

• New York City
• Las Vegas
• Dallas
• Nashville
• Atlanta
• Washington D.C.
• Orlando
• San Diego
• Chicago
• Phoenix

While the classic ballrooms are fitted for award ceremonies, consider branching out from the norm and choosing a unique venue to engage and excite your attendees.

14 Unique Venue Ideas

• A winery or vineyard
• A rooftop
• A botanical garden
• Sport stadium
• Historic locations
• Oceanfront patio
• Observation deck
• Museums
• Aquarium
• A brewery
• A park
• A warehouse
• Farmhouse
• Art galleries

3. Get Creative with Ticketing & Badging

Ticketing and badging are a great opportunity for you to advertise your brand, theme, or sponsors. Make sure your badges and tickets are eye-catching, simple, and personalized to each attendee.

6 Different Badge Types

• NFC Badges
• NFC Wristbands
• Plastic or Vinyl Badges
• Paper Badges
• Barcodes
• QR Codes

5 Ideas for Ticketing & Badging

• Use your badges to collect data on your attendees
• Use digital badges to exchange information
• Use badges to enhance onsite gamification
• Get sustainable by print your badges onsite to minimize badges for no-shows, title changes, etc.
• Use NFC or RFID digitized badges to eliminate long entry and vendor lines via cashless payments

4. Provide Ticket Types

To help drive event registration and secure a large crowd for your awards ceremony, offer guests different ticket types.

6 Types of Event Ticketing

• Early Bird Discount
• General Admission
• VIPs
• Discounted Group Packages
• Virtual Pass
• All-Access Pass

5. Create a Unique Entrance

Your attendee’s event experience begins at the entrance of your event, so make sure your entrance is eye-catching and unique. Past award shows events have decorated the entrance with sponsor logos, Instagrammable backdrops, swag giveaways, servers with welcome drinks or appetizers, and more. Whichever way you choose to decorate your entrance, make sure its on-brand and aligned with your event’s theme.

6. Simplify Entry

By using a fully integrated event management software solution to manage each stage of the event lifecycle (e.g. online registration), planners can simplify their entry process for their attendees. Instead of being greeted by long entry lines, attendees can tap their RFID or NFC enabled badge for entrance, use self-check-in kiosks, or verify and print their event badges or tickets in less than 10 seconds. Simplifying entry by integrating event management software throughout your event process not only increases attendee satisfaction, collects valuable data, and speeds up entry, but it also increases your award show’s security for both you and your attendees.

7. Mobile Event App

Mobile event apps are not only essential for your event registration but are also crucial to engaging your attendees during your event. For award ceremonies, you can utilize your mobile event app in these three ways:

· Get Your Attendee’s Votes

To engage your audience during your award ceremony via your mobile event app, create a people’s choice award. Attendees can cast their votes through the polling feature on the event app. These results can then be projected on the stage’s big screen, so attendees can watch the votes come in, in real-time.

· Gamify Your Mobile App

Use gamification techniques through your mobile event app to engage your attendees during your award ceremony. Planners can implement gamification techniques, like scavenger hunts, social media photo contests, and surveying, all through their mobile event app and reward the winning attendee with branded swag.

· Collect Donations

Using your mobile event app, planners can encourage attendees to donate to a charity that fits your brand or event’s theme. In addition to being advertised in the form of a pop-up or personalized push notification, donations can also be conveniently collected through the mobile event app.

8. Unique Centerpieces

Centerpieces can easily enhance your event tables. Use this opportunity to engage guests by creating a unique centerpiece. Here are three centerpiece ideas:

• Make your centerpiece edible: Whether it’s edible dessert flowers, a cupcake Ferris wheel, bread baskets, or fruit baskets, edible centerpieces are eye-catching, engaging, and help planners save time and space.
• Make your centerpiece interactive: Instead of just using your centerpiece as a way to increase your event’s visual ascetics, use your centerpieces to give your attendees something to do. For instance, your centerpiece could be paint cans filled with breadsticks and Sharpie markers, like at the Whitney Museum of American Art gala, which can be used to draw on the canvas tablecloths, a bucket filled with talking topics and games, or props that can be used to take photos with.
• Make your centerpiece thematic: Your event centerpieces can also be used to further convey your event’s theme to your audience. For instance, it can feature childhood photos of the guest speakers or award recipients. Attendees can spend time debating and guessing who is who.

9. Have an Engaging Host

Your host or MC should be engaging and be able to read your crowd. Are they enjoying the event? Are they getting restless? By having a host that can properly read your audience and integrate this feedback seamlessly into your event will help ensure your attendees have a high event satisfaction.

Bonus Tip: Encourage your host to walk around and engage with your audience directly, instead of having them simply stay on the stage. This will keep attendees on their toes and engaged.

10. Go Hostless

After the Oscars held a hostless event in 2018 and saw increased ratings, and the Emmy’s followed suit in August 2019, hostless events have been trending in the event industry. Why?

3 Benefits of Hosting a Hostless Event

• It saves planners money.
• It saves time.
• It allows planners to use that time and money on other things, like a better venue or incorporating surprises throughout their event.

11. Guest Speaker

In addition to your host, drive buzz and excitement around your event by featuring a celebrity, renowned industry leader, or special guest to speak at your award show. When thinking of who to invite to be your keynote speaker, make sure the person encompasses your brand, event’s theme, and is recognizable or important to your audience.

12. Food & Beverage

Food and beverage is a big part of an award ceremony, since it engages and helps your guests connect. Follow these 6 F&B tips and tricks to ensure your guests foster connections and stay satisfied.

6 F&B Tips and Tricks

• Prepare Your Kitchen for Dietary Restrictions: 79 percent of planners receive more dietary requests now than two years ago, and 75 percento f planners say catering to attendees’ dietary needs is challenging. So get ahead of this and be prepared by asking for dietary restrictions during online registration.
• Make F&B Interactive: Use F&B as an opportunity to engage your attendees by making it interactive. Since78 percent of people report meat as their main source of protein, consider having a meat carving station that offers meats like turkey, prime rib, and beef tenderloin. For dessert, planners can incorporate donut walls, sundae bars, cupcake decorating, and more.
• Choose Non-Messy Food Options: Avoid serving foods that are messy or too delicate and break easily. This will help your guests stay clean and keep full bellies.
• Don’t Over Order on Appetizers: Because 33 percent of planners’ budgets are taken up by F&B expenses and 63 percent of planners were asked to cut down on F&B expenses, make sure you don’t over-order Hors-d’ourve. Research shows that if you are serving a meal (e.g. dinner), then you only need 2-3Hors-d’ourve pieces per person per hour.
• Plated Meals vs. Buffets: Debating on whether your award ceremony should have a plated dinner or a buffet? Consider timing. Plated dinner meals tend to average 1.5 to 2 hours, while buffet dinners tend to take 1 hour.
• Drinks: Drinks can be an expensive part of your event budget. For an open bar, research shows that planners should budget for 2.5 alcoholic drinks per person per hour at an open bar.