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their website is a positive. They
need to be able to evidence their
capabilities to us and this tends
to come much quicker from
companies who have entered
awards because they’ve had to
provide supporting evidence
recently to judges. But we do
make a judgement if an award is
over two years’ old; are they not
as good now?
What value do
you place on
awards?
Jennifer Davidson, founder &
MD of Sleek Events, considers
the value of awards as the season
begins again
Since the first week of January
we have been inundated with
emails reminding us of award
entry deadlines approaching.
We have entered several
awards over the last few years
with great success, but with
only so much time to dedicate
across the business, I did stop
and wonder about whether we
should enter awards in 2020.
I got together with my client
relationship director and
marketing executive to review
how our current and
prospective clients measure
our credibility as an events
agency. We specifically asked
the question: do our award
wins and shortlisting impact on
our credibility? Here’s three
things that may seem obvious
but were instrumental in our
decision to review which
awards we would enter much
more carefully this year:
Do we measure our suppliers
in the same way?
Of course, we have
long-standing suppliers we use
but if we need a new supplier,
we initially go on
recommendations if possible.
During our due diligence,
seeing a recent award win on
Love is in
the air
Richard John goes to dramatic
lengths to get a date
It was at IBTM World in
Barcelona that inspiration
struck me. I was chatting to a
delightful lady at the opening
party and I asked her: “what are
you really hoping to get from the
event?” She came back quick
as a flash: “a husband.”
Would you like children, I
asked. “Oh yes,” she said,
excitedly. So, I moved on. Her
loss, obviously. But the
encounter got me thinking: after
all, 2019 was all about mental
health issues. Maybe part of
the challenge is the difficulty in
having a proper relationship,
considering the long hours and
endless parties that come with
the job.
That’s why, before my flight
back had touched down, I’d
already created a model for a
bespoke dating site for our
industry. As the new decade
arrived, www.micematch.me
was launched, just in time for
Valentine’s Day and, of course,
Does the award fit with our
business strategy?
The older our company gets, the
more sophisticated we become in
targeting new business. We
decided to carefully consider if an
award category and the profile of
the award organisation had a
close fit with the business sectors
and locations we hope to win new
business and retain existing
clients from. It also became clear
that as our portfolio of services
has developed over the last 12
months, we wouldn’t be entering
exactly the same categories as
last year either.
Think Tank
We want
prospective
clients to see
our award win if we put in the
effort to enter. What coverage
does each award organisation
normally get across the wider
business sector; do we consider it
a fair result for our investment
when some award entries cost
upward of £200 per category?
And don’t forget our time to
create the entry and the ticket
prices to attend the ceremonies.
In our experience from winning
awards over the last few years, we
know sharing our success is just
as much down to us. We always
shout about them through PR and
social media, but could we do
more?
Ultimately, entering awards
makes us take a second look at
our performance and gather our
supporting evidence together
more regularly than we might
without the entry process; that
can only be a good thing.
What can we do to maximise
return on an award win?
the hottest dating opportunity of
all, International Confex.
The response has been
phenomenal, which is just as well.
You might be thinking I’m the only
person on it. But successful
businesses know that scale is the
key, by tapping into a network of
other sites we are adding to a pool
of potential partners that already
numbers in the hundreds of
thousands. And that means finding
someone whose dating aspirations
match yours. Some of you might be
keen on a relationship that lasts a
lifetime, for others it may well be
that your idea of a long-term
relationship spans the duration of
set-up to break down. Chacun a
son gout, as the French say.
So, if you’re thinking the
opportunity for love is just what you
need to chase away those winter
www.conference-news.co.uk
blues, get online, and enjoy the
free trial period to see who else is
out there.
At the time of writing I’m still
single. But come on, that offer
won’t be around for much longer.
And imagine if we had a
proposal in time for Confex 2021.
Now that would be a result. Anyone
know any good event organisers
for the Big Day?