In any school setting, there are many times when you will need to run some sort of award ceremony. This could be to appreciate some of the students in terms of what they have achieved in and out of class. Planning such an event normally needs a high degree of commitment particularly if you are interested in making it more meaningful in the lives of the children in the school. Doing this will not only seem more appreciative of the efforts of those getting the awards, but it will also ensure that the rest of the student population also has interest in winning the awards in future.
To this end, there are a number of factors that will make the event stand out more, and you should consider using some of these during the planning. Some of the most important of these include:
Get high quality awards
When you are planning such an event, you should aim to ensure that the gifts you give will make a huge difference in the lives of the people you are giving them to. One trick to get this right is to imagine being in the shoes of the person who will receive the awards, and then trying to figure out what type of gift will actually make you proud. Some of the things you can do to facilitate this include:
• Don’t settle for cliché: Awards such as bronze trophies are present everywhere. If you really want the ceremony to stand out, try to get an award that has a unique design. Always try to get away from common designs.
• Try to have them customized: The presence of the recipient’s name on the award will make it even more special to them. If you can, try to get awards that are engraved. The only problem with this is that you need to know the list of people who have won the awards beforehand, which might not be possible for events such as sports days. In such settings, you could delay the awarding ceremony by a few hours to buy you time to instruct the manufacturer to engrave them.
• Get the awards made out of a unique material: Try to go for more modern awards, such as those that are made of glass or crystal. Companies that make crystal corporate gifts are very good at this sort of thing.
• Try to be varied: When choosing awards, don’t get the same awards for a large number of people. You can vary the design and size of the award for each individual. This makes it more personal and unique.
Hype it up
If you are planning such a ceremony and want it to be more meaningful to the student population, you also need to consider the benefit of hyping it up. Simply announcing that there is going to be an award ceremony in a few days’ time is not enough. You should consider starting the announcements way before the actual award ceremony day, so as to increase the anticipation that students have for the event.
Student involvement is key
In all award ceremonies, it’s important that the student bodies be part of the planning committee. You can do this by simply asking them to nominate a few people who can pitch ideas during the planning stages. It might not seem ideal, but you should remember that such a day is all about the student. For this reason, they should have some degree of control over how it goes.
Besides, you will tend to realize that more often than not, the students will actually come up with excellent ideas. This may even be all it takes to make the event more meaningful to all involved.
Use social media to your advantage
You should also consider using social media for the benefit of the event as well. You can use it as a forum to hype up the event, as well as one to get some planning ideas from. For instance, if you are having a hard time coming up with a theme for the event, you could use this opportunity to start an online competition, where the students with the most impressive themes end up getting an award during that day.
Make it fun
Having to sit through such gatherings is usually very difficult for many adults, so you can imagine what it would do to kids as well. If you are planning an award ceremony and want it to make a difference, you might need to depart from the regular format used in schools, and instead opt for a more fun approach. Some of the benefits of doing this include greater student participation. You will also have more fun planning the event in a very different way from before.
In summary, there are many things you can do to make such an even stand out more. Try out all the above, and you will be surprised at just how successful the day will be.
