How to Get the Most Out of Your Awards Ceremony
Awards ceremonies are a great way of gathering like-minded people into one area and creating a community to celebrate and acknowledge people in your industry. But how do you ensure that your event is a success?
The secret is memorability. You want your guests to leave exhilarated and elated having experienced an event like no other. This is where our experienced team come in. From impressive stage design to jaw-dropping entertainment, we will work with you to create an unforgettable experience for you and your attendees.
Content is Key
Once the bubbly is flowing and the awards are in full swing, the last thing you want is your guests clock watching or starting their own independent conversations. Using emotive video content alongside the speeches will keep your guests’ attention whilst creating an interesting talking point for the host, not to mention the branding opportunity that the screens would allow for.
Whilst on the subject of branding opportunities…
Whether you are hosting an awards dinner, lunch or even a breakfast, there are a myriad of ways to add your branding throughout. From bespoke lighting projection to a step and repeat press walls; your Production Manager will work with you to ensure you’re making the most of the branding opportunities available.
Location, Location, Location
Selecting the right venue for your awards ceremony is vital. Not only do you need to consider capacity and accessibility, but you’ll need to bear in mind the suppliers associated with the venue. Some venues may work exclusively with some suppliers and others may simply recommend their preferred suppliers.
Get in touch with the Beagle Team!
If you’re wanting to host the perfect, memorable awards ceremony that’s guaranteed to ‘wow’ the attendees, then get in touch with the Beagle team or read about how we crafted the perfect award ceremony for a finance company looking for a night to remember here.
Our Client, provide some of the world’s most advanced, technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions with a skilled workforce of 93,100 people in around 40 countries. They chose Beagle Create to produce their annual leadership conference and the first following some exciting restructuring and acquisitions.
There would be multiple days of presentations with detailed slides and bold videos all closed with an awards ceremony. They wanted something impactful that didn’t give their delegates presentation fatigue and brought this yearly event back with a bang.
Held at The Grove Hotel – London’s Country Estate, we were challenged with transforming the event space so that 200 delegates could all see the slides and video content. We designed a solution which not only delivered uncompromised views for every delegate but cut through the abundance of natural light flooding into the amber suite.
A 22-metre (roughly the length of two London busses) high-res super widescreen LED video wall was installed. It included three straight sections of LED, all linked with curved sections cunningly molded behind the pillars. Everyone could see everything, with ease – mission accomplished.
Since this event was their 1st business anniversary as the new Digital Intelligence brand, they were open to rethinking the format of their awards evening and Beagle Create offered up an experience of how things might flow better for them and deliver a better experience to their guests.
After a long day and a large meal, we wanted to bring the energy levels up, ready for the awards ceremony so we commissioned a 5-piece LED drumming flashmob to perform. They were not only loud, visually stunning and slightly strange to look at, but interacted with the audience and closed their act to a huge round of applause.
This financial advisory firm is based all over the globe and supports individuals in meeting medium and long-term financial goals.
They came to us with one ambition: give their team the best night of their life!
This included probably one of the best requests we’ve ever had – their CEO wanted to be flown over his guests before landing on stage.
The awards ceremony, held in Grosvenor House Hotel, London, began with an opulent Champagne reception for the 500 guests. This was followed by a seven-course meal with roaming close up entertainers circulating tables. Comedian Jimmy Carr had everyone in histerics (with the occasional ouch) and our opening sequence included a bespoke performance by a ultra-violet aerial hoop act, acrobatics, a stunning dance troop and framed perfectly by a Beagle lighting, laser, special effects & graphics production.
Once the CEO had made his spectacular entrance and presented the awards, the after party got started with performances from Girls International and rugby legend James Haskell Djing with dancing continuing into the early hours.
We were responsible for every detail of the event from booking the talent, lighting, staging, set and providing the LED video screen to organizing custom centrepieces for the tables.
With panto season in full swing, and only two weeks notice, sourcing the required equipment for the flying stunt was challenging – but one we smashed with our awesome partners in crime and leaning on some long term relationships.
What is a Comfort Monitor?
A Comfort Monitor, sometimes referred to as a confidence monitor, is a single or multiple display that sits within view of the presenter but not the audience, allowing the presenter to keep track of where they are in the presentation without breaking eye contact with the audience. Some presenters like multiple screens with the same or different content on – the next slide is a popular option along with notes. Countdown timers are also a good choice so they can clearly see how long they have left…or have run over!
The purpose of these aids is to give the presenter the tools to deliver a great presentation – we want them focused on their delivery, not concentrating on remembering their slide and whats coming next. They’re a great convenience for people onstage especially presenters who might not be used to presenting or are nervous. When you don’t get ahead of yourself and can link seamlessly to your next slide you deliver a cohesive presentation, one which the audience can follow easily.
Why do you need a Comfort Monitor?
Used at events with where presenters have visual content, such as a conferences or award ceremonies, speakers are given comfort and confidence, helping them to look polished. Seeing the next slide allows the presenter to give a seamless flowing presentation. The speaker is able to maintain a connection with the audience through eye contact and body language without breaking the flow of their presentation to check a larger screen behind them for the next cue.
What does a Comfort Monitor look like?
The comfort monitor is private to the speaker and is unseen by the audience due to its neatly finished angled hides and being dressed and finished in the same colours as the stage. Alternatively they can be placed at eye level behind or above the audience. All cables needed are discreetly hidden and risk free.
What other things does Beagle Create offer for presenter comfort?
We offer extensive presenter packages that can include:
- Professional clickers
- Auto cues
- Programmable clocks and countdown timers
- Lecterns
- Drinks and hospitality packages
Read about how we delivered an impactful conference for an international finance company in the iconic venue The Shard or if you’re planning a conference or an awards ceremony yourself, contact us today.
Eightfold.ai are a Californian company leading the way in Artificial Intelligence HR software with their Talent Intelligence Platform. We were tasked with producing a conference for them held at Shangri La in The Shard, London.
As current and potential clients would be attending, they wanted a high-end feel with slick production to emulate their larger events held in the US.
This event was created with the objective of bringing together the best in HR and Recruitment from across Europe. The day would include speeches from industry thought leaders and networking. Eightfold.ai would also use this opportunity to educate about using AI in HR and win new business.
Working in one of the tallest buildings in Europe, especially one with such a distinctive shape and in one of the most expensive cities in Europe, every square foot is used and storage space is incredibly limited.
Being on the 34th floor, we didn’t have the option of returning any cases or materials to our vans. This had to be considered when designing the space and choosing the equipment we would use. With the venue’s booking the night before we couldn’t set up that evening, and an 8am start time left us with no room for error. The space was also booked after the show finished, leaving us just two hours to have all the stage, set and equipment gone before the next guests arrived.
With Eightfold.ai being an internationally based company, we wanted to provide a warm welcome to the UK and a flawless experience. Late night video calls and responses were essential during planning to work with differing time zones.
We also had to ensure there was no ambiguity with setup and equipment due to subtle industry terminology differences.
Our client wanted a widescreen LED video wall that could be seen by all 400 of their conference attendees. Despite the space being tight we delivered an impactful and memorable event for everyone.
Our client approached us to create their annual company conference. The first company wide, in-person conference after Covid restrictions were lifted. This was a large conference about the company’s performance, strategy and direction.
The aim of the event was to communicate directly with all of their team and look forward to their goals and projections for the coming year, before celebrating in the evening with a festival-themed party. This 400-attendee conference involved presentations, panel talks and Q&A sessions. To achieve this, they needed a large (14 metre) LED video wall erected at the venue, Wyboston Lakes in Bedfordshire.
The venue was fantastic but with so many attendees, we were presented with various challenges: fitting everyone in, fitting the equipment in alongside the attendees and, crucially, making sure everyone could see the stage and screen. Put simply, we had a lot we needed to achieve and little space to achieve it in!
To remedy this, we made plenty of site visits prior to the event to scope out the space. Using our visualisation software, we could plan out the spacing of the room to the millimetre. Limited power supply at the venue meant we opted for all-LED stage lights so that we could run the entire set up from local 13amp power sockets. For the fourteen metre LED video wall we used a one-metre-deep ground support that maximised floor space. We also introduced curved edges to the stage to create a walkway for guests to use where there would have otherwise been dead space.
