A client came to us this year wanting to shake up their corporate awards program. They were looking for ways to refresh the typical “grip and grin” photo ops and long company descriptions being read as the company representative slowly makes his or her way to the stage. It was time for a new look! Enter TCG Events. Ready to shake things up and add new and engaging elements, we were ready to pull out all the stops.

Then came the challenge: no budget increase.

The current budget was stretched to the max and managed to the penny. Giving this event an overhaul was going to be a stroke of creative genius, not a bought solution.

After hours of looking at the event backwards and forwards, inside and out, and forcing ourselves to think outside the box, we found our solution.  It was time to think inside the box.  Instead of taking down all the parameters, we put up the parameters. There were only so many elements that we could play with that were not cost prohibitive: room orientation, staging (provided at no charge by the facility) and program flow. By narrowing down our options it became clear that the answer was in the staging. Rather than creating the typical rectangular stage in the front of the room we would use the stage decks to create a runway in the middle of the room with seating tables on either side of the runway. With energetic runway music pumping in the background, alternating MCEEs called the (58) award winners to the stage. To quicken the pace, company descriptions were read as the winners walked the runway. At the end of the runway they received their award and had an opportunity to strike a pose at the step and repeat.

No typical square stage, no time lost in getting on and off the stage, no awkward grip and grins – just a high energy program that was loads of fun.

Next time you find yourself in such a predicament, try thinking inside the box for a change.