Not Everyone Needs to Speak at Every Presentation

The comments that are shared at an awards presentation can be the highlight of any recognition program and often times an employee's career. At Terryberry we invest a significant amount of time and energy with our clients to insure this is a component that is not overlooked. Recently, Erik, a Human Resource Manager from Washington state pulled me aside and conveyed a story of a previous employer where he was involved in an award presentation where they "open up the floor for people to share a few words."


To give you a little more background on the situation, we've got to set the stage. The business was involved in an employee recognition initiative and they had reached the point in time where awards were to be presented. They thrust to make it a first class event with appropriate attire, food stations, and an OPEN BAR.

As the evening wore on it became time for the award presentation and the company leadership worked through the recipients noting the positive contributions that had led to the various awards. At the end of the presentation a final award was planned for a long standing employee, who made his career with the company. It was clear that the presenters had prepared remarks and noted many of the neat contributions that the recipient had made to business. After sharing their thoughts the presenters turned to the people in attendance that had been "celebrating" a little too much and offered the opportunity to share their thoughts.

Unfortunately, these folks had not given much thought to what should be said to enhance the moment instead they talked of times that weren't pertinent to the achievement and in one case began to share an embarrassing story about the award recipient. At that point the company leadership was able to rein things back in and end on a high note. However, it could have happened very differently and all the businesses investment would have led to a moment to forget.