Upward Magician

35 Ways to Make Your Awards Night the Best Ever!

I have attended or been the guest speaker at over 100 Upward Awards Nights and I have learned some things about what it takes to make it an AWESOME night for your volunteers, your kids and their families. Some of these things I have learned by example, others by watching folks make mistakes. I hope these ideas will help you make your night the best ever! Also, if you have ideas you’d like to share, I’ll be happy to make this a list of 50 or 100 Ways! E-mail me at tommyjohns@magictj.com.

Make the Kids Feel Special – A trend I have seen in the past few years is to make the evening last less than an hour. This has often been done as a reaction to the lo-o-o-ng evenings of the first few years. But don’t rush things at the expense of making the kids feel really special.

Get a church member to take pictures or video all season long and ask him or her to put together a 5-8 minute end of season video or PowerPoint® presentation to be shown at the awards night.
Offer to make copies of the video or PowerPoint® presentation for each child (free or for a very affordable price).
Film the Awards Night and make copies for the families as above.
Ask your coaches to PERSONALLY deliver the above CD’s, DVD’s or videos to the players’ homes on a Saturday about two weeks after the season ends. The coach can take info about the church, the next season, or an upcoming children’s event as well. Let the coaches know about any info you received on the response cards (see below) that might be important.
Begin the evening by calling coaches and kids by name as they enter the gym or sanctuary by team. This is even more fun if really exciting music is played as they enter. This can be done quickly and kids LOVE hearing their names and the accompanying applause!
If you have cheerleaders, let them shine! Give them an opportunity to perform for the crowd. Talk about the importance of their ministry of encouragement, and thank them for their contribution to the season.
If the gift the kids receive is “autographable” make sure you have plenty of Sharpie® markers available so they can sign each other’s gifts.
Make certain that your featured speaker for the evening includes audience members in his or her show and that he or she would be available to speak to the kids after the event, one on one.

Get the Most Info on the Most Response Cards – One concern that many churches have is that they only get about half of the cards turned in. Here are some ways to boost your turn in rate.

Make sure you have pencils or pens for people to use to fill out the cards. Many people would fill out the card of they had a writing instrument. Golf pencils are usually cheap, they are pre-sharpened, and you might even get them donated from a local golf or Putt-Putt course. Custom printed pencils are available at http://write-on-pencils.com/golfsize.html or plain pencils can be found at any office supply store. If you get them custom imprinted and encourage folks to take them with them, you can keep on promoting your church or your Upward season. Include your church’s website address. Consider asking another ministry in the church, like the children’s ministry to pay for the pencils to promote that ministry with these kids and families.
Print labels for the players and coaches and stick them on cards prior to the Awards Night. Sort the cards by team, put them in a Zip-Loc® bag with pencils for everyone, and have the coaches hand them out at decision time. That way you can read their names (no penmanship problems) and they can quickly check the response boxes that apply.
Have someone announce at the BEGINNING of the evening that you will be asking for the cards later and ask the people to go ahead and fill out the top part so the card collecting will go more smoothly and quickly later.
Make the address line prominent, so it will be easier to match up the kids with the parents, and the parent cards with each other. Kids often do not have the same last name as the parents or their siblings, but the address will be the same.
ALWAYS ask for feedback and suggestions.
Send a letter about a week after the event, thanking the parents for a great season, encouraging them to be a part of the next Upward season, and listing the suggestions that were made. You don’t have to promise to do everything that is suggested (and you probably want to say so in the letter) but it is amazing how it validates people if they know they have been heard.
Always follow up within a week on decisions that have been made and shared and on inquiries for more info about your church. If you tell them you’d like for them to be a part of your church family, and ask them if they’d like to learn more about the church, people will know you mean it if you provide that info quickly!
Consider having a drawing for prizes using the cards. Make the prizes big enough and announce the prizes early enough to motivate the adults to turn in their cards. Approach local restaurants and ask for a donation of a gift card, ask a car wash about a free detail service, give away an Upward registration for the next season, or free registration for a summer camp or other ministry.
If you do give away door prizes, ask the speaker if he or she has something to give away – an autographed DVD, CD, book, or magic kit – to promote his or her ministry.

Make the night move smoothly. We have all been to events that didn’t look like those in charge knew what they were doing. While it’s not fair to assume that poor planning is the only reason things go wrong, here are some ways to minimize the opportunity for Murphy’s Law to be enforced.

If you have a drawing, (see above) limit it to 6-8 items and do the drawings in 3 installments. That way you don’t bog down in giveaways and you change the pace of the evening.
Set up and test ALL technical aspects of the evening BEFORE the kids get there. Make sure the slide show/video works. Have enough microphones for all the speakers. Make sure the music CD works in the player in the sound booth. Some players don’t play MP3 format, and you don’t want to find that out at the event!
Have all those who will be speaking sit on the front row, and make sure each knows who he or she will follow. Dead air is an invitation to losing control of the evening.
Give out player gifts at the END of the service, after the closing prayer. This keeps balls from rolling to the front of the sanctuary during the invitation!
Stress preparation for those who will speak about the season. Encourage them to have notes and not to “wing it!” The people at this event deserve the best preparation possible.
Use this opportunity to promote your children and family ministries, but keep it brief! Consider having a newsletter or brochure style handout of the things you do for young adults, parents, kids, and families. Make sure it has a personal feel to it and ask any staff members or volunteers leading those ministries to write a note inviting these prospects to take advantage of these opportunities to grow and fellowship.
Hand out (don’t just announce) information about the next Upward season and encourage folks to share this info with their friends. Word of mouth is THE best advertising!
Make certain your Awards Night Speaker is a professional who understands your needs and time constraints, and knows how to speak to children.

Make your volunteers feel appreciated. One of the basic needs of volunteers is to be noticed and appreciated. And while almost no volunteer works just for the recognition, it is the only paycheck some of them get!

Recognize concession volunteers, prayer partners, parents and half time devotion volunteers by groups and talk about their contribution to the season. Some of your parents (maybe most!) do not know about the ministry of your prayer partners. Tell them! As a parent, I know it would impress me to know that someone has been praying for my child by name this season.
Ask for a big thank you to the most thankless volunteers – the umpires! Very often the umpires are some of the best teachers of the sports, because they teach in context. Recognize this when you thank them.
A small gift or a personal note of thanks to your leadership in the above listed areas goes a long way toward letting them know you care – and that you want them to help again next season!
When you give “thank you’s” to the group, be specific. Don’t just ask for all volunteers to stand. Name each group and mention one specific thing about that group’s ministry that was meaningful for the season.
Make sure your Awards Night speaker knows about the importance of volunteers, and mentions his or her appreciation for their contribution to the season.
Encourage the parents to speak to the coaches and other volunteers at the end of the evening to say thanks.

Let parents know what your church has to off them during and beyond the Upward season. Parents know what a great program Upward is, but they often come and go without knowing about the other ministries your church provides. Let them know!

Tell the parents about the ministry of the prayer partners, and that the kids and their families have been prayed for this season.
As they arrive or as they leave, distribute a schedule and description of children, family and young adult ministries your church offers. Many times all they need is information and they may begin attending your church.
Be sure that your Upward speaker gears the Gospel presentation in such a way that the adults know that the message of God’s grace and salvation is for them as well.
Publicly thank the parents for their trust in allowing your church to be a part of their children’s spiritual development, and tell them about next season! Ask parents to volunteer! It’s never to early to begin planning for next time!

For more ideas, or if you have any questions about these or other suggestions, e-mail me at tommyjohns@magictj.com, or call (770) 640-6509.

Tommy Johns Presents and www.Upwardmagician.com

1650 Bainbridge Way Roswell, GA 30076-1621

(770) 640-6509

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