I love a good inside joke. The kind where you can have a quiet chuckle because only YOU get it.

My dad, a fulltime freelance writer. would often work on anthologies. Occasionally, he might be one writer short to contribute a chapter. In those cases, he might write that piece under a pen name. A perfectly acceptable practice in the field. My favorite pen name that dad used was “Chester Butterworth.” It gives you a visual that “Martin Ebon,” his real name, does not. The joke for me was that reviewers or other writers would occasionaly quote Butterworth. Very funny stuff.

Having a quiet chuckle is fine. Believe your own B.S., and promoting it, is another thing, entirely.

Recently, we have seen a growth in the number of phony awards recognition. These ersatz awards don’t pass the smell test. They are fraudulent in multiple ways.

During my 2-year tenure as NACE National Membership VP, we completely transformed the application and judging process for industry awards. The first challenge was to completely renovate the submission process, making certain that subjectivity in judging would be minimized. Documentation was defined, clearly. It now takes time and effort to submit for an award, but the end result is fair, even-handed judging, and industry awards that actually mean something.

Sample award format

The other day, I received a solicitation from the selection committee of the U.S. Local Business Association acknowledging me for an award. Part of the verbiage read, as follows:

This is unadulterated nonsense. For the price of $80 or $100, I can buy business a plaque that touts non-existent achievement, judged by a non-existent selection committee. It’s quite a scam. I’m sure they sell a lot of plaques, though.

The only weaker move would be to actually buy one of these plaques and promote them as reality.  It would be the phoniest of all self-promotion. Yet, I’ve seen companies that hang these in their office, and place plaque images on their websites.

So, I’m calling these companies out. If you see a wedding industry business promoting phony award recognition on their website, please email me their web address, so I can embarrass them, directly. Hopefully, you’re not participating in this charade.

This hype and any other similar hype should be called out for what it is: PROPAGANDA

written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: awards, ersatz awards, phony self promotion, uslba

Annie Payton - Lake Las Vegas - Winner for Best Wedding Event

The Baltimore, Anchorage, and Austin Chapters dominated chapter awards in this year’s NACE National Awards. From a straight up, business perspective, the most valuable awards were those earned in the individual industry awards category.

In individual honors, three Las Vegas Chapter members earned five awards, collectively. Perennial winner, Michele Polci, CPCE (Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV) is beginning to make her hard work look easy, as she took home two awards this year. The awards, one in Best Table Presentation; the other in Best Event, followed a series of awards in previous years, and last year’s honors as NACE Caterer of the Year.

Newcomer, Annie Payton, Reflection Bay, Lake Las Vegas garnered two awards for one event. The wedding event that she entered won in both the Best Wedding and Best Event categories.

Annie’s rare ‘double-dip’ of two awards, for one event, demonstrates the excellence of that entry. The impact of such recognition on her facility, its ownership, employees, as well as prospects is truly priceless. People want to do business with successful, creative individuals. Nothing says that more effectively than an industry award.

Another rare event was the dead heat tie for Caterer of the Year. For the first time, the award was share by Ed DiAntonio, CPCE (Swan & Dolphin, Orlando, FL) and Cheryl Sgovio, CPCE (Thomas & Mack Center) Las Vegas, NV.

As all the results are published, The Wedding Marketing Blog will post the complete list.

written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Annie Payton, awards, Cheryl Sgovio, Lake Las Vegas, Michele Polci, NACE, Public Relations, Reflection Bay, Rio all Suites Hotel & Casino, Thomas & Mack Center, wedding marketing

One of my consulting clients, Sight and Sound Events (Las Vegas and Long Beach, CA), was recently recognized by The Knot in their recent ‘Best of Weddings’ issue. Sight and Sound was one of many wedding industry businesses who received this citation.

Shortly after this issue was released, I observed a spirited discussion on a private industry message board, discussing the validity and value of recognition by The Knot. In that discussion group (a national group), there were multiple winners, and many businesses that were not noted.

Some of the issues included the fact that the poll was not scientific, and criteria for inclusion were not clear or public. It was annoying to some business owners to see inferior competitors, in their markets, recognized by The Knot. Especially annoying when their companies weren’t listed.

Here’s the thing. In your business lifetime, sometimes you will submit for awards and win; other times you will simply be recognized. If you are fortunate enough to be recognized, don’t over analyze. Just spread the good word, and bask in its glow.

You will find that different people assign varying value to awards and recognition. In the case of Sight and Sound, the catering office members from Wolfgang Puck’s made an office visit, complete with champagne. Clearly, they felt the recognition was significant.

Be aware of any and all kinds of award and recognition opportunities. And should you be fortunate enough to earn an honor, don’t be shy about an appropriate amount of Shameless Self-Promotion (a phrase borrowed from renowned speaker, Patricia Fripp, a world class promoter).

Andy Ebon
Marketing & Business Coach
The Wedding Marketing Blog

PS: If you have a colleague that receives industry acknowledgment, drop them a note, send them some flowers…. or maybe champagne. They’ll never forget it.

written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: awards, Best of the Knot, Industry Recognition, Public Relations, Shameless Self Promotion, wedding marketing