In the Prudential Select Properties marketing department there are five seasons – Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Awards season. Every year about mid-January we begin thinking about our annual awards banquet. As we approach mid-April I sometimes wish we could shut down the department for a week. I actually tried that a few years back by sending a “The Marketing Department is Closed. We’ll return after the Awards” message out to the admin and mangers. . . . no one found it quite as funny as we did. 🙂
I took a stroll down memory lane this morning and got out all the Awards Programs from years past. The work that goes into these little books is surprising. Over the years we’ve picked out special papers, troubleshot printing issues, collated, folded, stapled, hole punched, bradded, gold leafed, and more.
In 2006 the booklet was designed to look like a picture frame and after ironing gold metallic on vellum and x-acto kniving each cover individually, Kinko’s botched the job and ruined all the meticulous work. Kinko’s and PSP Marketing have had a few issues over the years. . . another year they cut they books in half instead of folding them. Nowadays we don’t leave the store before threatening the manager. . . I’m sure we’re intimidating.
In 2007 we were printing the books in the evening so we wouldn’t interrupt the agent’s printer usage during the day. Some faulty designer (cough, Joe Cordeal) decided to create a black background for every page. . . . which caused the printers to overheat and the pages to melt together. I think we were there half the night printing a few pages at a time then waiting for the printer to cool. Thank goodness for Matt Muren, one of our sales associates, who jumped in to help Sara Fedele and I with refreshments of pizza and bud select.
And here’s 2008, one of my favorites. We had the event at Mad Art Gallery, once a jail, which corresponded perfectly to our Monopoly theme. Alex Cota, our designer at the time, carried the theme meticulously through the event. From customized PSP Monopoly board table covers to burlap money sacks filled with gold coins – it really was outstanding. Sara Fedele spent serious time hunting eBay for spare Monopoly houses while Jana Rice remembers cutting burlap circles for the favor bags until her hands were raw.
The picture above is from earlier this month. I had just finished cutting out the playing cards which were personalized with award winner names. The cards were spread out on the floor of my office in an attempt to organize them by award winner order. I’m sure I got strange looks from visitors passing by who probably thought I was playing a rather overzealous game of solitaire.
Despite the work and occasional mishaps, each awards event is well worth the effort because we get a chance to celebrate YOU at one of my favorite parties of the year. This year’s Gala took place at the Nightclub of Ameristar Casino in St. Charles. George Bruns and Maryann Vitale acted as MCs for the night and started the event off by giving away cash if you could answer their trivia questions.
Our winners at a glance:
- Top Team in GCI: Diane Denny Team, Des Peres
- Top Team in Units: Leslie Cheek Team, Jefferson County
- Top Individual in GCI: Cindy Baker, Town & Country
- Top Individual in Units: Theresa Curtis, Troy
- Rookie of the Year: Mark Warren, St. Charles
- Administrator of the Year: Julie Morrow, St. Charles
- Top Sunshine Kids Listing Agents: Linda & Kelly Boehmer Team, St. Charles
- Top Sunshine Kids Pledge Agent: Cindy Baker, Town & Country
After the awards presentation we mixed and mingled in the ‘Lounge’ with hors d’oeurves and cocktails aptly named the ‘Citrix Meltdown’ and ‘Tuesday Morning Meeting.’ This year’s addition of a photo booth provided a lot of entertainment and some great shots. Take a look at a few select moments here:
For more pictures from the Awards Gala visit our Facebook page here.
To view and download your shots from the Photobooth, visit www.ciphotobooth.com. Click ‘View Your Event” and select ‘Prudential Select Properties.’ Enter passcode 040711 to enter the gallery.
A big thanks to Jana Rice, Nancy Logan, Susan Cardwell, Susan Dempsey, Stacey Folk and Maureen Adler for helping to make the event a success. George and Maryann, wonderful job, as always.
Prudential Select Properties | Marketing 