Create a Recognition Ripple Effect at Your Next Conference or Meeting

Jan 18, 2023

by Sarah McVanel, Chief Recognition Officer, Greatness Magnified

According to BB (yep, that’s Brene Brown), connection is the energy that exists when we feel seen, heard and valued. In every meeting, association conference, and corporate event, your participants are craving all of those things.

• We are craving connection!
• We are so depleted and need more energy.
• We need to feel we matter and are important to each other.
• We want to see and talk with people!

Whether it’s your first time back in person, a rare and precious opportunity, a special and monumental gathering, or you simply want to make it a more authentic and meaningful experience; we have an idea for you.

Create a recognition ripple effect by sparking connection through compliments.

I know what you might be thinking: wait, isn’t that awkward?

I get it. Compliments can feel tricky to give and even more so to receive. Not how we do it, though! Here are three ways compliments exponentially energized five delicious events this fall.

1. PCMA East – A Recognition Encore

Meeting professionals had the bottom of their industry fall away in March 2020, and now events are back with a vengeance. Event profs are tired!

So, at PCMA East this past November, sponsor Encore Canada gave everyone five compliment cards and this mission: find five people at this conference you haven’t seen in a while or new people you meet that are awesome, and give them one of your compliments.

We called this a recognition encore. And yes, they ensured that French cards were provided for language inclusivity.

2. Pedagogy of Care – An Appreciation Echo

Childcare providers don’t have an easy job anytime, and then with emergency childcare, extra cleaning, stressed families, and more, their work was just that much harder. They love love love the children, so there is so much to compliment. The tricky thing is childcare providers are so humble! In a breakout session at Pedagogy of Care, these rockstar professionals discussed with a partner the best compliment they’ve ever received and the compliment card to match. In essence, self-complimenting.

At the end of the session, they were charged with taking the over 100 compliment cards left and finding people to recognize over the next day and a half left.

3. Libro Credit Union – A Complimenting Chain Reaction

Credit unions call their clients owners, and they mean it. They sincerely care about the people who do business with them and, not surprisingly, the people who serve owners. First, we unleashed everyone’s inner superhero at our opening session. Then in the breakout that followed, through a series of greatness exercises, individuals left the session with several compliments their colleagues noticed in them, including people they had never met (this part is always shocking…how can someone who’s practically a stranger see my greatness?)

Before they left, they thought of someone who deserved to be recognized and picked the perfect compliment to give them at lunch.

4. SHRM South Florida – A Kudos Carryover

Talking about “The Great Resignation” can feel like a bummer; however, when we realize that consistent, meaningful and abundant recognition can move the needle on retention and engagement, HR folks are ready for action! They were charged with taking a pile (yes, a pile!) of compliments and finding people in their workplace to give them by the end of the week! Hand it over, post it in Teams, attach it to an email, post it on social media – the medium was up to them.

Interestingly, these busy and taxed HR rockstars found hope and excitement by taking on the challenge of giving away a handful of compliments. (Spoiler alert! More coming about SHRM in blogs over the next few weeks about association recognition best practices!)

How can you weave complementing into meetings, conferences and gatherings to enable people to experience recognition? How can you create meaningful peer-to-peer connections through acts of appreciation? And how can we help you to create your version of a scrumptious experience where every person feels included and belongs at your gathering?

Here are even more great event ideas:

• Kickstart Your Next Appreciation Event
• Partnering with Event Professionals Makes for a Wildly Delicious Experience
• GREAT Recognition: 5 Key Ingredients to Events that Delight and Energize Teams