Hints and Tips

Introduction

The Grampian Awards for Business Enterprise are presented in association with The Royal Bank of Scotland and Business Gateway and seek to encourage enterprise by selecting and rewarding entrepreneurial companies and individuals that are capable of leading the future prosperity of Grampian.

Part 1 – Preparing your submission

Part 2 – Making your presentation

Preparing Your Submission

No person is an island

Be prepared to ask for help. You’ll need to enlist assistance from colleagues from across the whole business to effectively complete the entry and stand the best chance of winning.

Rallying the troops

Work out in advance the help you’ll need, who is going to provide it, and who is going to act as team captain. Divide tasks between individual departments and get people to supply information in the simplest format for you to collate.

Time waits for no man

Tell everyone that they must complete their tasks by a certain date, and stick to it. For some reason, deadlines have a habit of creeping up on you when you least expect them.

Tell it how it is

Tell everyone in your company that you are entering the Grampian Awards for Business Enterprise – they’ll be more willing to get involved. Remember to tell them that all information is confidential.

Shout about your success

Don’t be shy – let your passion for the business shine through. And while your at it make sure that senior people in your business know the judging date is you get through the short listing.

The devil is in the detail

Answer all the questions as fully as possible and leave nothing out. Firstly read and familiarise yourself with the Award Criteria to understand what the judges will be seeking. Judges are looking for the exceptional, not the ordinary.

Prepare for the best

Finalists in the Grampian Awards for Business Enterprise usually receive substantial PR coverage so make sure you indicate exactly how you’d like your company name to appear in any resultant coverage.

Supporting Evidence

If you are successfully short listed to the second round and you feel that your case would be better supported by some additional samples or materials it’s OK to submit examples. Only send things that directly support your case – the emphasis is on quality not quantity.

Don’t get caught out

Don’t leave it to the last minute. The deadline for entries is immoveable so submit your entry in plenty of time.

Take another look

Make certain that you review the entry before submitting it, be sure to check your spelling – judges do notice and comment, so don’t let spelling spoil your chances in what might be a close run contest.

Making Your Presentation

Congratulations, you’ve been selected as a finalist – what next?

All entries are scrutinised by the short listing panel and the successful finalists are announced. Everyone gets notified of their status, but for the finalists the fun really starts.

Who’s where when

The first thing to do is reconfirm that senior people in your business can make the judging date, then check their diaries for the date of the Awards ceremony itself.

Getting to where you need to be

You and your colleagues will have to plan your trip to the judging venue, allow yourself plenty of time. You don’t want to turn up all hot and bothered so allow for traffic jams, taxis, parking and anything else out of your control.

Talking the talk

Rehearse with the other presenters if any, who will be presenting with you. As you only have a short time to present, rehearse also so you know the content and are able to present it to the judges rather than read it to them!

Bring it to life

The judges will have had your written submission and would have read it prior to your presentation. Each year diamond mines produce tons of spoil and relatively few diamonds, be sure to tell the judges about the diamonds not the spoil heaps!

Your 15 minutes of fame

Your presentation to the judges only lasts for 15 minutes so be sure to focus on the real successes your organisation has achieved which illustrate and support your case. Be concise, precise and to the point and don’t overload your presentation with too many words.

Stand out from the crowd

The same panel will preside over all the finalists in your category on the same day. Be memorable. A timely, well-presented story, followed by factual but succinct answers to questions is often the most successful formula.

Bells and whistles

You don’t have to bring the latest gizmo to impress the judges. There will be a laptop, projector and screen for your use. You could put your presentation on a memory stick and a CD for backup or you could email it to us before hand.

Make it fun

After all, your company has just been recognised as one of the top businesses in the area. Enjoy your moment and remember, the judges are looking at your success, they are not there to criticise.

Tell the world

Well at least share it with everyone in your business. They are all part of your success story so be sure to make them feel included. Being a finalist in this competition really is a BIG DEAL!

Well done and again good luck!