Page 12 - Marlborough Chamber of Commece Annual Report 2022

Marlborough Chamber of Commerce

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

AWARDS

The Marlborough Chamber Business Excellence
Awards went through a complete review in 2022 to
revamp the format. Despite the challenges of the
past few years, there was a very high standard of
entrants, once again making the process of finding
the winner a challenge.

The first of the big changes was to the award categories. Previously businesses were grouped by
their number of employees. As this meant businesses of all different types competing against each
other, it was often quite challenging for the judges to compare apples with oranges (or construction
with accounting). To improve this, we decide to divide the awards into sectors. This system worked
really well for both judges and entrants, and we will continue this format for the 2023 awards.

Our second big change was the event night format. We moved from ASB Theatre to Ōmaka Aviation
Heritage Centre, switching the regular alternate drop dinner into a family-style meal with platters
from Feast Merchants. By changing the format, we attracted a wider audience and created a
sharper, slicker presentation. Again, it was an excellent opportunity to use the need to be resilient as
a chance to innovate.

And our final change for 2022 was the introduction of 4 new awards: Innovation, Sustainability,
Workplace Wellbeing, and Youth Employer. These were conceived off the back of the post-COVID-
19 lockdown business environment, with a need to look after your people and your productivity at
the forefront of everyone’s minds.

In 2023 we are continuing to evolve the event, using the best of what worked in 2022 while also
managing the new dynamic environment. We are exploring the opportunity to establish a principal
event sponsor. It’s a chance for a business to establish a key role in this flagship event and align its
purpose to the Chamber's overall strategic direction.

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