– Simon Turner is Acting Manager for Quesnel & District Chamber of Commerce while Amber Gregg is on maternity leave. He can be reached at qchamber@quesnelbc.com.
QUESNEL – October has been regarded as Small Business Month for a while now, so it is fitting that we take this time to recognize Business Excellence within our community.
Step one is to determine the Award categories. It is fair to say the list does not change greatly from year to year but we did make a conscious decision to keep a lid on the number of categories to avoid our Awards Dinner turning into the Academy Awards. Ten is plenty, and will cover the following:
- Home Based Business
- Young Business Person
- Employee of the Year
- Community Inclusion
- Tourism
- Customer Service
- Community Spirit
- Business with less than 10 employees
- Business with 10+ employees
- Business Person of the Year
Such is the support of the Business Excellence Awards, each category is sponsored, and I make no apology for taking this opportunity to thank Quesnel-Cariboo Observer, West Fraser Mills, West Park Mall, Work BC & Dengarry Professional Services, CJ Directory, Community Futures North Cariboo, McDonalds Quesnel, Tolko Industries, and Vista Radio for their Award sponsorships. We also have BDC (Business Development Canada) to thanks for sponsoring our Nominee Luncheon.
Step two is to encourage nominations, With the emphasis on quality rather than quantity, we asked for two examples of excellence to be cited in each nomination, inviting the nominator to tell us why a given business, person, or group should be recognized.
Nominations were open for just about three weeks and we were rewarded with the best response in recent memory – 90 submissions seeking to recognize 75 different nominees across those 10 categories (in case you are wondering about the math, we had several businesses or individuals nominated in more than one category).
Step three is to let the celebration begin by announcing the nominees, quickly followed by a Nominee Luncheon to present all with certificates to adorn office walls. The Luncheon is a less formal event than the Awards Dinner and is an ideal way to build upon the positive energy created by the announcement of the nominees.
Step four is when the judges have to decide which of the nominees should receive each Award. To ensure fairness and impartiality, we select a panel of judges from across the community, Chamber members and non-members alike, and have strict rules concerning conflicts of interest. This year we are also holding an online public vote to help with tie-break situations. Having seen the list of nominees and quality of submissions, I don’t envy the judges one little bit.
The fifth and final step is our Awards Dinner, a gala event on the Saturday of Small Business Week. While the attention may turn more towards the ten deserving Award winners are revealed, the Dinner has evolved into quite the community celebration.
If you would like to reserve tickets for that event, give me a call at 250.992.7262 or drop me a line, qchamber@quesnelbc.com. I guarantee you will enjoy the evening and leave the event with a whole new opinion as to the type of quality people with whom you can do business here in the North Cariboo…and therein lies the reason Quesnel & District Chamber of Commerce coordinates the Business Excellence Awards.
