Last week, Eclipse Awards was proud to play a small role in the United Nations historic COP15 Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.  Though we have worked directly with the UN before on earlier climate change conferences, this time we worked with Environmental Defence to help them recognize acts of climate leadership in Canada.

For this event, we created 10 of our Emerald Tower Awards which are made from 100% post consumer used recycled glass.  We even used non-toxic wax as the color fill to help make these as sustainable as possible.

These climate change awards helped recognize the following Canadian projects:

Greenest City Action Plan – City of Vancouver
Reaching Out to Global Energy Cities – City of Calgary
Early Initiatives to Reduce Carbon Footprint – City of Edmonton
Tower Renewal and Transit City – City of Toronto
Climat : Plan de Transport – Ville de Montreal
Economy Wide Carbon Pricing – Province of British Columbia
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiatives – Province of Manitoba
Green Energy Champion – Province of Ontario
Climat : Engagement Constant – Province du Quebec
Absolute Electricity Emissions Cap – Province of Nova Scotia

Overall though, Canada took a lot of well-deserved heat in Copenhagen, even winning the embarrassing Colossal Fossil Award for our regressive approach to climate change.  The attention that this focused on Canada once again reminds us of the power of recognition awards to change behaviours and opinions.  Awards can be used effectively as both a carrot or a stick.

Could Canada and other countries be doing more to avoid climate change?  Of course, there is still huge progress to be made.  

However as Rick Smith, executive director for Environmental Defence said “It’s important to recognize leadership when it happens” and we couldn’t agree more.  We have to recognize and celebrate leadership wherever it’s emerging.  These are the seeds that we need to nurture so that their energies and influence can be shared, spread, and celebrated!

The success of any movement - environmental, social or otherwise -requires that we recognize the leaders of those movements.  We need to celebrate the behaviors and visions that we want to see repeated throughout our organizations, our communities and our world. 

By recognizing leadership, we not only visibly encourage and endorse it, we also empower it to move forward.  Recognition awards can provide a strong vote of confidence and help emerging leaders step into their roles.

Climate change discussions aren’t just about reducing emissions – they represent a battle to redefine humanity.  As the United Nations event now fades into history, the world is left to wonder what will happen next.  Some solutions will be found at the government levels, however true changes will come from people working at the community and municipal level.  They will come from inspired and motivated people working at your organization.

We need to work at all levels to ensure that positive change will happen.  At Eclipse Awards, our role is to help you recognize leadership and excellence in a way that encourages it and nurtures is.

How do you recognize leadership and how will you recognize these emerging leaders of tomorrow?

At Eclipse Awards, we create value through a genuine commitment to quality workmanship and quality materials.  As your recognition partner, we will ensure that your awards are made with care and attention to detail.  The craftsmanship that goes into your awards helps emphasize your message of recognition.

However, what you may not realize is that our commitment to the environment is equally important - we also consider the resources that go into them, the materials that are used and unused, how excess materials are reused and recycled, and how we can make your awards even more beautiful by using less. 

As part of our quest for zero waste, how can we create the most value for your recognition awards while using the least amount of resources, and without sacrificing quality or service?

Most people have heard of the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  We’ve explored these as they relate to our business and continue to look for new opportunities to expand on them.  However, we’ve come to realize that there are some other R’s that we feel are also really important.

Rethink & Redesign:  we’ve reviewed virtually every product, process, and system and redesigned it for improved efficiency.  Don’t just look at how to do something more efficiently, but also why are we even doing something at all?  
Example:  we used to make and ship lots of sample awards which consumes a lot resources unnecessarily.  So instead we invested in developing photorealistic images of our products, so that you can see 360 degree views of our awards.  Clients really appreciate this service and physical sample requests have dropped by 90%.

Realize:  our planet’s resources are finite and limited.  The actions of virtually every company consume and convert these resources into other materials, some that are used and valued, and others that are unused or unvalued.  So every time you purchase from a company, ask them what they are doing in terms of minimizing their consumption of resources. 
Example:  as part of this growing awareness, we’re developing and expanding a new line of green awards that are truly beautiful and made from reclaimed wood, glass and aluminum.  Stay tuned for more details to follow... 

Redistribute:  in many cases, waste is simply misplaced resources.  Though we may not be able to use it, there is probably another entity that can.  We've developed relationships with other companies to collaborate and find productive uses for misplaced resources.
Example:  we’ve partnered with The Urban Source and several children’s art programs, and every month we provide them with many of our unused presentation boxes.  We’ve also looked at ways of using other “used” materials in new ways.  One that we’re particularly excited about is etching glass water bottles to be reused as drinking bottles.  This also helps avoid using more plastic bottles.

As our landfills near capacity and as our oceans fill with plastics, businesses will need to evolve to understand and limit the waste they produce, while still creating real value for their clients.  Rest assured knowing that we will be doing our best to redesign and rethink our processes to deliver the highest value to you and your recognition awards program, while also minimizing our environmental impact and contributing to our community.

If you’re interested in learning more about what some companies are doing to minimize their waste, join us this evening for:

“Trash Talk: Collaborations in Business Garbage and Recycling” an event hosted by LoCo BC.

I will be making a short presentation on our experiences at Eclipse Awards and our efforts to create a materials exchange network in the Strathcona Green Zone.

We are all learning as we go and sharing our experiences is how we will move forward together.  What changes have you made to reduce the environmental impacts of your organization?

As a recognition awards company, we’re usually focused on creating beautiful recognition awards for other people (our clients) to recognize each other with.  Last Friday though, we held our first annual open house and green roof party and spent the day celebrating and recognizing many of the people that we work with, including many of our own clients.  What a day it turned out to be!  The picture above shows our green roof with the sun coming out to receive our guests.

We met with dozens of our clients over the course of the day, many whom we’ve worked with for years, but had only known through email and by phone.  There is definitely something special about meeting face to face, and also sharing the space where all of our work is done.   We've worked with one of our clients, Silverbirch Hotels, for close to 8 years and finally had a chance to meet in person and show them where their awards are designed and how they are actually made.  This really added some depth to our relationship as well as a new understanding that there are good people here taking care of things for them.

Though we’ve been making crystal awards for over 10 years now, this was our first open house and first chance to share our newly renovated green building.  We’ve worked for over 2 years to create an inspiring and healthy work space with natural light and a living green roof.  We believe that if our team is happy, then the awards we create will reflect that, and the final award recipients will be able to feel and appreciate it.

The event was also a great occasion to launch some of new “Living Edge” green awards (pictured above) that are made from reclaimed wood, glass and aluminum.  Also on display were our Inukshuks made from reclaimed crystal, and both our Emerald recycled glass awards and Cobalt recycled glass awards that are made from 100% post consumer used glass.  As more and more organizations begin to understand the value of going green, these awards will help underline their sustainability values and commitments.  Stay tuned as we will formally be adding these green awards to our product line in the coming weeks!

A party is definitely more fun with party favors!  So we gave away some fun gifts to those who were able to visit us.  We made dozens of etched green glass holders (above) that were filled with tiny sedum cuttings from our green roof, so that people could take these home and spread the little plants to other places.  We also made up dozens of etched glass drinking bottles that were made from recycled juice bottles.  People really loved the personalized glass bottles and so we’ll be adding these to our line of green gifts and awards soon, which will also help reduce the amount of plastics that people use.

As the day turned into night, we welcomed another wave of friends and supporters for an evening of music, laughter, and conversation.  A healthy number of world changing folks from the recent Social Ventures Institute and Web of Change events helped keep things going.  There was a great energy throughout the building as new connections were made and people felt the positive energy we had put into the event.  The fact that we’re doing all of this in one of Vancouver’s most challenged neighbourhoods, makes it even more satisfying for us!

Putting on an event that spans over 16 hours is not an easy task.  Our team, as well as our friends and families, worked hard in the weeks leading up to the event, by painting our building, cleaning up, reorganizing, and remaining flexible.  We also worked closely with Saul Good Gift Co. who specializes in sustainable gift baskets and shares our office space.  The abundance of healthy and delicious food was graciously provided by oneplanet catering, another progressive local company.  Lotusland Vineyards was on hand with generous samples of their organic, small batch wines.  Guests were kept warm by SaltSpring Coffee’s organic, fair trade blends.

This open house was really rewarding and helped our clients get a better understanding of not only what we do, but how we do it, and why we do it.  Recognition is a powerful tool!  It was definitely a day of positive collaboration between local businesses and something that we’re already looking forward to doing again!

Night falls on the party at Eclipse Awards.

Wow, we just took little break to visit the first green roof we built, and it was amazing how much it had grown in since our last visit two weeks ago.  We completed our Heatley Green Roof about a year and a half ago, ironically just as we were moving out of the same building.  Luckily though, we didn’t move far, we’re still on the same block, and the roof is really cared for well by our friends there at Frogfile (check them out if you're looking for green office supplies).

What amazed us most was how quickly the tiny sedums had exploded with flowers, and how the whole colorful roof mass was covered with bees thrumbling from plant to plant.  It was bustling with life before we arrived there, and I’m sure it is still bustling now, long after we’ve left.  You can find the latest images here, on our Eclipse Awards Facebook fanpage.

Sitting in the sunlight, smelling the honeysuckle, and watching this little oasis of color and life, we were overcome with a sense of happiness and pride.  We built this green roof!  As a company, and as a group of people, we chose to put our resources and time to build this living engine that works around the clock to save energy and protect the roof, support local biodiversity, cool the area, grow vegetables, look beautiful, and make people happy!  Not to mention the value it adds to Eclipse Awards in terms of regenerative marketing and how we measure our worth in terms of contributing to our community.  In our society today, how do we determine the "value" that a business provides to a community, it at all?

Of course we didn’t build the living systems, but we did create a nice place for them to gain a foothold in a sea of concrete and pavement.  When you put this against the backdrop of the challenging neighbourhood we’re in, it really adds a sense of accomplishment.  Not only is Eclipse Awards creating beautiful crystal awards, we’re also creating environmental and social value within our community.  

We can hardly wait to see how this green roof will continue to grow and evolve, through season after season, year after year.  I’m sure it will be wonderful process to follow and learn from.  We will of course, share what we learn.

In the meantime though, we’ve got our hands full with our newest green roof that we’re creating on the building Eclipse Awards is currently in.

Now there are 2 green roofs on this block of Strathcona in Vancouver…how many more will come?

Last week, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of BC announced Eclipse Awards as “the 2009 Official Awards Sponsor to the PGA of BC”.  Click here for the official press release from the PGA.

This is exciting because they selected Eclipse Awards for our commitment to sustainability as much as for our commitment to quality, service, design and beautiful crystal awards.  So this summer we will be working closely with organizations planning golf tournaments and event, supplying them with crystal golf awards, golf trophies, and a new line of green golf awards and golf gifts that we’re currently developing.

At Eclipse, sustainability is something that we try to infuse into everything that we do, so that we use fewer resources, create less waste, and make our people happy so that they create beautiful awards.  However, it’s never a reason to provide subpar service or less value.   I can’t say that we’ve found solutions for all of the challenges we face, but I assure you that we’re working on them as you read this.

Our partnership with the PGA of BC, an organization that promotes excellence, simply reinforces our commitment to excellence and to sustainability.  Our commitment to green principles adds value to the services and products that we supply.   So thank you to the PGA of BC and hello to the world of golf trophies and green golf awards.  Here are the top 3 reasons we’re looking forward to the year ahead:

1. Collaboration.  Our partnership with the PGA of BC reinforces the idea of collaboration and working together for mutual benefit, something that we’re working towards here in the Strathcona green zone.

2. The potential to affect a new industry through a focus on design and sustainability.  At this time of writing this, a google search for “green golf awards” brings back a total of 8 results, and virtually all of them refer to the same online article.  So there is definitely room to explore and develop new kinds green golf awards and trophies for our clients

3. Exposure to new markets.  Being selected as the PGA’s “Official Awards Sponsor” exposes us to a whole new group of clients and organizations that may not have heard about Eclipse Awards before, so it’s an opportunity to present our brand of excellence and integrity

Should you require any assistance in arranging crystal golf trophies or green golf awards for your event, we look forward to the opportunity to work with you.

As a boy, I remember going to the circus and watching in amazement as an acrobat spun plates on sticks.  He would balance a plate on a stick, and then wiggle the stick until suddenly, magically…it would spin on its own.  One by one, he went down the line until there were over a dozen plates spinning on sticks.  Every so often he would run back to a plate that was slowing down and wiggle the stick until the plate was spinning quickly again.  Eventually though, there were too many plates to keep going and one by one, they started to crash down.

Years later, I came to realize how similar this is to running a business, or building community, or even life in general.  Every project or initiative that we begin takes some planning and energy to get it up and running.  We have to work, sometimes pretty hard, until that project is spinning nicely and humming along.   Then once it’s going, we can sometimes  leave it for a little bit and coast along ...but not forever.  Invariably, wobbles and problems begin to appear – small at first, but usually getting bigger until we decide to commit more resources to “wiggling the stick” again to make that plate spin nicely.  If we leave it unattended for too long, it will eventually come crashing to the ground (or fade into obscurity).  Crashing plates is one thing, but when we're talking about business responsibilities or relationships, it's definitely another.

As a business, we have to decide which plates we’re going to spin and how much energy we can put into each one at any given time.  Too much energy in one place and other things will start to wobble.  Spinning too many plates and we’re frantically running around trying to keep them all going.  After 10 years, we’ve got a pretty good idea how many plates we can keep going, we've developed a world class team that keeps many things aloft.  Eclipse clients, staff and family always get the most attention...if those plates are not spinning at top speed, trouble is on the horizon.  Community building, technology, social media, designing, learning new things and having fun...those are all a close second.   Then sometimes we just need to buckle down and make sure that everything is spinning nicely so that we can rest for a bit and take a break from everything.

How many plates are you spinning in your life or business or family?  Are you putting in the right amount of energy into each one?  Do you have too many plates on the go?  Or can you “wiggle some more sticks” and contribute more to your community, family, or work?  These are ongoing questions, but there is something deeply satisfying when all the plates are spinning harmoniously and we can step back and appreciate the results of our energy.  Then life taps us on the shoulder and tells us it's time to jump back in the game, there's a plate that's getting wobbly...

Wow, what an amazing few weeks!  On April 2nd, we helped to host “Sustainability 2.0 – the Evolution of Green” with the Strathcona Business Improvement Association.  The event created an atmosphere of positive energy and hopefully created a new kind of awareness that encourages people to collaborate and work together in building community.  It's not enough to have solidarity amongst the business, artists, and low income communities....we need a solidarity and shared vision across these groups, as a whole community.

Both Eclipse Awards and I have put a lot of energy into moving sustainability forward over the past several years.  This commitment is based on the belief that understanding sustainability as it relates to your organization is the single greatest investment that you can make towards your future success.  Last year, when we planned Sustainability 1.0 there were virtually no results on a google search for sustainability 2.0, which is why we secured the name then.  A recent search now shows over 13,000 results for sustainability 2.0 which just goes to show how people’s thinking has evolved over the past year.  We’re entering new areas of sustainability where things such as recycling and conserving energy are simply the first steps in creating a green company.  Now sustainability involves exploring collaboration and sharing resources to become more green.

In our experience, a company can only go so far on its own…once you’ve implemented recycling programs, minimized your energy consumption, and streamlined your operations, you kind of reach a limit in terms of what you can accomplish in sustainability.  To reach the next level, companies need to start collaborating with one another in order to obtain services and opportunities that they can’t on their own.  For example, one company alone has limited options to dispose of its waste, however if that company is collaborating with other companies in a materials exchange network it may be able to trade its waste for reuse, or freely obtain another companies unused resources instead of buying them.  So when we talk about sustainability, it’s important to think of individual companies, but it’s even more important to think about how these companies work together and the relationships between them.  Ultimately, sustainability boils down to community and culture…what are the things we celebrate, value and support?

This is the idea behind the Strathcona Green Zone, where we hope to create a community that celebrates sustainable thinking, diversity and the arts.  We want to be known as a progressive and dynamic place to do business, not as Canada’s “poorest postal code”.  Local paper Business in Vancouver covered the Strathcona Green Zone Initiative and the Sustainability 2.0 expo in this recent article.

So to help us communicate this message to the Strathcona community, we were lucky enough to secure Majora Carter as the keynote speaker at Sustainability 2.0.  Majora is considered by many as one of New York’s top environmental and social activists and if you haven’t seen her impassioned TED talk, you can view it here.  She gained a lot of recognition for her work with Sustainable South Bronx and "greening the ghetto" by training people with skills to build green roofs, care for trees, and create green spaces.  Majora is a beautiful soul who shares her wisdom and experience in an open and joyful way, and I was lucky enough to spend part of the day with her before her talk.  

For me, the highlight of the day was doing a walking tour of Strathcona with Majora Carter and Gregor Robertson, the mayor of Vancouver.  Gregor is also an amazing person with a deep understanding of sustainability, so to have them both visit the area and then stop by our green roof, was truly an inspiring and rewarding experience.  It also shows what can be accomplished by setting an audacious goal, and then working to make it a reality.

Eclipse Awards is a small company with big aspirations.  We not only make crystal awards to recognize people and make them happy, we also want to create happiness within our community and have worked to incorporate this in our core mission.  
Touring Strathcona and Eclipse Awards with Majora and Gregor was a really special occasion and one that I hope will help set a new trajectory for our future and the future of this neighbourhood.  Yet it’s simply one more step in our efforts to show how small businesses can have positive and lasting effects within their communities by inspiring people, sharing knowledge and building beautiful things.

At Eclipse Awards we’re working on a new style of marketing that we’re calling Regenerative Marketing. It’s one that we hope will ultimately turn small businesses into engines of community revitalization and richness, rather than beasts of consumption.    At Eclipse, we take our marketing budget and instead of pursuing traditional direct mail campaigns, we put these funds towards real, substantial projects that contribute value to either the environment or our community, or ideally both.  Then we tell those stories through word of mouth and social media such as twitter and facebook.  This focus has allowed us to build some true community assets, while also conserving many of the resources normally associated with direct mail. We call this Regenerative Marketing in the sense that it helps regenerate our community and environment, while also helping to renew peoples’ confidence in businesses as a positive force in society.

If you’ve used or followed Eclipse Awards, know that we take great pride in crystal awards, green awards, and the philosophy of recognition.  You probably also know that we place tremendous value on the quality of our work, our reliability and integrity, the happiness of our staff, and our commitment to sustainability and our community.

What you might not have noticed immediately though is how we market our awards and company.  You will definitely see us online and possibly in some magazines.  Word of mouth referrals, testimonials and notable clients have also contributed to our growth.  What you won’t see much of though, are printed materials and mailouts.  In part, this stems from our commitment to minimize our footprint by limiting our consumption of materials, or avoiding them altogether.  In our experience, the majority of these promo materials typically end up in the landfill, fewer are recycled, and even fewer result in any sort of a sale of awards.  We also spent several years perfecting a photorealistic way of generating our award images by computer.  In fact, DELL recognized us as one of Canada’s top 10 Most Innovative Small Businesses for this as it allowed us to virtually eliminate the need to create and ship samples.  We’ve also invested heavily in technology to provide better, more efficient customer service, and we’ve used these freed resources to pursue more sustainability initiatives.

By reallocating our traditional marketing budget, Eclipse Awards has been able to:

• build 2 green roofs with vegetable gardens
• create a healthy and inspiring workplace for our staff
• support the St. James Music Academy that teaches at-risk youth how to play musical instruments (love this project!)
• fund the Eclipse Award for Environmental Leadership scholarship at Kwantlen University
• helped develop and hold two small business expos on sustainability
• launch a community sustainability library providing free resources to people with shared interests
• host a mason bee “apartment” on our building to help with local biodiversity
• support and use green power
• Help reinvent Strathcona as Vancouver’s green zone of sustainable community
• provide free bikes and an onsite shower for our staff to use
• provide incentives for our staff to bike or walk to work
• and a whole range of other fun  projects that we’ll describe in this blog

These are lasting projects and assets that will benefit our community for years to come.  In the past, we’ve pursued traditional marketing campaigns which had questionable value event 2 weeks later.  How many flyer campaigns from last month can you recall?

Today’s consumers are intelligent and thoughtful...they can separate the real from the superficial and they yearn for integrity and values in a service market that’s become devoid of service.  Our clients also love the fact that by using Eclipse Awards, they’ll not only get world class service and personalized awards, they’re also empowering us to make our community a better place.    
Admittedly, we are in new territory and learning as we go.  The important thing is our fundamentals are in place - quality, service, reliability and convenience – so it gives us some freedom to explore new ways of doing things.  Now, if ever, is a time to be bold and creative!

Will it work?  Only time will tell.  A lot depends on our ability to get these messages out through non-traditional channels and if clients will continue to value the types of sustainable, community projects that we pursue.  In my mind though, this is the new generation of marketing – substantial, real and positive, presented in a way that respects people’s intelligence.  It’s working for our company, so maybe it will work for yours.  Can you imagine a near future in which small businesses support meaningful projects instead of mindless, superficial marketing messages and become successful because of it?  Imagine the next generation of businesses that will build community gardens, green roofs, renewable energy projects, or that will support community arts, or education, or caring for our elders.  What kind of a world would it be if love and compassion were rewarded in business?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on regenerative marketing.  Can it work?  Are you doing something similar?  Are there any things you’d like to see us try?  Let us know because the future is what we all decide to make it.

As a client of Eclipse Awards, you probably know that we are committed to excellence, reliability and service.  What you might not be aware of is that we are also committed to sustainability and that I commit roughly 20% of my time to community building in Strathcona and the Downtown Eastside where our office is located.  

What does this mean exactly?  It means that we make great efforts to reduce our environmental footprint by reducing our energy consumption and committing to green power on the way to becoming the world's first carbon neutral awards company, we’ve built 2 green roofs and invested in creating a healthy and inspiring workplace for our staff, we’re exploring new ways to create beauty and value out of reclaimed materials, and we are helping to build a community in Strathcona that celebrates sustainable thinking, the arts and diversity.

I currently serve as vice-chair of the Strathcona Business Improvement Association and chair of its sustainability committee.  The committee is based on the idea that understanding sustainability is the single greatest investment that a business or organization can make towards its future success.  The Sustainability Committee's mission statement is:

to educate members about the business case for environmental and social sustainability;  provide them with the tools and resources to implement sustainability as it relates to their organization;  and develop the broader community that will both support and attract green businesses.

We have been working towards holding Vancouver’s second small business expo called Sustainability 2.0 – the Evolution of Green which takes place this April 2nd at ChapelArts.

The event will feature a panel of green business people exploring the leading edge of sustainable thought in business…why are companies doing it?  Are they still doing it in this current economy?  How has it helped strengthen their businesses, if at all?  The panel will feature Saul Brown from Saul Good Gifts, Danielle Carrie from Frogfile, Peter Joe from Sunrise Soya, Clay Braziler from Eco-Industrial Solutions, and me, Toby Barazzuol from Eclipse Awards.  We hope to explore the idea of collaboration and how businesses can work together to achieve the next level of sustainability.  

There is only so much that a single business can do on its own in terms of greening, so sustainability ultimately boils down to community and culture and working together through collaboration.  What kinds of things do we value, prioritize and celebrate as a community?

Sustainability 2.0 will also feature Majora Carter who has done amazing work around “greening the ghetto” as director of Sustainable South Bronx.  She is considered by some to be New York’s most influential environmental and social activist.
To learn more about Majora, here is a quick 30 second clip or her more in-depth TED talk on "greening the ghetto".
Majora has also received a McArthur Genius Grant as well as funding from the Clinton Global Initiative.

This Thursday she will be doing a walking tour of Strathcona, possibly joined by Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson.  The tour will end at ChapelArts in time to start Sustainability 2.0.

All in all, we hope that this will be a defining event around sustainability and community in the Downtown Eastside.  It’s free to attend and we hope that you do, you can preregister here.

Strathcona receives a lot of negative press which is unfortunate as there are a lot of positive things going on here.  Our vision is to build on the positive, and focus our resources on developing the diverse, creative and inclusive community that we’d like to see.

At Eclipse Awards, we are committed to creating beautiful awards and delivering them on time.  We are also committed to developing a strong community and believe that small businesses can ultimately become the engines that heal the environment, support arts and culture, and build stronger, healthier communities.  So when you choose to partner with Eclipse Awards, you’re not only getting world class service and awards, you’re also helping to make the world a better place.

Last week was the biggest event in the world of awards and recognition, the 2009 ARA Show in Las Vegas.  Last year, our whole company went and had a great time, however this year I went with our resident recognition guru Nelson Borges and Saul Brown, owner of Saul Good Gifts.

I’ve always found the show interesting because it brings together all of the biggest companies and personalities, showcases their latest awards and designs, and gives us a chance to listen and share ideas.  About 4 years ago, following the launch of our new website for crystal awards, Eclipse emerged as a leader in the awards and recognition industry.  Suddenly, we were no longer following the trends, we were setting them.  Now when we visit the show, we try to guide the manufacturers in the direction we believe will benefit our clients.  Every day we deal directly with dozens of companies of different sizes across North America and we hear what they want in terms of personalized recognition awards, crystal awards and green awards.

Our strength at Eclipse Awards has always been our ability to listen, understand, and then deliver.  So what have I learned from attending 7 of the last 10 ARA Shows? Here are the 6 things everyone should know about recognition awards:

1.    Recognition is a powerful instrument.  Everyone wants to be appreciated for their work or contribution…it’s a common emotion and part of being human.  When done properly, a recognition award has the power to inspire, to motivate, to enable and empower, and to open new doors while also building confidence and good feelings.  These incredible intangibles are often underappreciated, yet they can add real depth and value to your organization.  Recognition done poorly however, can actually create the opposite of the intended effect.

2.     Make it personal.  Personalizing a recognition award with a name and a thoughtful message changes it from something generic into something that is truly unique and highly valued by the recipient.

3.    Simple is beautiful, elegant and timeless.  That award with the flashing LEDs might look great during the event, but how will it look in 3 months or 3 years?  When choosing a recognition award, aim for something personalized, timeless and classy that will stand the test of time.  We want people to be proudly presenting our awards 10 years from now.

4.    Never underestimate quality and craftsmanship.  The gift or award that you select to recognize someone symbolizes your message to them.  If the awards you’ve chosen are poorly made or lack quality, you’ve likely undermined your message and possibly even insulted the recipient which is not what you set out to do.  On the other hand, if the award is thoughtful and well made, you’ve just reinforced your message of appreciation in a subtle yet powerful way.  Isn’t this what you set out to do in the first place?

5.    The only true currency is the quality and depth of our relationships with one another.  In the end, we’re all people trying to get along and be happy.  Nothing will ever replace a heartfelt thank you with eye contact or an appreciative hug.  However, sometimes we need to go out of our way to make people feel special and give them something beautiful that symbolizes how others feel about them.  We all know how amazing and empowering it can be when we’re made to feel special, and a properly done recognition award can help create those lasting feelings.

6.    Timing is everything.  It’s best to recognize positive behavior as quickly as you can.  Feelings tend to diminish over time, so the strongest reinforcements are possible right after the behavior you want to reward occurs.   On a more practical level, you need you're awards delivered to you on time.  Your awards aren't worth much if they arrive late for your event.  Think of the Oscars arriving one day late...that's why we guarantee on time delivery.

So that’s a quick summary of what I’ve learned in the past 10 years.  Recognition isn’t necessarily about the latest and greatest, it’s about sincerity, consistency and quality.  It’s about taking the time to make someone feel special in a lasting and positive way.  
In these challenging times, are there people that you’d like to recognize for their contributions and loyalty?  Make sure they know how much you appreciate their efforts and sacrifices on your behalf because we are all stronger together than we are apart.

As most of you know, Eclipse Awards is about more than crystal awards and recognition...we also put a great value on sustainability and our community.  In fact, I usually contribute about 20% of my time towards building a stronger, happier and healthier community in Strathcona where Eclipse is located.  One of the main projects I've been focussed on over the past few years involves working to create a Green Zone or sustainable business community through the Strathcona Business Improvement Association (SBIA).

The idea is based on the assumption that understanding sustainability is the single greatest investment that a business can make towards its future success.  However, there also comes a point where a business has gone as green as it can on it's own...there are limits to what you can do once you've minimized your footprint and gone carbon neutral.  So eventually businesses need to look at ways to collaborate with one another and share resources in order to reach the next level of sustainability.

Which leads us back to the focus on community.  We want to develop a community that not only supports, but celebrates sustainable thinking, green businesses and the arts.  Creating things like a materials exchange network, a zero emissions courier to faciiltate the movement of goods, a complementary currency to spur the local economy, and urban gardens to grow food are all ways of realizing a green business community where collaboration is favored over competition.

Our Green Zone movement recieved a big boost today as Canada's federal government, through the Western Economic Diversification Fund, the City of Vancouver and other groups, committed $60,000 to help the SBIA develop it's mission to "educate members about the business case for environmental and social sustainability;  provide them with the tools and resources sustainability as it relates to their organization; and develop the broader community that will both support and attract green businesses".

Our world is changing quickly, and in many ways this gives us the opportunity to find newer and healthier ways of doing business, newer and healthier ways of treating each other and our planet.

Thank you Western Economic Diversification Canada for believing in and funding our vision of a stronger and healthier community based on sustainability.

Here is a link to a similar article from New York announcing the event, though I'm not sure what this one says as it's in Chinese :)

Wow, this one made it all the way into the China News!

Snowed in and working alone at Eclipse Awards over the past few weeks has given me time for some deep thought.  Not only did we end 2008, we also ended our first decade in business.  Ten years in business can provide you with insights into a lot of different things, if you’re open to seeing them.  Over that time, our awards have brought happiness to a lot of people and I’m proud of the trust that we’ve built with all of our clients by delivering on our promises, consistently.  I’m proud of the team that we have at Eclipse Awards, not only for their skills, but because of the way they conduct themselves as people. I’m also really pleased at how we’ve been able to embrace sustainability and explore what that means as a business in the real world.

Five years ago we moved from Vancouver's funky Yaletown to Strathcona in the Downtown Eastside, considered by many to be one of the most challenged neighbourhoods in North America.  This is definitely a community in transition and one of our goals was to make a positive and substantial contribution towards building a healthy and balanced community .  Though there is still much to do, I’m really happy with where we’re at and the direction we’re going.  Some 2008 milestones were:

• Completing our first green roof at 121 Heatley.  2400 square feet of green goodness and planter boxes.
• Finishing the green renovations at our new office at 614 Alexander.  More on that later.
• donating awards to the St. James Music Academy and over 40 inner city music students
• Completing the first phase of our 2nd green roof at 614 Alexander
• Making the top 10 of Canada’s Small Business Excellence Awards for using technology
• Working in an inspiring space with a team of skilled and dedicated people
• Designing and creating Canada’s LEED plaques out of reclaimed glass and wood
• Developing our partnership with Saul Good Gifts and  Tradeworks in creating sustainable awards and gifts
• and of course, creating the awards that helped bring happiness and recognition to thousands of people!

2009 promises to be interesting, with recognition becoming even more vital to companies looking to retain their staff.  After all, is anything more important to an organization than its people?  We will continue to focus on crystal awards while also developing more green awards made out of other sustainable materials.  We’ll put more resources into communicating with our clients, while always maintaining our commitment to excellent quality and service.  We enjoy setting the pace in the awards and recognition industry and will continue to explore new and beautiful ways to help you recognize and appreciate the people in your lives.  We hope you’ll continue to check back in as we learn to weave excellence with sustainability, business with community, and art with recognition.

The last few weeks have been pretty exciting as we've worked to develop some cool new green awards.  Crystal awards remain elegant and timeless, yet we see a strong and growing demand for green awards made out of sustainable materials.  Our team has been busy brainstorming and designing new awards with sustainability in mind, and so we're pleased to launch a new line of beautiful FSC cedar frames.

I think frames look beautiful and yet it's what you can't see that I find equally as beautiful. I'm really proud of the work and teamwork that went into making these, especially when you consider the climate smart certificates as well.

The frames are designed to use minimal materials and are made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified cedar.  This means that the wood was grown and harvested in an environmentally sustainable and verifiable way.  You can even check on the chain of custody by looking up a certification code that's unique to each batch of wood. The frames are made and assembled by Tradeworks which is a training society aimed at providing skills training and work opportunities for women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.  So there are strong social and community ties as well.

The climate smart certificates are something we earned this summer.  They were presented by Ecotrust Canada to verify that Eclipse Awards has completed a comprehensive study and inventory of our environmental footprint and carbon emissions.  It took over a month to gather the data, complete the calculations, and design a reduction plan looking forward 5 years.  Currently, our annual carbon footprint is 32 tonnes.  Not great, but not too bad and we'll be purchasing carbon offsets from Offsetters in the next few weeks so that we can finally become Carbon Neutral.

So at first glance, it simply looks like a nice frame and certificate.  However, it's taken us a few years to get to the point where we could create these pieces.  It's not a matter of simply throwing together some pieces of wood and paper then calling it a green award.  It's about understanding the elegance of good design and the conservation of resources, it's about understanding the social side of community and how business can contribute to building capacity, it's about understanding our evnironmental footprint and taking steps to reduce it, it's about understanding the changing nature of our world and what clients are looking for....it's really about understanding sustainability.

I hope that when people consider our awards, they will not only see beautiful objects, but they will understand the thought and consideration that went into making them.  There's a lot happening beneath the surface at Eclipse Awards and we will continue to use our experience and perspective to develop new green awards that are beautiful on many different levels.

Special thanks to Nelson who has worked hard to make these a reality, to Saul who has helped facilitate some of these new relationships, to the ladies at Tradeworks for their efforts, and to Jim for making it all look good!

Stay tuned as we continue to launch new green awards over the coming months!

Well, after several months of designing and planning, we finally completed the second portion of our new green roof at Eclipse Awards.  This roof was designed more as a green amenity space for staff that will be focussed on growing food.  Once it's finished, the roof will be ringed by planter boxes that will provide everyone here with a small gardening plot.  The "green island" in the center includes Irises, Lemon Thyme, and woodland strawberries.  I love looking through the skylights and seeing the grass and sky.

Crystal awards and green roofs may seem like an unusual combination.  Yet every organization needs to look at creative ways to reduce their environmental footprint while also creating happy and healthy work spaces.  Green roofs are an amazing way to accomplish both.  In fact, the other green roof that we completed earlier this year has alread saved a lot in terms of both heating and cooling, while also providing space for growing vegetables and additional green space for insects and birds.

We worked closely with Erika Richmond Green Roof Design to create both of these beautiful green spaces.  I can't recommend her enough if you're considering a project like this.  Thanks Erika!

Earlier on this year, Eclipse Awards was selected by Dell as one of Canada's top ten most innovative small businesses.  This is an award that we take great pride in as we've made some bold investments in technology in order to improve our customers' experience, elevate our performance and reduce our environmental footprint.

When Dell invited me to speak as part of their Future of Computing tour, I was a little nervous as I'd never done a presentation on technology before.  However, I was interested in the green element they were promoting at the event, and curious about the prospect of bringing green ideas to a room full of IT professionals. 

Aside from the technical side of things, my basic message was this:  invest creatively in technology to improve the customers' experience, while also improving efficiency and freeing up company resources.  These freed resources can then be used to pursue sustainability initiatives that ways that were not possible before.  These initiatives can then help reduce your environmental footprint, advance your social mission, and strengthen your company by differentiating it.  In our case, it allows me to put close to 20% of my time towards community building and sustainability projects in Strathcona. 

Overall, it seems as though these ideas were well well received, which is all I really hoped for.  There is more to our company that crystal awards.  Technology does have a role to play in moving sustainability forward - we just have to use it wisely and creatively, like any powerful tool.

Well it seems as though this gets harder to start every day, so why not just jump into it?  My name is Toby Barazzuol and I founded Eclipse Awards almost 10 years ago.  At that time, we were a small company just finding our feet and learning about the possibilties of the internet.  We had no idea of the opportunites it would provide us with!

Since that time, we've learned what it takes to consistently be a world class awards company.  We also learned about the amazing power of recognition and how it can create leaders, motivate organizations, fuel movements, and above all, make people feel happy and appreciated.  The latest version of our website took close to 2 years to develop and we hope it draws together our years of experience in a way that makes it easier for you to recognize people you value and respect.

I'm really proud of our team and we get a lot of satisfaction from creating beautiful crystal awards that really connect with people.  We've built a solid reputation based on years of "getting it done" and I'm confident of our ability to work with organizations of any size around the world.

In a few months we'll be moving into our new "green" headquarters that we've carefully been renovating over the past few months.  With a solid foundation in place, I think that things are about to get really interesting!  We're committed to environmental and social sustainability as well as staying active in our community.  As we move forward, we want to explore what it means to be a company that cares about how we treat people and the environment.  Hopefully, we can do it in a way that will make others want to follow.

Just a few weeks ago we finished a big awards project for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal.  The conference resulted in a "historic" ozone pact that was described as "perhaps the most important breakthrough in international environmental negotiation process for at least five or six years".  Sometimes, it's tempting to hope that in some small ways, the work we do helps make the world a better place.

I hope that our story will help other companies as they tackle issues of sustainability and explore new ways of doing business. 

Stay tuned for a new blog from Eclipse Awards covering issues relating to the award and recognition industry as well as corporate social responsiblity.