June 15th 2022
Two years ago. Spring of 2020. We got together at Club Roma to celebrate the sales successes of 2019 by the men and women of RE/MAX Garden City Realty. It was a gala event. Women in formal gowns, men in tuxedos. Lots of glitz and glamour. COVID had just appeared on the scene. No one at that time was aware of exactly what impact this new Pandemic would have or the time it would run. As it turned out, just one week later public gatherings were reduced in size to the point that a celebration of this type would not have been possible.
For the next two years, COVID has continued to impact our celebrations, events and social gatherings – Hackers golf, Administration Day, Broker’s BBQ, Christmas Gala, group training. All casualties of COVID.
And our 2022 Gala Celebrations was lost again this year. At the point of planning our Gala celebration this year we were just recovering from the ravages of the Pandemic and could perhaps have had the event live, but it would have had the restrictions of masks and to a certain extent social distancing. Not the ideal. And now that these restrictions have eased, we couldn’t book the hall because the Hall caterers couldn’t get staff to cover the event.
So once again, we came up with a way to recognize the achievements of our amazing sales staff. We held the event virtually by video which went out to all our people on June 9th. The ceremony recognized various categories of achievement. First Individual Sales accomplishments by single Agents, then by Teams. The awards are RE/MAX International Awards and fall into a number of categories, Executive Club, 100% Club, Platinum Club, Chairmans Club and so on. Originally based on commission earned and paid, they roughly represent sales volume, from 2 ½ million in production all the way up to 100 million and beyond.
Then we go on to recognize Career Awards, celebrating total production by Agents over their career at RE/MAX. We have so many amazing and talented agents. The numbers are startling.
Lastly, we have a few special awards that are proprietary to RE/MAX Garden City Realty. We recognize the top individuals company wide, followed by the top 5 teams in the company. And we end the Awards Ceremony by recognizing the “Rookie of the Year”. The Agent who excelled in their first year in the industry and at RE/MAX Garden City Realty.
All in all, a lot of awards, plaques and certificates to recognize so many outstanding accomplishments. The video as we’ve said went out on the 9th. Then the Awards were available for pick up in our training centre the following week, along with a hug or handshake, a glass of champagne and a backdrop of the virtual gala playing on the training centre ‘big screen’.