By Chris Prystanski, Managing Editor, ContactCenterWorld.com
Part 3 of 3
Day Three of the Contact Center World Awards and after a fabulous Halloween party the night before, we were about to embark on yet another new adventure. It was the first edition of Round Table Discussions. There were four sessions scheduled for the final day: Best Contact Centers, Leading The Way To Success, Best Customer Service and Smart Strategy Ideas. Here is the concept, allow for an open group discussion among contact center industry professionals with presenters as panelists and let the conversation go from there.
This was a real opportunity to open up the floor and it was a success. The presenters were asked so many more questions that we couldn’t get to during the fifteen minute question and answer period after the presentations. This was such an opportunity to expand on their thoughts, ideas, individual challenges and varying techniques.
By this time in the conference, everyone knew each other. Two full days of World Awards Presentations and the Gala Dinner still to come, plus two fantastic networking opportunities after hours allowed for such a great atmosphere for learning and sharing. Even those who were not designated panelists were willing to jump in on the discussion to share their best practices. This provided so much more opportunity to learn. Everyone wanted to take in as much information as possible. I revert back to my note taking observation in part two of this article, people were soaking it all in and writing it all down.
By this time I felt like a veteran. What great people! They were the best in the world at what they do. They all deserved to be here for their own individual merits and yet still they took the opportunity to work the conference on behalf of their company and fellow employees.
Let me expand on that. Literally, every presenter wanted a copy of their competitions’ presentation. Not because they wanted to change theirs, but for the simple reason that they each brought such great ideas and methodologies to their individual category. There were so many great ideas shared that one individual was able to walk away with as many as nine conference presentations because the ideas were that good. Presenters from every category were absolutely ensconced with the other presentations. Even though an individual presenter may have been finished with their category, they all took the opportunity to learn about the other World Finalists and what they did in their own contact centers to get them to Las Vegas and the Contact Center World Awards. Every one of them took the opportunity to learn from each other in an effort to take that information back to their individual companies and share.
I think we did it, I really think we did it! At Contact Center World our goal is to make the contact center industry better through learning and for these three days in Las Vegas, we helped make it that much better. At the end of the roundtable discussion on the final day we asked the entire room to share with us just a couple of things that they got out of the World Awards. The conference delegates were very genuine and so thankful for the opportunity to come, compete, share, learn and make relationships.
I mentioned Steve Collier and Drew Frogley were direct competitors in the Best Supervisor category. During the discussion, they each said “They would not hesitate to call each other to seek out advice.” Let’s look at that in reality. Two people from half-way across the world, who, prior to this conference, had nothing in common except for the title and position awarded to them within their own contact center. They had never met, but garnered so much respect for each other over three days that they now viewed each other as true colleagues and someone to lean on for advice in the future. That’s what makes this conference series so special.
Alas, the Gala Dinner. A true celebration to crown the Contact Center World Award Winners. Nine different global championships were up for grabs and what had been our conference home was turned into a classy dinning room complete with a ballroom dance floor. This was an opportunity for all of us to dress up in our very best and to congratulate each other for a job well done.
There were so many people. My hat goes off to Vegas.com for bringing four tables full of their staff to the Gala Dinner as a reward for their hard work. In fact that was a common theme throughout the conference series. Everyone wanted to come and share in the celebration. Husbands, Wives, Co-workers, they all wanted to share in the personal successes of those they knew in the contact center industry.
The Red Rock staff provided us with top notch service and wonderful food to begin the evening. It was a satisfying five course meal. My highlite is always a good steak cooked to perfection but others were raving about the dessert. Trust me, there was something there to suit any taste. It was really well done. The dinner, not my steak!
When dinner was done, the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the room in anticipation of what would be the night’s entertainment. When in Vegas you’d have to expect nothing less than a real-life Elvis impersonator. What an entrance, what a performer! Women all over the room were going crazy. I can’t say for sure, but one woman who was part of the Vegas.com crew nearly fainted. Niall Beirne from National Australia Bank was pretty emotional as well, telling me that his Mother was a huge Elvis fan and if she could just see him experiencing this in Las Vegas, she would be so proud. What a show! Elvis played a solid set and later lined-up for dozens of pictures with every one who wanted a snapshot. He was very accommodating.
With the preliminary proceedings behind us, it was time to get on with the business of handing out the Contact Center World Awards. The room was electric and we began with the handing out of a flag set to each one of the presenters as a way to commemorate their participation in the World Awards. The entire room was clapping in unison to the music as we called people from all over the world to the stage. This was an opportunity for the rest of the Gala Dinner participants to see and witness how truly international this event really was.
We moved on to hand out the individual bowling tournament trophies and overall team winners. I was a part of the winning team, so we won’t spend much time bragging about our championship efforts, but a hearty congratulations to those who were honoured individually in front of the rest of the delegation.
On to the most important portion of the evening, the Contact Center World Awards in nine different categories. I have to give credit to our President and Founder Raj Wadhwani. He emceed the entire proceedings and with a certain sense of flair he began handing out the awards, but it was with the proper amount of build-up. He always capped off the announcement of the winner with what some of the delegates had said about the eventual winner. It was very complimentary and it showed just how impressive the winning presentation was received by the delegates.
What I found to be truly impressive about this awards ceremony was the level of enthusiasm and genuine excitement from crowd. No matter what place an individual or contact center placed, there was always a heart-felt and warm round of applause for each competitor. A true sign of the respect everyone had for their fellow competitors and fellow delegates. This was very sincere and truly gave me the impression of genuine respect everyone had for each other. It was so nice to be a part of.
The following is a list of the Contact Center World Award Winners by category:
Best Contact Center Trainer in the World Winners: • Gold: Atsuko Goto- NTT Group Corporation (Japan) • Silver: Donita Trowell – Humana Military Healthcare Services (USA) • Bronze: Elena Popova – BTC Contact (Bulgaria)
Best Contact Center in the World Winners (250+ agents) • Gold: Cross Country Automotive Services (USA) • Silver: National Australia Bank (Australia) • Bronze: Sitel (Morocco)
Best Customer Service in the World Winners • Gold: Cross Country Automotive Services (USA) • Silver: SlashSupport (India) • Bronze: Royal & SunAlliance (UK)
Best Contact Center Agent in the World Winners • Gold: Kelly Chen – Sage Software (Canada) • Silver: Paula Cooper – Carnival Cruises (UK) • Bronze: Daniel Wong – Intel (Malaysia)
Best Contact Center in the World Winners (under 50 agents) • Gold: Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (Hong Kong) • Silver: Sage Software (Canada) • Bronze: WagerLogic (Cyprus)
Best Community Spirit in the World Award Winners • Gold: Cardinal Health (USA) • Silver: Intel (Malaysia) • Bronze: AOL Broadband (Ireland)
Best Technology Innovation in the World Winners • Gold: Kowloon Motor Bus Company (Hong Kong) • Silver: Vegas.com (USA) • Bronze: Gem (United Kingdom)
Best Outbound Campaign in the World Winners • Gold: MarketCom (Australia) • Silver: Royal Caribbean Cruises (USA)
Best Contact Center Supervisor in the World Winners • Gold: Geoff Dalessio - Hewlett Packard (USA) • Silver: Tracy Cullen – AOL Broadband (Ireland)
Best Contact Center in the World Winners ( 51-249 agents) • Gold: FedEx (Canada) • Silver: Carnival UK (UK) • Bronze: One to One Contacts (Thailand)
Best Contact Center Leader in the World Winners • Gold: Steve Collier – National Australia Bank (Australia) • Silver: Drew Frogley – Hewlett Packard
My work for the evening was just beginning. I still wanted to speak with all those who had won their respective categories. It was so nice to hear from them about how they were speechless, how they felt justified in what they do as contact center professionals and they were truly willing to share their award with the people they work with back home. There were so many stories about how their colleagues were waiting with baited breath on the awards announcement. Every winner was truly touched. They kept referring back to the fact that this award series was such a valuable learning experience and how it really did justice to the hard work that they had done in their contact center. Every winner was so complimentary to us about how these awards were a real opportunity to benchmark themselves against others around the world.
After the interviews were done, it was party time. It was really nice to spend some more time with the people that had made these last three days so special. Watching those on the dance floor kick-up their heels and let loose could only make you smile. You couldn’t help but look around the room at all the smiles and put one on yourself. This was another great time put on by Contact Center World.
One theme prevailed when talking to the winners and the rest of the delegation after three days. They all remarked on how big the world really is, but how small technology had made it for the contact center industry. Many were astonished at how similar the problems were that existed in contact centers around the globe and how important it was to come to the conferences and learn about who is leading the way and coming up with truly innovative ideas to make their center better.
I’d like to take this opportunity to say Thank You to all those who participated in the Contact Center World Awards in Las Vegas. It was complete validation for what we do as a company. We always strive to achieve even more on a daily basis and to make the contact center industry better. We loved hearing from everyone that was part of the delegation say to us that we are doing truly great things, it was really touching.
To all of those who were in attendance in Las Vegas, I can’t wait to see you along the way in 2008. To all of those who are thinking about entering and taking part in the 2008 series, I can tell you on behalf of those who have already participated in years past, you will definitely benefit from the experience. Take the opportunity to learn, share and network with the best contact center industry professionals in the world.
If you are interested in viewing some video interviews with the winners, please visit the following link: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/worldawards/ and click on any one of the video interviews
About ContactCenterWorld.com: Contact Center World.
(www.ContactCenterWorld.com),
The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking
Don't have a current membership with ContactCenterWorld.com?
become a member and connect with the rest of the Contact Center Industry at ContactCenterWorld.com here
Forum Profile
Job Title:
(Display this on the Forum)
Company:
(Display this on the Forum)
Neither the Administrators of these forums, or the Moderators participating, are responsible for the privacy practices of any user. Remember that all information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to share any of your personal information. Any user who finds material posted by another user objectionable is encouraged to contact us via e-mail. We are authorized by you to remove or modify any data submitted by you to these forums for any reason we feel constitutes a violation of our policies, whether stated, implied or not.
This site may contain links to other web sites and files. We have no control over the content and can not ensure it will not be offensive or objectionable. We will, however, remove links to material that we feel is inappropriate as we become aware of them.
By pressing the "Agree" button, you agree that you, the user, are 13 years of age or over. You are fully responsible for any information or file supplied by this user. You also agree that you will not post any copyrighted material that is not owned by yourself or the owners of these forums. In your use of these forums, you agree that you will not post any information which is vulgar, harassing, hateful, threatening, invading of others privacy, sexually oriented, or violates any laws.
If you do agree with the rules and policies stated in this agreement, and meet the criteria stated herein, proceed to press the "Agree" button below, otherwise press "Cancel".
If you have any questions about this privacy statement or the use of these forums, you can contact the forum administrator at: rajw@contactcenterworld.com
-medium-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Let me expand on that. Literally, every presenter wanted a copy of their competitions’ presentation. Not because they wanted to change theirs, but for the simple reason that they each brought such great ideas and methodologies to their individual category. There were so many great ideas shared that one individual was able to walk away with as many as nine conference presentations because the ideas were that good. Presenters from every category were absolutely ensconced with the other presentations. Even though an individual presenter may have been finished with their category, they all took the opportunity to learn about the other World Finalists and what they did in their own contact centers to get them to Las Vegas and the Contact Center World Awards. Every one of them took the opportunity to learn from each other in an effort to take that information back to their individual companies and share. 
Alas, the Gala Dinner. A true celebration to crown the Contact Center World Award Winners. Nine different global championships were up for grabs and what had been our conference home was turned into a classy dinning room complete with a ballroom dance floor. This was an opportunity for all of us to dress up in our very best and to congratulate each other for a job well done. 
When dinner was done, the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the room in anticipation of what would be the night’s entertainment. When in Vegas you’d have to expect nothing less than a real-life Elvis impersonator. What an entrance, what a performer! Women all over the room were going crazy. I can’t say for sure, but one woman who was part of the Vegas.com crew nearly fainted. Niall Beirne from National Australia Bank was pretty emotional as well, telling me that his Mother was a huge Elvis fan and if she could just see him experiencing this in Las Vegas, she would be so proud. What a show! Elvis played a solid set and later lined-up for dozens of pictures with every one who wanted a snapshot. He was very accommodating. 
My work for the evening was just beginning. I still wanted to speak with all those who had won their respective categories. It was so nice to hear from them about how they were speechless, how they felt justified in what they do as contact center professionals and they were truly willing to share their award with the people they work with back home. There were so many stories about how their colleagues were waiting with baited breath on the awards announcement. Every winner was truly touched. They kept referring back to the fact that this award series was such a valuable learning experience and how it really did justice to the hard work that they had done in their contact center. Every winner was so complimentary to us about how these awards were a real opportunity to benchmark themselves against others around the world. 
