Graduations

Celebrations often leave a lot to be desired.

I was thinking of this as I attended my son's recent college graduation recently.  The ceremony was great.  I mostly enjoyed the speeches and presentations.  I was thrilled to watch him cross the stage in this celebration of the completion of the last vestiges of his childhood.

Graduations serve their purpose as a celebration of accomplishment and as a marker of time.  It is important for all involved (students, instructors, parents) to have a capstone celebration for something that is as intense and involved as many years of college, or high school, or graduate school, or military academy, or trade school, or...

Yet, I couldn't help but think that even the most tightly run, most carefully choreographed celebration that involves a whole group, or class, of people, is bound to have some time in which large portions of the audience aren't interested.

One of my son's friends said he thought it would be better if the college had an all night party, everyone watched the sunrise together and the president of the college handed out diplomas at breakfast.  He is probably right if the ceremony was only for the graduates.  Most parents would be happy if the college played Pomp and Circumstance, read only their child's name, and then invited the parents up on stage to take photos.  Most professors would probably prefer to leave things on the departmental level.

My point is that while big accomplishments deserve to have a big deal made of them, organizations should pay attention to the purpose of the celebration and the perspective of the participants and the targeted stakeholders.

While its not necessary to compete with the sunrise when hosting a celebration, understand that for some in your audience, that is an alternative.

Graduations

I have had the opportunity recently to attend a couple of high school graduations, including my daughter's.  The ceremonies are almost always similar with short (hopefully!) speeches reminiscent of the glorious four years just past or philosophical about the years coming up.  High School, at graduation ceremonies, is portrayed as a great incubator of young men and women; a soft-focus frolic through four years with crazy but lovable teachers and mischievous but lovable classmates.  Triumphs are remembered.  Defeats and failures are not.  Everyone leaves graduation feeling good about their their past and hopeful about their future.

I am convinced that graduation ceremonies are one of the reasons so many people generally remember their high school experience as positive.

Some business have seemingly picked up on the transformative power of a closing celebration.  There are car dealers who will take your picture and have the whole sales team applaud when you pick up your brand new car.  Realtors give you a housewarming present at the closing.  A few high end barbers offer a short neck and shoulder massage after your hair cut.  You get the idea.  They are all going for that same positive capstone experience as high school graduation.

I wonder what it would do for our customer relations if we had a "graduation" after every customer interaction.