Courtney Keenan's Insights on TMSA's 2025 Award Program

And today on the show , I'm very excited to have Courtney Keenan , who is our recognition committee chairperson . She also serves on the board of directors here at TMSA and is a marketing manager at Lineage . How are you doing today , courtney ?

But before we dive into that , I want to talk to you about just the award program itself , the recognition program , and how we've changed and evolved over the past couple years . If people don't know , courtney has actually been chairing the committee for three years now , and previously we had a different award program at TMSA called the Compass Awards .

That kind of died out a little bit over COVID , and so when Courtney came in , we rebranded all of the award programs and we keep growing and evolving . And I'm curious what , in your perspective , are some of the biggest things you've learned along the way here at chairing the committee ?

Every single year since I've started , we look at how the journey of people use the platform , use our submissions , go through the journey of not only that , but the journey of our judging and tweak it , refine it and make sure that we go through the process to make improvements every year , because , you know , user experiences change every single year .

So we want to make sure that we do that with a fresh lens at the beginning , or like our sabbatical is what I call it Every sabbatical of our committee to make sure that we go through a new process of refining things . So continuously learn is always my motto .

You can always learn something new and I think that that's always something I take away when it comes to our committee .

And one of those pieces of feedback that we had a couple of years ago was because we used to try to give all of the awards away at Elevate and it was very hard . There are so many awards and it kind of took away from the experience of both the award winner and the people .

They were like we actually want to know more about what they did to win and we were like , oh , we have an hour to execute this award program or people don't want to secure any longer , and so being able to expand on that in the way that we've broken everything down has definitely been a learning curve .

But then figuring out , well , how do we then execute that on the back end to make sure we're not running around like crazy . But I love our categories and so if somebody is new to TMSA or new to our award program , we do have a few different categories of awards .

So we have our purpose awards , which are , if you give back to your community , either your community that you are living in , or the transportation community , or if you have some type of sustainability initiative or program . We love hearing all about those things , love giving those out .

We have the rising stars category , which are for people who've been in the industry for five years or less , who are really just kicking butt at their job and being able to recognize all the work that they're doing . We have the Trailblazers , which are the best of sales and marketing campaigns and initiatives .

And then we have the sales and marketing mountain mover awards , which are the top of the top , the top sales leader , the top mountain mover in marketing as well , and then we have kind of runner up categories to those . So it's the brand innovators . Oh , we are recording a podcast here , but my mother is delivering my coffee . Thank you , you're welcome .

Thank you . My mother and Courtney know each other , so this was exciting for them , mortified that she will be on this episode . So , um , so I want a hot cocoa .

I think you know , being in the marketing like space , I really do enjoy the Trailblazer ones too . I really do enjoy the Trailblazer ones too .

But I enjoy the Purpose Award ones because I learn about how businessess across America with their customers or with their industries at large , and making it not just a point in time but something that's year round , and I think that's super impactful for companies to be able to do that in such a strategic way , to be able to tell that story .

So I love that piece . So I loved that piece . I think companies are writing their submissions in such an impactful way from when I first started three years ago to now and they're improving year over year . It's great to see that transition and growth with companies .

I really wanted us to add that category , so I also have a special place in my heart for Purpose , in large part , too , because I think that as we continue on in life and people just genuinely care more about what companies are doing to give back or to be sustainable , and whether that's people that want to do business with you or people who want to work for

you . That's actually when I taught social media in the past at the college level .

That was something we talked about was corporate social responsibility and how that should be a part of your social media strategy , your marketing strategy , because people want to know what you care about and what you're giving back to , and so I love being able to watch these companies and what they do and how impactful it is for the communities .

It is really special to see , and so we love this category , obviously . And then I also I agree , I like all of them because obviously we're in the industry . We love watching it . I love the rising star category as well because it's really cool . Like we think this industry is cool and awesome . We've been in it for years .

It's cool to see the younger generation coming in and really embracing it and see what they're doing , and so that's been really positive to see to be able to add that category as well , and I think year over year , it's the one that we continue to get the most submissions on and improving there as well .

So there's a lot of new people coming in and making impact , which is pretty awesome .

And it may not hit all the points of like their goals and things of that they hit , but it's a really heartfelt nomination of why they're such a great servant leader and the values that they bring to the team and things of that nature and sometimes that's , you know , really important to a company and someone's growth in their company at large .

So I think that they each have their own unique set of guidelines and , like we're in story , so they each have a certain little part of my heart . I really enjoy reading all of them . I don't judge any of them really at this juncture , but I still go and read them just to see who's nominating who .

I still go and read them just to see who's nominating who .

Like I love reading some of the direct mail campaigns because it's so interesting how mail like we used to hate it and now it's like this special thing that you can do , but how to do it effectively because it is more expensive than an email , but if you do it right , it can have such a great impact , and so those are really , really cool for me .

Or I love like now we have more like straight , like go to market strategies . Like this is the whole piece , like the whole story and not just one piece of it , and I think there's a lot to learn there .

And I love that we put all of those trailblazers winners inside our member portal so that our members can go through and look through those commissions at their own leisure to be like okay , like what , what are people doing ? How are we ? How are they successful ?

Or we had one that talked about like implementing better CRM strategies and how to make that like landing page the most effective , and there's just so much best practice there . It's just really a lot to sift through .

right now , but I think that it's a great resource area for our members to go into and read , because it tells the full journey and you can even go and see ones from previous years and see how they were then and then , if they won again in a couple of years , you can see where they are now .

I have . Now . The people hopefully want to submit for our award program and are probably wondering how and when to do that . So we are very excited to announce that three of our categories will be coming up on Monday , january 6th . So we know a lot of people are closing out some of their programs for the year .

Really , you know , hitting that year end mark , especially on those , the purpose side . So we're opening um purpose trailblazers and purpose rising stars . I'm like my number when things shifted , my fingers are further apart now . So we are doing the rising star category and trailblazers and purpose .

They will all be open for submissions Monday January 6th through Friday March 28th . So you have about three months , little under three months , to put in all your submissions . The big difference between those categories are just purpose we announce in April .

We'll be announcing on April 25th during a virtual award ceremony , which is really really cool because we give each purpose winner about 10 minutes to tell their full story about their program , what they did .

So mark your calendars for April 25th if you're interested in watching that award ceremony and , of course , get your submissions in if you're interested in that , starting on January 6th .

Rising Stars and Trailblazers are also running for submissions through Monday January 6th through Friday March 28th , but we will announce the winners of those during our award night at Elevate , which will be in Austin , texas , june 8th through 10th . And if you're interested in registering for Elevate , you can do so right there as well .

And then if you're like , oh , but what about the mountain movers ? I have a really awesome sales coach , sales leader or marketing manager , how do I nominate them ? Those ones go a little bit later because we announced them at our executive summit , which will be in October .

We will announce the dates for that very soon , but those will then open for submissions Monday April 28th through Friday July 25th . We will , of course , put all of this in the show notes because we just put a lot of dates in front of you , but you can both see those in the show notes and then also scan our QR code .

You can go to the award page where we give you a lot more of that information . We actually built out pages for each of the award programs this year as well to give you guys a little bit more scope and knowledge about past winners and past submissions so you can see kind of what to do .

Which leads me into my next question , which is do you have any tips or best practices for those that are considering applying for a TMSA award ?

When do I get notified on certain things ? What is the judging process like ? Who are the judges ? What is that like ? Where do I go to read more about certain categories and get some examples ? Anything that you have questions on is going to be on that FAQ page . If you have further questions , you can reach out through the Team Essay website .

But we build out the FAQ page to hopefully answer your base level questions . But there are some things that you should be aware of , like really read through the questions on the nomination form . If it's asking you for what makes it unique , give us your elevator pitch . Make sure it's a really strong elevator pitch . We're in marketing and sales .

We're all about storytelling . Give us that full , really in-depth story of why is this a great person to nominate , why is this a great sales or marketing campaign to pitch , or what makes your community initiative or sustainability initiative that amazing that it needs to win something this year .

So I think that think through the story of that your nomination is telling . Sometimes there's just a couple sentences . I've seen nominations where it's just like one or two sentences in each box and that's really hard to tell the story of why this nomination should be considered . Data is really important in nominations too .

So if you're telling me that this campaign was successful because it brought in a bunch of leads , talk through the number of nominations , talk through how many were qualified or sales qualified , maybe there's an opportunity date that you can put in there . I think it's all really impactful to tell through , like why was it so successful ?

I talk through the why a lot in our conversations with people when they ask questions . I'm like tell me the why . I want to understand the why . I'm like tell me the why . Like , I want to understand the why . And I think that goes through any of the categories , no matter what it is . The why is super important .

And I think , lastly , is just give any type of attachments or videos where possible . You can deselect if this gets put on the TeamSA member portal . So if , by chance , you're putting any sensitive information in your nomination and you don't want it to be shared publicly .

We respect that and we will not put it on the member portal or share it out outwardly at conferences unless you give us permission .

So if by chance you want to give us all the data , so that way you do get that respect that your company or team member deserves , you can deselect it and make sure that they get the recognition that they deserve when you attach those types of sensitive datas .

Or why is this leader making such an impact ? But of course we're . You don't want to give all of your trade secrets away , and so we respect that , and I definitely agree on the explain the why , like you are saying , why this is so impactful , and I would also add , like that , how piece to like , how then , did you achieve it ?

One other thing that I think is really important , especially in the market that we've had , is how did this marketing or sales initiative like , especially on that trailblazer side , how did this help you achieve your business objective ?

That is critical because , especially in the marketing side of things , I feel like we're constantly trying to prove ROI , but even now on the sales end , like everyone's trying to hit their sales quotas , everyone's trying to , you know , make sure they have all their MQLs or SQLs on the marketing side of things , how did this initiative , this campaign , match up to

your business objective and help you move the needle forward . That is what's going to be really , really impactful in some of the things that the judges will be looking for in the new year .

So just how you're bringing a full circle , that's how the judges bring us full circle on the backside , absolutely .

I'm anxious , just if you are a TMSA member , you get free submissions for all of our award programs . If you are not a member , we still encourage you to apply , but it is a $200 fee per submission . So just something to consider . It's part of that membership perk that you get to apply to our award programs .

So I hope that we have answered everybody's questions about you know , potentially get their minds thinking about who to nominate or what to nominate . I did want to kind of go off topic for awards , but just because I feel like this is really fun and we're talking about all things you know transportation and logistics .

We've worked together now for many years together here at TMSA , both when I was a volunteer as well and then taking this role . You took the recognition committee over as I was taking this seat , so we've learned . We have a lot of commonalities , so we both like to make crafts out of upcycled goods and we just all around our supply chain nerds .

We talk about that all the time . But one thing that we realized very recently is that we are both unnecessarily involved in the app . Township like the game , and I feel like when I need to explain the supply chain to people , I explain this app to them because you're in charge of all of the things , and my son is even now .

He has his own town and he has friends in township with both me and Courtney and he gets very excited when he gets gifts . But I do think that that's really important and I'm curious if that's why you love the game so much , because if , for anyone who hasn't played township , this is not an advertisement for them , I swear it's just you .

You know you farm the crops and then you also feed the animals for the milk to then put it in the cheese factory , so then you can make the cheesecake at the the bakery or not the bakeries where they have I mean and the cheeseburgers , and yeah , and the cheeseburgers and all this stuff .

and then you you have a little like a little plane that comes in , a little helicopter or a train where you then have to send the goods to the neighboring towns and stuff , and so I feel like it's all interconnected in a way . And you were like I don't know why I love this game so much , but like I can't stop playing it .

I was like , well , I think it's because we're obsessed with the supply chain and we know how stressful it can be when things don't show up on time . And so I was just curious your perspective , if that's really why you think you love the game , or have you now encouraged other supply chain nerds to in fact clean township as well ?

This is why I love this game , because it truly is about the supply chain and logistics of the world , because there's even a boat that imports fresh produce and then you make it into jam and you can like now I have a manufacturing like a food processing plant and I can make frozen vegetables and peas and , next level , I'll be able to make pierogies and I'm

like , wow , like this is full circle . Yeah , and I never really thought about it in the framework of logistics

. I just , you know , when I need to like debrief or , like you know , in the in the nighttime , I'm like trying to like unwind .

And it's so funny that I didn't even think of it because I just like have been mindlessly doing it and didn't , didn't put the two together , but have been doing it this whole time . So I do enjoy the game , um , and I love that I play with you and Monroe , he gets so excited .

But I do think it is as someone who's had to go to career day and try to explain what I do and explain the supply chain . I feel like I'm so much more equipped to do that again now because there are games like that that can really help explain that , because it is so important .

And you know , like we said , you need the cheese to be able to make the cheeseburger at the fast food place and you need , like there's four , you need , like , a tomato , you need cheese , you need bread and you need the burger , and so if you don't have one of those things , you're holding up production and so it really does .

Um , I think , explain to somebody who's not in the industry like how complex it is and how much we rely on the supply chain , and maybe to you know , be nicer to everyone who works in the supply chains , because yeah , all doing .

It makes me think like there's little logistics , people making yeah , there's like children playing this game .

I mean , my little person plays minecraft , so you know , yeah , so um , they're in the mindset of logistics without even thinking , like subconsciously thinking about logistics , without thinking about like wow , this is careers , that my parents are doing , things of that nature .

So , instead of telling us if you could go back in time and tell your younger self something , I'm going to ask you if you could go back in time and relive any day of your life , what would it be ?

I'm the youngest of four girls and um , I actually wrote my college essay on like the feeling of Christmas spirit and like what this meant to me . So this is , this is good timing , um , so I I would say it'd be like going back in time to when I first experienced like that Christmas holiday spirit , because I think that that's something I always try to .

Even my mom , like she does a great job of trying to instill that still across , like my family and the .

It's just like that feeling that when you're around family and like Santa came around in the neighborhood where I used to live , on the fire truck on Christmas Eve , he would go into our house , bring presents that like I'm sure like we're taking to the firehouse things of that nature beforehand , but he would give us all presence and it's just like that whole

spirit was something that I think about all the time when it thinks of like how to make sure that stays in the family and like continuing that on um , but I , I love that . I feel like I try to relive that all the time .

When it gets around to like November 1st , I'm like putting the tree up right , I'm like Whitney and you Whitney , um , when it comes to that too . So the um Christmas spirit , I feel like I always try to relive that day , but thinking through , like when I was younger .

I would love to relive that day , um , but knowing it's holiday spirit , I could pick a hundred other days , um , that probably mean so much more , but I feel like I try to relive that a lot , and I would love to relive that day just being with the grandparents and family members that are no longer here .

So I think that is a beautiful answer . Thank you again for coming on the show and all that you do for TMSA .

If you are interested in submitting for any of our categories , like I said , three of them are coming up on January 6th , so just a few weeks away and then we , of course , will be announcing both Rising Stars and Trailblazers at Elevate , and we do have our early bird pricing up for that now .

So go ahead and grab your tickets at the most cost effective price , give yourself a holiday treat and get registered for our conference . A lot of things are exciting that are coming up for that . So thank you everybody who's listening .

Thank you , courtney , for coming on the show , and if you guys have any questions about the award program , feel free to reach out and ask us . We love to see submissions both from people who've won in the past and new submissions . We just love to see what's going on in the industry . So thank you everybody and have a good day .