TOBY Awards
New Year New TOBYS How going virtual meant teams had to redefine the building tour and more By: Jenifer Wright, Everclear Enterprises If you have never participated in the TOBY process as an entrant, judge, or proctor, you are missing out. Property teams all around Atlanta put in the work to make their buildings shine – literally and figuratively – in one of the most significant events of the year for BOMA Georgia. Sometimes over a matter of months, the property team works together to prepare every precise detail of the building for an online review and judging process. Then we get to the fun part. Entrants, judges, and proctors all come together, in person, and walk the property from rooftop to basement. Enter COVID-19 and the new world of social distancing, masks, and virtual meetings. Surely this would not be the way of the TOBY competition as well. Right? You cannot tour a building without actually touring the building. Right? In true 2020 fashion, nothing was spared from the ‘virtual experience,’ even the TOBYs. ‘Zoom fatigue’ has set in for many of us, so when we heard that the TOBY awards were going virtual, there was a collective sigh. For years, the TOBY tours have been done in person and are the highlight of the entire process. Entrants had their work cut out to create an experience that was just as impactful through a computer screen. As a 2020 vice chair, I decided to be a little nosey and sneak into all the virtual building tours. I wanted to see how the entrants would manage the process, and I was not disappointed. The camaraderie of those tours is what makes the local level of the
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TOBY competition such an exciting and bonding experience for everyone involved. In classic BOMA Georgia style, this year was no exception. Multi-year TOBY judge Jessica Nix with Natural Stone said, “During this difficult season, BOMA and the TOBY entrants rose to the occasion. The digital tour that I judged was crisp, informative, and exceptional. Of course, nothing takes the place of an in-person tour. However, the entrant in my category did a phenomenal job of adjusting and providing the judges with incredible digital insight into their building. Well done.” Joyce Tuttle with Crocker Partners was a 2020 proctor and had this to say about her cyber experience. “I was impressed with the professionalism and thoroughness of the Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. It made it very easy to judge the property. The virtual tours were easier to schedule than a normal physical tour. The time commitment was shorter due to no travel time.” While some created Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, some embedded recorded videos, and some even did live tours throughout the property. Risky…did it pay off? As a nosey bystander…yes!
