Wrapping up 2007 conferences

...Kennedy, ERE, Onrec, Sourcecon, SHRM, NAPS, HR Tech and Direct Employers...

Check out this blog post on John Sumser's Roadshow website about this years conference season. In it he discusses Kennedy, Onrec, Sourcecon, ERE, HR Tech and Direct Employers. I presented at all of those and have to tell you I'm tired, but its been a fantastic year for conferences. I've got way more than I gave. I don't plan to travel this much next year because I'm a new daddy, so this was a great experience.

But mostly I've learned that the benefit I get from attending conferences comes from the sidebar conversations (A.K.A “networking) with people "in the know." Though many of the presenters have excellent content, it is really those hallway and couch conversations that get my imagination going. I treat those chats like a sounding board to validate my thoughts and ideas, seed them with new perspectives, and also learn directly from the audience about their fears and what they really want to learn.

I’ve also learned that it is pointless to go to all the conferences. For example, I won’t be going back to HR Technology any time soon. It was a great conference, but it just doesn’t fit with my plan to learn from and reach out to the sourcing community. The audience there was mostly people seeking information about large scale risk management and compliance systems (OK most folks call them Applicant Tracking Systems). I loved ERE, and Kennedy, as well as Fordyce, so you will see me at some of those again in 2008, but you won’t see me at Onrec. Instead I will focus on NAPS and ASA where a larger percentage of the population is asking and answering questions about talent pipelines, sourcing and research. Of course, if SourceCon comes back in 2008, that will be at the top of my list.

As a retrospective, here are some videos I’d like to share with you:

Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow:

• Some moments from Steven Rothberg’s presentation on recruiting millenials
• Audience Footage from the Recruiting Roadshow in Atlanta 
• Don Ramer’s Presentation on Anti-Social Networking
• Abrief moment inside the head of Jason Davis at the Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow
• George Seiters, from LinkedIn’s Corporate Solutions talks about his job and what is coming up in 2008 from LinkedIn
• Phone vs. Internet Panel video from SourceCon
• Two minutes inside the head of Jim Fowler, Founder of JigSaw.com “What’s in store for JigSaw in 2008? Do you really like recruiters?”
• Two Minutes inside the head of Sheila Greco “What did you think about the Kennedy conference? How should recruiters select from among all the tools available?”
• Three Minutes inside Peter Weddle's head (www.weddles.com) “What’s going on with this series of books you are launching? And what’s this about an employment web sites association?”
• Three Minutes inside Joel Cheesman’s Head – “Why did you buy recruiting fly?”
• Kennedy Las Vegas Blogging Panel