ERE Miami was my third in a row conference with them, David Manaster and Kate Bruener ran another great event with well over 400 attendees which has been growing with each event.
The keynote speaker was Seth Grodin, basically the king of marketing it seems, and he put on an extrodinary presentation. He said it was the first presentation he had done specifically for recruiters, but you would never have known that. As as big fan & promoter of CRM over ATS, his ideas of marketing and "farming talent" was music to my ears. My only worry was that recruiters in the audience were fearful that it is much easier said than done when you work in a "req based" hiring world. Or where the hiring managers have a "hire the best who applied" mentality, farming might not be so easy. But...believe me...it can be done...and is being done.
This was the second time in an row that ERE brought in a "outsider" to do the first day keynote, which I loved, and have them relate their world to the recruiting world. Last time is was the editor of Fast Company and he did an unbelievable job because it was pretty close after they published the "Why We Hate HR" edition. But... I still liked Seth's better.
We also had another great "Poker for Charity" night where the "wanna be" sharks raised $2,400 for ERE's Children's Foundation. Gerry Crispin was the "floor boss" keeping everything and everyone in line. Congratulations to Russel Glass of ZoomInfo who won...again.
Much big thanks to the nights sponsors who have made it possible to make these ERE poker games a sort of tradition...
To me...and to some others...the best thing about these conferences is these side activities that go on at these conferences and the people that are there that can "make it happen." ERE had a lot of them there and they were looking for ways to bring innovation to recruiter's desktops, outside of what they already have. These "couch conversatons" (or poker table conversations) are where these "actions forward" come from. I was involved in some and listened to others of these new "partnerships" that were worked out right there that can help bring the profession forward. Legitimate ones that really are going to move forward...two of mine already are and I know of another (because of the two guys involved) that am sure is moving forward as we speak and am sure that readers of Recruiting.com will love.
So big congrats to the whole ERE Crew and I look forward to the next conference in San Diego.
Great job!!!
Russell Glass
Ryan Money
Dan Hilbert
Jeff Hunter
Richard Florida