I swear I did a post on the conference shortly after the event but clearly it is not here where it belongs. Can a dog eat digital work? Oh, I don’t have a dog...
So for those getting the RSS Feed of this post, this is information on the November 2007 event with the February 2008 event coming soon.
Feedback from the Minnesota Recruiters (un)Conference | Fall 2007, our second event was great and as with the first attendees were asking, “When are we doing this again?”
The other frequent comment to me was something along the lines of, “Paul, you were much more comfortable this time than you were back in July.”
Very, very true. That first event I had a lot of self imposed stress. It was something I had not done before, putting on an event for 125+ people. Let alone peers, colleagues, and people I did not know. While I do not take myself seriously I do take the time of the attendees and sponsors very seriously.
Speaking of sponsors, to Don Ramer and the folks at Arbita I continue to find it difficult to find ways to say thank you. Don and Arbita paid for the entire event. Besides feeding us he also was instrumental in getting me to settle down. To relax. And to have some fun.
I told this story at our event and it needs to be repeated. About a week before the event the local weather folks were talking about a major snow storm in the Upper Midwest and they were saying Minneapolis was going to get hit and it would start Friday morning.
I sent an email to Don that went along the lines of, “Shit, what do I do? How do I manage canceling an event? Will Best Buy give us any of the cash back?” And I went on and on over a couple of messages.
Don sent one reply that basically said, “Shut up. Control what you can. Wait and see what happens. You are smart enough to figure this out.”
And fortunately the snow waited one day.
I want to thank Jason Davis of RecruitingBlogs.com and contributor to The Fordyce Letter. Jason asked how he could be of help and I asked if he had some recent editions we could hand out. Jason obliged and had three boxes shipped in so every attendee could get a recent edition.
CJ Dube of Oberon started the event and opened a lot of eyes about cost of hiring. Many (including me) were shocked what a bad hire may cost in terms of time and dollars. We have thought about it but to pull the calculator out and figure it out like we did made a huge difference.
Toby Dayton and Eric Caron of JobDig, I have an email from a woman and she says she needs help with their web site. They are doing all the wrong things. I pointed her to your white paper. She Bcc’d me on her email to her boss and titled it, “Our web site sucks and here is how to start fixing it.” Others are asking for the white paper too and here is the link, LinkUP, HR & SEO whitepaper.
Don Ramer finished the event with a conversation on what was, is, and will be in the recruiting space and to think of it as “One World, Right Now”. Don inspired a lot of people with his talk and all are thanking him for his support of these events.
You will find the presentations at the bottom of this post.
I have a few pictures from the event here with many more at Minnesota Recruiters (un)Conference Photos starting with the 5th line of photos with me in the suit:
Nicole "Wingman" St. Martin greeting folks. Josh Kahn trying to get me connected to Best Buy Internet.
CJ Dube walking the room during her presentation
Doing the networking thing and Steven Rothberg (green shirt) likely talking about hockey
Toby Dayton and Eric Caron of JobDig doing some teaching
Don Ramer with "One World, Right Now."
Giving me a microphone is so very wrong...
Pals. Don Ramer and I.
I asked Nicole to get a picture of just me. I look like my run Windows run laptop does on occasion, frozen.
Eric, Don, CJ, Me, Nicole, Toby
Event #2 is in the books with #3 on the way in February 2008. Check back for details.
Presentations (be patient for the download):
Download fall_07_unconference_toby_dayton_eric_caron.ppt
Download fall_07_unconference_don_ramer_v2.ppt
For the record, I was not talking about hockey. I was multi-tasking. I was talking about recruiting and thinking about hockey, or talking about hockey and thinking about recruiting, or talking and thinking about recruiting hockey players. Whatever. Busted.
Posted by: Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com | March 08, 2008 at 02:03 PM