Monday 24 January 2011

SMART 2011 / RAD Awards

Thursday was a long day - i attended and spoke at the Smart 2011 conference - where i put extra stress on myself by deciding i would cover a new topic and also go for a workshop interactive session rather than more standard pres. Now the sad thing about speaking is i dont get as much as value from the other sessions (too busy selfishly thinking about my slot) but i really found the approach of conf refreshing. It was a world away from the uber bullshit world of social that existed in Q1 2010 - maybe it was the speakers (#mattallder #andyheadworth #steve_fogarty) but it was really grounded stuff - real world, practical advice etc.
would loved to have networked more but had the Dinner Jacket on for the RAD Awards in evening. Now this is the biggest awards in our world but our industry has changed so much - i always feel that this is an "old" industry event - still has awards for best local press advert etc. To be fair to them - they have made huge strides to make categories more modern and digital but i still feel like a bit of an outsider in the room - explaining to people/other agencies who we are and what we do - which is a bit odd 4.5 years in.
The brilliant bit of night was that our clients had 3 nominations (Pizza Express and YO! Sushi) and Pizza Express/Pink Squid won for www.pizzaexpressyourself.co.uk) - so congrats to all involved.

Friday was a quieter day....

Monday 10 January 2011

Conference Speaking - Smart 2011

Speaking at the www.smart2011.com conference next week. And via a complex set of circumstances - i am covering a slightly different topic from my initial brief. My session title is "impact of social media on recruitment value chain". After my initial thought of blimey - i am going to actually do some proper work to organise all my thoughts/experience/analysis into something coherent (he hopes....) i am quite excited. Why?

- I am a bit bored with the "building blocks to a social media rec strategy" which i have been updating and delvering in 2011. Its good stuff but the Do's and Don'ts may be quite simple for what i think looks a more experienced audience.

- I actually think the topic is very interesting (see below for why)

In last 5 years i have spoken at quite a few conferences/seminars etc and the breakthrough for me was to stop trying to cover everything, don't think it has to be perfect, don't worry about people disgareeing with you and dont watch other speakers and panic that they are nicking all your good stuff! When i am in the audience all i want is not to get sold to (very dull) and to hear a few things that are interesting. I don't want comprehensive - i want to be stimulated or even better provoked.

So for me when i look at this conference - there are some great people like @mattalder @billboorman @andyheadworth who know their stuff and will give great overviews of industry trends and great tools and techniques. And they will do this better than me, So what do i bring???

Well (excuse the immodesty) OME work with some of the UK's biggest recruiters, who have grasped the digital nettle and now want to have same success with social. However like most organisations - budget for innovation is limited and the precious time of the recruitment team is extremely short. So our views have to be based on the practical nature of implementing social programmes and how to avoid wrong turns. All of our clients want/demand that we save time and money and increase quality. And what does "save money and increase quality" typically mean


- reduce reliance on rec cons

- reduce candidate attraction costs from direct sourcing

- find new channels for candidates

- have more relevant response/less irrelevant response

- beat the competition


and all those points above have SEISMIC impact on the Recruitment Value Chain!!