Weve been waiting for this moment for a whole year and its finally here -- hello, Talent Connect 2014!
This afternoon, over 3,500 talent acquisition leaders arrived in San Francisco to kick off Talent Connect. In just one afternoon, a few very excitingnbsp;things happened:
Realogys VP of HRnbsp;Angie McDonald challenged fellow speakers to join her fornbsp;a Zumba lesson in front of an audience of thousands of recruiters.nbsp;(see image #JF)
Everybody found out they have a soulmate in the audience with similar hidden talents. These talents will be revealed over the next few days, so I wontnbsp;share any spoilers for now.
Attendees had 23 sessions to pick from and got to exchange insightsnbsp;on topics ranging from building candidate personas to creatingnbsp;employee referral programs and measuring quality of hire.
And finally, recruiters brought some light rain to San Francisco which is about as rare as a purple squirrel.
All in all, it was a day well spent andnbsp;here are the pictures to prove it:
1. Around noonnbsp;recruitersnbsp;started arriving in the Moscone West lobby to register and kick off the day. The theme of the conference this year is Connect. Inspire. Transform. and all sessions are organized around these topics.
2. And everybody knows that a nice group shot is the top thing to do after registering.
3. nbsp;Other attendees used the downtime before sessions started to read up on the agenda and map out theirnbsp;schedules for the next few days at the conference.
4. Some recruitersnbsp;divednbsp;into the theme of the conference by leaving messages on our Inspiration Wall.
5. John Vlastelica took the stage to talk aboutnbsp;how building out candidate personas cannbsp;help recruitersnbsp;hire faster and hone in on better candidates.
6. In the meantime, a 3D art project wasnbsp;under development in the conference hall lobby.
nbsp;7. nbsp;Lou Adler spoke in front of a packed hall of over 700 attendees and shared his ideas about measuring quality of hire.
8. Jennifer McClure moderated a panel that discussed how startups like Chartbeat, AppDirect, and FireEye built out their recruiting teamsnbsp;and what werenbsp;the unique challenges they faced as companynbsp;grew rapidly.
Panelists:nbsp;Cat Hernandez, Head of Talent, Chartbeat,nbsp;Jim Lawrence, Director, Talent Acquisition - Americas, FireEye,nbsp;Anthony Kline, Head of Recruitment, AppDirect.
9. Whennbsp;the sessions ended at 5pm, LinkedIns Head of HR ,Pat Wadors, and Wade Burgess, VP ofnbsp;LinkedIn Talent Solutions, took the stage to officially welcome all attendees and talk aboutnbsp;whats in store for them over the next few days.
10. Some of the event speakers were asked to come on stage and share their hidden talents. Various physical feats ensued.
Exhibitnbsp;A:nbsp;Sondra Dryer, from PwC, shared that her secret talent is acting so she did a skit showing off her impressive skills.
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Exhibit B:nbsp;Jim Lawrencenbsp;fromnbsp;FireEye admitted that he is an outstandingnbsp;pole vaulter. Look at his great form.
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Exhibit C: Aside from being VP of HR at Realogy, nbsp;Angie McDonald is an enthusiastic Zumba instructor and got her fellow speakers to join her for a dance. Impressive moves.
11. The audience didnt dance Zumba, they enthusiastically approved and raised the roof for Wade Burgess.
12. The evening ended with networking and catching up with new and old friends.
Topics: Talent Connect
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