WHAT IS HYPE vs. WHAT IS HIP

This is the time of year when recruiters ask me about which industry conference to attend. More specifically, “WHY THE FORDYCE FORUM?”

It’s a really good question. If you’re going to take time from your desk and money from your bank, you deserve to return home able to make more placements than when you left.

I’ve attended over a hundred conferences over four decades. Every size and shape of industry confab you can imagine. National, regional and state associations, chapters, societies, franchises, networks, retreats, boot camps, cruises, sleepovers, whatever. Among the few people who have attended more is Fordyce founding father Paul Hawkinson. We’ve done every kind of presentation from “marquee” to “just you and me.” Paul and I would return from one shindig after another marveling at what is hype and the lack of hipness thereof.

The Fordyce Forum is the realization of Paul’s dream to combine the benefits of a convention with the benefits of a more personal learning experience. When ERE Media acquired The Fordyce Letter in 2006, its expertise at hosting conferences made the event possible.

Unlike the one-large-size-fits-all staffing conventions, you won’t be hobnobbing with nurses registry or temp service folks. You won’t be taking precious placement time talking with spouses who don’t know a job order from a fee schedule. You won’t be crunched in a folding chair in a huge meeting room trying to take notes from an enter-trainer. You won’t be deluged with vendors selling things you can’t use.

The small niche recruiter enclaves have the right idea. There, you can really learn from high billers who fight their way through placement after placement every day like you. The problem there is that smaller conferences can’t attract enough professional trainers. The trainers don’t charge, don’t sell much product, and don’t generate consulting gigs because there aren’t enough people. So they pass on the smaller groups.

I’m like you – I’m too busy for small talk. I’m into efficiency. Results. Now.

When you sign up for the Fordyce Forum, you’re getting:

1. The best real-world training on the placement planet.

Amybeth Hale, the TFL Editor, invites everyone to submit proposals for sessions – megabillers, trainers, or anyone else with a solid background and idea. Since the other hosts of conferences don’t have the reach of TFL, they can’t start the selection process from a universe like that. Then Amybeth works with the conference chair to select the best and brightest to present the most practical sessions.

Amybeth knows what’s happening and listens to the buzz. A few knowledgeable people make the selection, so the roster of speakers is balanced. Their message is consistent, and the presentations complement each other.

2. An optimum learning environment.

Even the best trainer can’t train the acrobats while the circus is going on.

The large associations don’t hold “conferences,” they hold conventions. People don’t “confer,” they “convene.” Raffles, door prizes, awards, junkets, backslapping speeches, and an amorphous mass of people milling around. Distractions everywhere.

But at the Fordyce Forum, you see recruiters staying after the sessions to talk to the speakers about something that really matters to them. It usually centers around bill paying.

3. A “mastermind group” of sophisticated peers.

There’s a high degree of interaction among the participants. The quality of the participants is also high. Since virtually everyone there makes management or professional placements every day, there’s an instant identification.

From the halls around the meeting area, through the bars and up the elevators, recruiters share problems and solutions informally. Sourcing, presenting, closing, collecting.

There’s no pretentiousness.

4. Much Fordyce family fun.

You look around and so many people are enjoying themselves. Talking about what they love most. They’re smiling!

They feel right at home, and they really are.

5. Flawless execution.

Kate Wilson and her conference team are simply amazing. I need to tell you this because they make it look so easy.

Everything goes smoothly because they’re professionals at what they do. You don’t waste time waiting for a session to start, trying to get something resolved with some well-intentioned volunteer, or losing your way in some cavernous maze.

The team’s attention to detail, warmth, and genuine caring make the event a pleasure to attend.

6. Jeff’s On Site!

Once a year I meet with recruiters personally, confidentially, and for free. Only once; only there. We’ll pump my 45 years of experience into whatever placement or law things your heart desires.

I put my money where my mouthpiece is because you’re a cut above. How do I know? You showed up.

If you schedule a session, I look forward to helping you with whatever placement law issues you’d like to discuss.

Giving back to you is my way of thanking you for investing in yourself.

No lip … take the trip, and you’ll see WHAT IS HIP.

. . . and that’s WHY THE FORDYCE FORUM!