I attended John Sumser’s Recruiting Roadshow in Dallas.  

Amitai Givertz called me and proposed a sponsorship opportunity. 

Because I know Ami and John, I knew this would be a great event,

and it was.   You can read about the particulars here, but to me,

this was an eye-opener in a few ways.    

 

One was that of that 150 people in attendance, just a handful had

ever been to real recruiting trade show like ERE Expo.  As a

result, because of both the novelty and quality of the presenters,

the audience was fully engaged for the entire event.  This could

have gone a full day rather than a half day, and I think the crowd

would have barely thinned- people were clearly enjoying themselves.

 

Two was that in a way, bringing the ‘talent’ to the people rather

than the other way around is not at all a bad idea.  That’s not to

say there is not still a huge value on an all-up event like ERE

Expo, because its not apples to apples.  The big event draws many

vendors, execs, and markets into one time and place, and there are

irreplaceable benefits to doing that.  The Roadshow, on the other

hand, provides a much more accessible taste of the experience by

trimming it down to its essence; learning with thought leaders and

the social buzz of mingling with your peers.

 

Three was a new kind of value emphasized by the deal itself.  Ami

and John Sumser realized that technology has changed some things

around in ways that allow this to be totally free to attendees,

reasonably priced for sponsors, and adequately rewarding for the

organizers.  

 

For attendees, the show is coming to them, it only costs their

attention and a short drive, and it’s a compact, high quality

experience.  I think many of the people in Dallas may want to do it

again next year.  

 

For sponsors, the pop is in the act of being a sponsor.  The

Internet increases the value of a short branding experience because

interested buyers can gain more information with a click in an

exploring / buying medium (the Internet) with which they are fully

comfortable.  The branding experience is effective because you have

an intensely engaged audience.   Anyone experienced in marketing

knows that multiple brand exposures prior to customer demand are a

key driver of sales conversion events.   In our business, trade

shows are an expensive way to gain brand exposures and a very

expensive way to gain sales conversions. 

 

This type of event remains an expensive way to gain brand

exposures, yet still saves money and finds relatively fresh targets

relative to a trade show.   With an executive deployed, there are

inevitably some direct business opportunities to be found almost

anywhere a few hundred people gather in one industry. 

 

For John, Ami, and the presenters, they each brand themselves

fabulously with the audience and have their direct costs covered. 

Cell phones, wireless web and mobile devices combined with Internet

powered travel infrastructure allows a kind of miracle; I woke up

in my bed in a Cleveland, OH exaburb, traveled to Dallas TX, had a

fully engaged seven hour workday at two locations, and traveled

home in time to be in my kitchen with a chicken sandwich at

midnight.  

 

The entire trip, with car-rental, airfare, etc., cost

$296 and a few gallons of diesel for the family tank.

 

All in all, it was a winner.  I don’t know if the model works

forever or is only fun once, but it was a good time and I hope the

model has legs.  I think the organizers worked hard and did well,

and Main Sequence was grateful for the invitation.

 

Last, DFW Airport has to be seen to be imagined.  I have been there

before, but this time I had a flyaround to see the scale of the thing. 

Within the belly of the beast, you lose all sense of direction as you are

enveloped my masses of concrete in every configuration and hundreds

of turns in the roads.    All from a shuttle bus that felt like a small craft

 on a cement sea.   Yet, the sailing was smooth from the highway to

the ever too-small seat on the plane.   First time I was ever on a jet

with one-seat rows.  I kind of liked it.