The 19th ERE Expo held last week in Hollywood, FL was well done.

Included among the many images I took home Friday was:

- A Little Giveback.

Kudos to about 4 dozen players and a bevy of sponsors who stepped up to support another great poker tournament managed by last Wednesday by Jeremy Langhans on behalf of the ERE Foundation.

The charity raised $10,000 for its global children's educational initiatives.

Unfortunately,Jason (Slouch) Davis and I were taken out early by one of the Atlanta Sourcing Mafia, Eric Jaquith,...in the same hand. There will be a rematch.

The best hand of the night however, with three remaining at the final table, was set up when Chris (All in) Hoyt's A-2 was called by Elaine (crush'em) Orler's A-3 after the flop of A-4-J. The excitement began when a 2 on the turn made Chris a two pair and an 85% shoo-in to win. However, Elaine made a miracle 5 on the river for a straight and that was all she wrote.

Dan Cooke (WSJ) outlasted even Elaine to take the top prize- (a doll that sings Kenny Rogers "You gotta know when to hold'em..." which mysteriously disappeared.)

It is all about paying forward.

- A Lot of Community.

Over the last decade ERE has created an extraordinary online community that has spilled over to its two conferences. Perhaps even more valuable than its content are the connections made here. A strong balance of recruiters, vendors, consultants and even a few "owners" attended sessions, conversed and engaged.

Everyone was accessible and inclusive. You could sense an upbeat atmosphere (which I'm indebted to Russ Moon for pointing out along with his interesting analysis.)

It is all about the conversation.

- A Lot of Learning.

I attended quite a few sessions including a solid group of passionate practitioners representing Adidas, American Cancer, ADP, Davita, Fifth Third Bank, Intel, Microsoft, Fluor, Agilent, Sodexho and Walmart.

Listening to them speak reminded me about how far we've come in this space. And, yes, there is still a long way to go but the folks who are openly sharing their challenges and mis-steps as well as their accomplishments with their colleagues have a greater chance of success and will raise all boats.

It is all about transparency.

- A Trend or two.

I noted in both the discussions I had as well as the self-descriptions provided by vendors I spoke with that an "end-to-end, trusted advisory service" seemed to be the brand play of the day.

This image of an independent but totally pure advisory service was highlighted (and currently contradicted in my mind) by the extra-ordinary number of presenters who mentioned not one but a dozen partners helping them in their efforts. These were "partners" that the practitioners had personally gone out to check, benchmarked with other firms and had pulled together in a suite of services. Not long ago it would have been one "trusted advisor".

Today, it is clear (IMHO) that few external firms (agencies, recruiting specialists, etc. etc.) have either sufficient capability or a best of breed approach (versus their own suite of products, or their representative agreements to support certain products) to truly Broker the tools and services that have exploded in the space. This vacuum won't last long.

Much hype will unfortunately precede the convergence of new "Talent Acquisition Advisory Services" firms.

It is all about disclosure.

I'm looking forward to the next 5 weeks on the road.