SourceCon Update - Day 1

I'm reporting to you LIVE from SourceCon where the Grand Master Sourcing Challenge is about to get underway. MC Stroud is setting the stage for this event, with competitors Jeremy Langhans, Suzi Tonini and Michael Nataro getting ready to do battle. Lots of tension in the air as this exciting competition gets underway.

It's been a hectic past day here in Hot'lanta. I arrive midday yesterday and quickly met up with Russ Moon from Wachovia, who was very generous with his time and his tips. I spent the rest of the day and evening catching up with friends old (Gerry Crispin, Rob McI., Glen G., Shally, Dave M, Dave C. and more) and new (MC Stroud, Amy Beth, Jeremy, Tim and more). The evening ended over drinks and food with Gerry and Atlanta local, Eric Jaquith, who enlightened me with his new product offering and what makes Atlanta such a Recruiting powerhouse.

Today has been long, but chock full of great information from speakers including:

• Stan Smith of Deloitte (Found his research very interesting, and scary for the professional services industry at the same time. Can't say I agreed with his conclusions however, i.e. I'm not a bridge. Those of you who heard his presentation know what I'm talking about).
• Susan Burns (A wonderful overview of the most critical components to building out a talent acquisition strategy. Her focus on internal talent development and mobility was particularly good to hear)
• Rob McIntosh of Deloitte (A treasure trove of information. He always leaves me with more questions than answers...)
• Tracey Friend of The Right Thing (What you need to know when considering outsourcing sourcing functions, again leaving me with more questions than answers)
• Glenn Gutmatcher of Microsoft (Blew the room away with tips and tools of how to do internet sourcing on a budge)
• Krista Bradford of The Good Search (Enlightened the room with a number of out-of-the box approaches to name generation)

A lot to take in for sure, and even more to come tomorrow. As I've spoken with a number of my colleagues here, I realize more and more that I understand the pieces of the puzzle, I just need to figure out how they will fit together in our organization.

Big announcement here just now. MC Stroud is working the room, conducting interviews in the audience, and Shally lets us know that he has a new Sourcer (i.e. baby) on the way. Congrats to Shally on the great news!

The competition continues as we can see the action on the main screen. The competitors are hard at work figuring out this great challenge. Many in the audience are following along taking notes of the search strings that are being used.

We'll have another update tomorrow. Wish you were here. Signing off from SourceCon...