Recap: #talentconnect 2019

All in. That’s the way I approach any conference or networking event. You are only going to get out of it what you put in. That means being open to everything: meeting new people, starting conversations, going to as many events, panels and keynotes as possible. Ultimately, make the most out of the experience and that is exactly what I did last week in Dallas for 2019 #linkedin #talentconnect conference.

In the midst of a late September Texas heatwave, 4,684 talent and HR professionals gathered in Dallas for the annual summit and my first. As soon as this event landed on my radar I knew that I had to be there - to learn more about my craft, to connect with industry leaders and to make long-term connections for the future. Spoiler alert: Mission accomplished on all fronts!

Day 1 started early with a special invite to join the LinkedIN T.E.A.M. (Talent Evangelist and Managers) breakfast workshop. This was a super intimate, hands on session where we dug into key topics like “The Power of Purpose”- finding your true “how” and “why”. This was a great initial exercise to help us reaffirm why we chose this career path. Another interesting point we discussed is that right now, there are 5 generations in the workplace at the same time, all with different traits but so much in common. The question was posed, how do we as recruiters tap into and speak to each group uniquely. A major developmental point that was discussed are the writing skills of a recruiter and how critical this is skill for success. More importantly, what are techniques for us to improve and put into practice.

After my badge finally arrived at the end of the session, it was time to move on to the main event, the first keynotes! After a soulful performance by the Dallas Street Choir, two of LinkedIN’s finest served as bubby hosts to welcome us and MC the event over the next couple of days. First up was Cynthia Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. She wove together a story of her own career journey while infusing heart and empathy every step of the way, fantastic start. She was followed by Mariana Atencio, National Correspondent for NBC News who spoke about how “Authenticity is our best currency”, in her disco ball dress. 

Anyone who has been to a conference of this magnitude can tell you that choosing the right breakout session is  daunting, overwhelming project. However, LinkedIN did a great job by creating and distributing an app in advance that had detailed info of all of the sessions and enabled attendees to create their own customized schedule, super helpful! I set my mind to attending Brittany Packnett’s session on confidence. Not that I don't lack any, but I really wanted to learn how best to focus it and use its powers for good! As she said, I came to “sharpen my sword”. Big takeaway, especially in our world is that “confidence isn't a nice-to-have skill, rather a “must have. ''

I ran back to my hotel after this event for a quick refresh before heading up to North Dallas for my off-site event, “Talent Meets Influence” at City Central. The event was fantastic and more to come in a seperate post. What I can say is that what I preach, “Take Your Online - Offline”. This event was proof that this works as it was a manifestation of taking my connections to the next level to create and execute an extremely successful event, in another city! 

Thursday was sponsored by COFFEE. Which LinkedIN provided an ongoing, IV stream of! Now is a good time to talk about how well organized, professional and well polished this event was. All the staff, both LinkedIN and event were on point! Every little thing was thought of and executed flawlessly. My only complaint was that some sessions got so packed that they had to shut the doors! Maybe there is a way to “reserve” a spot in the future. But I get it, all good. Some sessions are more popular than others. 

OK so big day. El Jeffe aka LinkedIN CEO Jeff Weiner took the stage for the State of the TA-Union. Glaring stats: 

• 645M users
• 80M of those are freelancers/contractors- THE MOST ENGAGED AUDIENCE! The gig economy is real people!
•  30B member sessions in 2018 (+27% YOY)
• $6.8B in rev (+28% YOY) was $78M in 2008 BOOM!
• The LinkedIN podcast, “Hello Monday”  is one of the highest rated in the Business category
• Brand Growth: #58 on top 100 companies
• People/brands trust LinkedIN data- tops amongst big platforms
• 4 MILLION HIRES in 2018- either directly or influenced via LinkedIN

But the real key take away from Jeff’s keynote was “better together”, how we can all make a difference to close the talent gap and the democratization of talent and opportunity. Meaning, ensuring that two people with equal talent should have equal access to opportunity. Because some people don’t have the right connections or community to help them land the job they want. They invited all of us to take the #PlusOnePledge to help others close the network gap. More on that in my intro to this article.

On deck was what we were all waiting for, the new product announcements! VP of Product John Jersin took the stage. For me and I believe most of the audience, the big ah-ha was the big announcement of Talent Hub- LinkedIN’s official ATS. I had a chance to see the beta in action first hand and it’s the real deal and certainly a game changer. However, it will not make the other ATS’s obsolete as there are plenty of companies that this is not ideal for based on factors including cost, size, enterprise structure, etc. 

Some other key product highlights:

• Revamped Talent Insights functionality to help better inform a data driven people strategy.
• Integration of Talent Insights into Recruiter.
• For job seekers, updates to push/job notifications (alerts on autopilot)
• Candidate experience - advising candidates automatically where they are at in the hiring process. 
• Deeper integration of AI technology to generate qualified apps in 24 min.

After lunch, actually, let’s talk about that for a moment- the catering staff pulled off multiple, incredibly well-orchestrated breakfasts, lunches and snack sessions for over 4K attendees ...and the food was good too! Another really cool thing about the meals and the table set up, it encourages  you to sit and engage with people you didn't know prior. I had so many meaningful and engaging conversations with folks from across the country in various areas of TA and HR. We exchanged stories and helped each other solve problems with different perspectives. Super cool!

The first afternoon session was with a fantastic and engaging speaker, Dawn Burke and her talk on “Understanding your hiring culture to engage candidates.” It was equally entertaining as it was informative and really hit the nail on the head about the challenges us in-the-trenches recruiters face on a daily basis. I keep saying this, Recruiters (in-house and agency) are the front line, the first point of contact for any potential employee with your company. It’s critical to empower them with all the tools and info they need to be their best to properly represent you. 

About 25 minutes into her talk, as I usually do, I glanced down at my LinkedIN and saw Gary Vee broadcasting on LInkedIN Live. For those of you that do not know my history/backstory with Gary, check it out here. He was literally in the room across the hall and it was my chance to catch up with him for a few minutes. It was strange because typically Gary is surrounded by a mass crowd at an event like this, but there were only a few folks waiting to chat w/ him. As always, the legendary DRock was documenting everything. 

I usually catch up w/ Gary about once a year, hug it out, fill him in on my business and catch up on life. But this was a year of big personal and professional transformation for me and I wanted to share with him and remind him what he said to me that day that I lost my job in 2015. I will update this article with a link to that video shortly.

What I said genuinely moved him, I saw it on his face. Some people think Gary is all talk and I can promise you that he is not. By no means does he ever need me or anyone to defend him, but it’s important for me to set the record straight. We took a photo, big bro hug and I wished him a great keynote. My new BFF Andy Storch was standing there with a big smile on his face knowing that we both just had a cool unique experience and made plans to catch up later that night at the party. Little did we know...

As I walked away, feeling amazing from that moment I looked down at my phone. “ Shoot, its 2:30, need to run to the next breakout session.” I had two killer talks lined up that I really wanted to attend. I hustled to the first, doors closed, filled to max. UGH. Ran back upstairs to my second choice, UGH. Filled again. I made the decision to head back up to the INlounge, worked the floor for a bit and came upon the candy station, filled with everything I love. Being the fat-ass that I am, the tiny paper cone they had wasn't going to cut it. So, I grabbed a stack of cups from the coffee station and handed them out to everyone on the line behind me to great applause. I enjoyed my bounty with LynnAnn Brewer and Deana Townsend from Texas State University. More new friends!

3:30p came quick and I strolled into the main hall to take my seat for Gary Vee’s keynote. As I was walking in, I had this thought in my head, I kid you not, “what if Gary talks about our story on stage...nah”. I settled in about 15-20 rows back, stage left to get a good view. Gary took the stage to solid applause. Interesting enough, when Gary asked how many people were familiar with him, not as many as I thought raised their hands. As Andy explained to me, we live in the “Gary echochamber”. Gary’s keynote was good and a tad tamer than i've heard him before. He spoke a bit about the culture at Vayner, how he has empowered Claude Silver, his Chief Heart Officer as his #2 and his overall approach to leading with Empathy. 

About 23 minutes in, as he was rounding the corner towards his conclusion, Gary walked stage left and looked in my direction. For a split second I thought to myself, “no, he isn't going to do this, is he?”  

It happened, yup. It seemed like time stood still. The adrenaline flooded in.

Gary turned, looked at me, gesturing his hand in my direction and proceed to shared my story, OUR story about me getting fired from Vayner. Yes, our conversation that took place about an hour earlier inspired him to talk about it to 5,000 attendees and thousands streaming globally. (You can relive it all here). It was epic. Instant goosebumps. All the feels.

"How do we not understand that how a person feels on the way out matters most, if not more, than when they are there." ?- Gary Vaynerchuk, #talentconnect 2019

After his keynote the ladies sitting behind me were like “was that really you? Were you OK with him saying that?” I smiled ear to ear and said “you have no idea how OK I am with that!”. As I was walking out people came up to me and asked “did that really happen?” One lady even took a picture with me! Guess it was my 15 min of fame, in Dallas, for that day. 

From there it was off to Gilleys for the official party. Let’s just say Dallas knows how to have a good time! Unfortunately due to an early flight I was unable to make it to the Friday morning session and was upset to miss Michelle Obama’s fireside chat. The flight home Friday was a bit rough, but totally worth it!

All in all, Talent Connect 2019 was a tremendous success. I made incredible personal and professional connections, added fuel to my career fire and learned a ton. The Gary Vee shout out was the icing on the cake. Events like this truly embody IRL networking and relationship building and I encourage anyone, regardless of industry to take advantage of these opportunities- the ROI is priceless. See you in Boston next year for #talentconnet 2020!