If “conversation” reflects the success of an event then Recruitfest rocked its way to being a huge success! Jason provided an environment for people to come together and get actively involved in discussions – before, during and after each scheduled session. The format was designed to engage and “give voice” to each participant and let the collective voices shape the outcome. Yes, this is community in action!

Beginning with the drumming circle in the morning the energy of the group was charged and continued on throughout the day’s sessions and well into the evening and early morning hours……another sign of a successful event! I enjoyed the opportunity to participate and be a session leader and feel honored to be part of Jason's vision. I'll be sharing more later on the outcome of the recruiting strategy session and want to thank everyone that participated and contributed to the journey map. The build from one session to the next was great to see and having perspectives from the U.S. and Canada made it even more interesting. Most importantly though, it demonstrated the value of sharing perspectives across corporate and third-party recruiters and sourcers and the vast knowledge base that can be tapped when we share our expertise.

By bringing the RecruitingBlogs community together in real-time, Jason enabled all of us to get to know one another in a different light. At the same time, it felt like we were already old friends. And there were lots of old friends to connect with as well - which made it all the more special. Jason's hospitality seemed endless. Hosting everyone at his home at the end of the day was a natural extension of community - as it seems he hosts us every day on RecruitingBlogs.com, and provided an intimate setting for connections, conversations, new friendships, and, oh yeah - charity poker! And who knew that Jerry Albright could D.J. - amazing what Jerry and an iPod can do! The night didn't seem long enough to connect with everyone and we certainly extended the night well into the morning. Thank you to everyone who made the journey to Recruitfest! It was a pleasure meeting all of you and I look forward to connecting with you further through RB.com.

Thank you Jason for bringing us all together, opening up your home to us and providing a format offline and online for great people to come together to connect, learn, and have fun!

For those of you who couldn't make it to Toronto - get ready to mark your budgets now and join Recruitfest 2009!

Check out Dennis Smith's Recruitfest video and Craig Silverman's blog post!