I tend not to blog. Last time round was November last year. Why? Two main reasons. I need to feel particularly strongly about something and secondly, I think there are so many more people who are better at it that I am and who are much more worth reading. 
But last year, I went to SRCONF in London and loved it. And that's why I am planning to attend again this year. In fact, after the conference last year where speakers such as Jennifer Candee from SAB Miller and Matt Jefferies, then of EA Games fame inspired me with their wisdom and knowledge, I went back to the ranch and banged the #SRCONF drum until I was blue in the face.
The good news is that as a result of my drumming, at least one member of our esteemed leadership team will be attending this year, no doubt with a plan to take away newly acquired learnings back to our business and look to see how we can improve the way in which we embrace social recruiting from an agency perspective. Sure we've made some strides, but keeping up and then ahead has to be the goal in my humble opinion. Innovate or die as they say!
So here, very simply and straightforwardly I highlight the 3 main reasons I'm looking forward to Social Recruiting Conference 2011

1. The people - I only scratched the surface last year, but those I did meet such as@alanwhitford were so giving and passionate in what they had to say and share and this year I'm looking forward to hearing speakers such as @recruitgal AKA Katie McNab fromPepsico who has certainly been an innovative and provocative voice in the twittershere. Not to mention two old colleagues and friends in @mervyndinnen and @garelaos - guest tweeter and panelist respectively. Follow them all on twitter, you won't be disappointed
   
   
   
2. The content - Last year was a real eye opener for me, it really was. Arguably, I'm operating at one of the last frontiers of recruitment as we used to know it (contingent agency side). But this is real Star Trek, " but not as we know it Jim" stuff.
   
   
   
   And it's happening in front of our very eyes. NOW! I find this both daunting and exciting in equal measure and I'll be aiming to follow up SRCONF 2011 with which bits daunted and which bits excited after we've heard everything on the 30 June.
   
   
3. Putting it into action - this bit for me is the non negotiable. I'd be a liar if I said I was not occasionally frustrated in using my time and energies effecitvely at getting others on board to what is happening out there in the changing world of recruitment. I also know that there are others that share that frustration, probably even more than I do in certain circles! :-) But I'm already delighted that the company that I work for has at least one member from it's Leadership team attending the event next Thursday, so arguably we have our best chance yet of putting some of our learnings into action. Lets face it, if we were to put our heads in the sand like so many agency recruiters appear to be doing when it comes to social recruiting (and for that read "Direct Sourcing" amongst others) then there is only going to one very predictable outcome for the likes of ourselves and I for one am not quite ready to contemplate that!