RecFest Uncensored - Issue 1

Hey, guess what? When you run an event, things go wrong. Like, A LOT! And you folk never get to hear about that, because the first lesson they teach you at Event University is to let the duck be your spirit animal. On the top, the bit people can see; calm, poised, almost regal. Underneath, the bit people can't see; kicking like mad to keep your head above water! So what I want to do with this newsletter is show you the "under the water" part. The chaos, the madness, the fallouts and mistakes it takes to build the largest event on the planet for Talent Acquisition; RecFest. (Last time I'll do the tagline thing, I promise!)

Our Marketing team do an amazing job with our comms, but I wanted something unedited, raw and from myself. To our team's horror, this won't be getting proofed and approved, so if it feels a little rough around the edges, that's because I am as well! 😀

I figure this will be a peek behind the curtain for you and therapy for me. Did you know a RecFest almost didn't happen because of a suspected terror attack?!? No, you didn't, because of the duck thing, but that's the sort of stuff I want to share with you here.

So, somethings you should know about me before we get started:

1) I write the way I talk. I make no apologies for that. I find if I try to create readable sentence structures I lose what I was trying to convey and then lose interest.

2) I'm heavily dyslexic. I'll try to spell check as much as I can but sometimes even Grammarly pops up and says "You good bro?".

3) I love running events. Because I'm an idiot. And honestly, you have to love events and be an idiot to keep doing this, because remember, things go wrong, A LOT! If any organiser tells you at an event that everything is going perfectly, remember, they're channelling their spirit duck. Quack quack! And it's hard, and it's scary and it's painful at times, and then it gets awesome and people learn and connect and you change the way they think, just a little bit, and it's all worth it. And that's what keeps us organisers coming back for more. I promise you, there are easier ways to make a living, but not many are as rewarding as seeing 3000 recruiters feel pride in their career choice. Sometimes in flip-flops!

As a weekly structure I was thinking:

Cold Open: A honest review of the week just gone. Highs, lows and everything in between. Maybe war stories from years gone past.

Sneak Peeks: If we're planning on making any announcements, I'll try to get you folks the insight first of all. Our Marketing team love it when I leak stuff without them knowing! Just ask them.

Answered Questions: You put your questions in the comments section and I'll aim to answer as many as I can, the following week. 2 things I won't talk about: anything that puts a named person or company in a negative light, and money. Outside of that, ask away!

Free Stuff: We're getting great RecFest merch made-up this year and each week we're going to give a ton away in some sort of comment bait click competition. Hey, at least I'm being honest!

And Finally: A bit of a sign-off from me, what I'm working on that week and anything else I couldn't crowbar into the other sections. Maybe personal rants. We'll see.

So that's it from me. I appreciate you for reading this far. I wouldn't have. If you stay subscribed, tell a friend, comment and all that fun stuff, next week I'll tell you how 12 fishmongers almost closed down RecFest in 2017. You can't make this stuff up!

So tell me, what else would you like to see in this newsletter? Comment below and the best answers get the first-ever 2022 RecFest t-shirts!

Much love. Quack quack. 🦆

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Permalinks:

This newsletter was inspired by Hung Lee's This Week, In Recruitment

RecFest tickets can be purchased here

Contact Bobby Leonard for RecFesr sponsorship opportunities