REC2020: Highlights + lessons for future-focused leaders

Well, my cortisol levels are a lot lower now than they were in the 24 hours before REC2020!

Any conference is an adventure for the hosts – but being amongst the first business organisations to host a fully digital formal conference was a challenge. 

But I am delighted by how it went. Not least by the fact that going digital doubled levels of participation and engagement and enabled us to bring the best speakers together that the REC has had for many years.

And the technology made sure that there were huge numbers of questions coming in, and a lively discussion on the site and on social media.

So first and foremost, thank you to everyone who came along, and to all our fantastic speakers and sponsors. If you missed something, you can access all conference content online on the portal here for a month from conference day. No FOMO over which breakout to attend here!

A few personal highlights

CBI Director-General Dame Carolyn Fairbairn kicked us off with a stark warning – this is a “Darwinian moment” for business, with creation and destruction going on. But she also offered us hope – both in terms of the humanity with which businesses are expected to behave, and on the exciting role recruiters have now have to play, if we choose to step up to it.

Our panellists built on this theme, with business leaders looking at how much has changed – the challenges we face with client’s new needs, the changing structure of work and of employee expectation, and the ever-present opportunity of new technology. James Reed quoting Lenin was unexpected, though! Catch up on his talk here.

After we delved deep into some of the practicalities of all this, our Director of Sales and Marketing, Kate Shoesmith hosted a stand-out panel on leadership in this environment, with a real focus on being able to articulate our purpose and carry people with us. As a business leader, I took a lot from this.

And finally – investor, advisor and alternative futurist Gus Balbontin. Where to start? I wanted a high energy end to the day, focused on how we change as individuals to deliver for our businesses. As Gus quoted himself – “I used to think someone should do something about that – then I realised I am someone”. Anything I write here won’t do it justice – watch the video!

What happens now? The REC2020 digital guide!

A great day, with so much to take away, but given real energy by our participants, not just the REC and our speakers. To make the most of all this learning, we have packaged up the best of the day into a digital guide that is now available to access here. Even when the conference site closes in a month, the lessons and challenges of REC2020 will live on!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen – our REC team and production partners Liquid Media, but also our headline sponsor Marsh Commercial, premium sponsors - Croner and Bullhorn, charity partner St Giles Trust and sponsors First Freelance, Experian, Jump Advisory and Howden.

But most of all – thanks to all of you who came along and made this day a success.

I hope you got loads from it. There is a bright future for recruiters, even in this toughest of years.