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More ERE Events...

Upcoming events

  • SourceCon 2014 Atlanta Feb. 19–20, 2014

Past events

  • SourceCon 2013 Seattle Oct. 2–3, 2013
  • ERE Recruiting Conference 2013 Fall Sep. 16–18, 2013
  • Fordyce Forum 2013 Jun. 6–7, 2013
  • Recruiting Innovation Summit 2013 May. 14–15, 2013
  • ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards 2013 Apr. 16, 2013
  • ERE Recruiting Conference & Expo 2013 Spring Apr. 15–17, 2013
  • SourceCon 2013 Atlanta Feb. 7–8, 2013
  • SourceCon 2012 Dallas Sep. 20–21, 2012
  • ERE Expo 2012 Fall Sep. 5–7, 2012
  • Creative Excellence Awards 2012 Sep. 5, 2012
  • Fordyce Forum 2012 Jun. 7–8, 2012
  • Recruiting Innovation Summit May. 17–18, 2012
  • ERE Expo 2012 Spring Mar. 28–30, 2012
  • TLNT Transform 2012 Feb. 27–28, 2012
  • SourceCon 2012 Atlanta Feb. 8–10, 2012
  • Recruiting Innovation Summit Oct. 24, 2011
  • SourceCon 2011 Oct. 12–14, 2011
  • Creative Excellence Awards 2011 Sep. 7, 2011
  • ERE Expo 2011 Fall Sep. 7–9, 2011
  • Recruiting Innovation Summit May. 17, 2011
  • ERE Expo 2011 Spring Mar. 23–25, 2011
  • SourceCon 2011 Feb. 8–9, 2011
  • Creative Excellence Awards 2010 Oct. 26, 2010
  • ERE Expo 2010 Fall Oct. 26–28, 2010
  • SourceCon 2010 Sep. 28–29, 2010
  • #socialrecruiting summit Sep. 13, 2010
  • Fordyce Forum 2010 Jun. 9–11, 2010
  • #socialrecruiting summit May. 17, 2010
  • ERE Expo 2010 Spring Mar. 15–17, 2010
  • SourceCon 2010 Mar. 14–15, 2010
  • Social Recruiting Summit 2009 Fall Nov. 16, 2009

Learn more about ERE Media's events for recruiters at events.ere.net.

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Session Descriptions

Here is a quick overview of what our speakers will be sharing at Fordyce Forum 2011. If you would prefer to look at the abbreviated agenda at a glance, click here:

June 1, 2025
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Session / Description
1:00 pm –
4:00 pm
Workshop

Multitask Sourcing: Learn the secrets of efficient and consultative sourcing while working a busy recruiting desk (180 minutes)

  • Lori Fenstermaker photo

Source. Compile. Recruit.

Lori Fenstermaker will share her firm’s secret recipe of consultative sourcing to locate new prospective candidates and clients. In this session Lori will cover the important steps key to differentiating yourselves from your competitors. She will teach you to think differently about sourcing and to fish in different ponds than your competition.

Companies are finally starting to “release” their jobs to 3rd parties again. Do you want to show them the same candidates that applied directly to their online posting or do you want to differentiate yourself by nailing it right out of the gates?

It is often said that if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person to do. Lori knows you’re busy and don’t have time to spend all day sourcing — after all, she works a full desk herself, runs a successful recruiting business and recruiting software company, and she has a family that she wants to spend time with as well. She doesn’t have time to waste — and neither do you!

In this session, Lori will cover the key steps to sourcing quickly and efficiently. There will be interactive discussions around:

  • The all-important “Pre-Search”— key questions to ask prior to sourcing
  • A proper in-take form
  • Favorite Sourcing Tools and Techniques
  • Sourcing Mindset- Think like a Private Investigator, this isn’t a Monster Search
  • Don’t let your research fall through the cracks — Research is only good if you use it
  • New “reach out” and prospect engagement tools and techniques to increase your % of call backs and interest.

After participating in this session you will be armed with new techniques that you can use to find better candidates and to secure more business from clients.

1:00 pm –
4:00 pm
Workshop

Advanced Client Marketing: New Strategies and Techniques to Win More Business (180 minutes)

  • Mike Ramer photo

The first training of its kind at The Fordyce Forum. Industry trainer, Mike Ramer, will share his firm’s innovative methods to develop new clients. In this interactive session, he won’t just talk. He’ll engage you. He’ll discuss how to think like a marketer. Then, he’ll source leads online and phone call new clients - live!

The next two years will be a tremendous “Big Billing” opportunity. It starts with marketing and winning quality search assignments.

Here’s what is happening now:

  • Job creation is revving up in key industries and in specific areas.
  • Direct hire will soon boom, following temp staffing up 20%.
  • Over 80% of workers plan to look for a new job in 2011.
  • Over 50% of third-party recruiters have exited our industry.
  • The online world is forever changing recruiting.

All of this is a recipe for obtaining huge amounts of new business with the right thinking, strategy, and approach.

In this session, you will learn:

  • The three most important things to do before marketing.
  • Where the job growth is now and will be in the years to come.
  • How to develop your online brand so new clients find you.
  • The “5 E’s” of social media, as well as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
  • How to use new online tools to locate quality job leads.
  • New e-mail techniques and custom scripts that get response.
  • New client development plan mixing traditional and new media.
  • How and why these methods work to get exclusives and retainers.

What people have said about Mike’s training:

  • “Creative, innovative, high energy.”
  • “Incredibly valid and fresh.”
  • “I learned ideas and techniques I’ve never heard before.”
  • “Gave him a 12 out of 10 for this session!”
  • “Nationally best of the best.”

Please join Mike Ramer and industry peers for this pre-conference workshop – for a training experience certain to be unlike any other!

Speaker: Mike Ramer
4:30 pm –
6:30 pm
Welcome Reception

Welcome Reception (120 minutes)

A great way to start off the fifth annual Fordyce Forum! Share drinks and appetizers with your peers and colleagues. And as a special treat, we will be helping our Conference Chair, Jenifer Lambert, celebrate her 40th birthday today! Come early and help us make this an amazing birthday for her!

June 2, 2025
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Session / Description
9:00 am –
9:30 am
Welcome Remarks

Welcome Remarks (30 minutes)

  • Jenifer Lambert photo

Conference Chair Jenifer Lambert will kick off Fordyce Forum 2011 and set the stage for two days of learning and collaboration.

Speaker: Jenifer Lambert
9:30 am –
10:45 am
Keynote Presentation

Skrentny Speaks (75 minutes)

  • Jeff Skrentny photo

When Jeff started in the recruiting profession back in 1987, his first placement quit after 93 days. Then he was sued by his client. Despite that rocky start, Jeff has been a thriving executive search entrepreneur for the last 24 years. And he’s here to tell you all about it…

Let’s face it -– this business isn’t always easy! Every day, we deal with difficult clients, difficult candidates, difficult co-workers, bosses, and peers, and that doesn’t even include our own personal lives and the drama that can unfold at home. Jeff is no stranger to having to deal with the balancing act of having a successful business while still maintaining personal sanity. In his keynote presentation, you’ll laugh, relate, and be inspired by his recruiting story. Learn from Jeff’s own personal accounts about how you can handle life as a recruiter and still come out on top.

Speaker: Jeff Skrentny
10:45 am –
11:15 am
Coffee Break

Networking Coffee Break (30 minutes)

Grab a quick jolt of energy while you mingle with fellow attendees - don’t forget to check out the exhibit hall!

11:15 am –
12:15 pm
General Session

Management Best Practices - Panel Session (60 minutes)

  • Jordan Rayboy photo
  • Adam Dalva photo
  • Michael Gionta photo
  • Carolyn Thompson photo

Jenifer Lambert will lead a panel of recruiting business owners who manage various sized and structured teams in a discussion of management best practices. There are significant differences between managing virtual teams, teams of five or more, and teams that are spread across multiple office locations. Yet while there are differences, there are also similarities and universal truths that apply to teams of all shapes and sizes. In this session, you will have the chance to learn from the struggles and successes of the four panelists and how they keep their teams productive, cohesive, and working toward a common goal.

12:15 pm –
2:00 pm
Networking Lunch

Networking Lunch (105 minutes)

Don’t miss out on the buffet lunch served in the exhibit hall - it’s a great opportunity to see the latest in gadgetry and services available to you while mingling with new friends and chatting about the morning’s fantastic sessions.

2:00 pm –
3:00 pm
Breakout Session

Social Media Revolution…Great, Now What? (60 minutes)

  • Jennifer Knippenberg photo

With the buzz surrounding Social Media, you know it’s something you should do or are doing, but are you doing it right?

This session will give you the opportunity to learn from someone who has worked for one of the largest staffing firms in the world helping individual offices of all shapes and sizes craft social media campaigns. In this session, Knippenberg will share best practices for offices that range in industry focus, location, and size — from beginners to advanced users.

Beginner: How to implement Social Media and easy ways to get started:

  • Effective Status Updates…Who, what, when, where, and why?
  • What are the quick hit networks? Are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for you or is there something else more effective?
  • Stuck in strategy? Learn how to make your strategy flexible and cost effective to target the base you want to attract.

Advanced: Taking it to the next level:

  • How can you measure the effectiveness of your networks?
  • ROI — is there something that is measurable and if so, what and how?
  • What are others in the industry are doing?

Don’t miss the opportunity to gain insight from inside the industry. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced user, this is a must-attend session!

2:00 pm –
3:00 pm
Breakout Session

Succession Planning: How to Get "Big Bucks" from Your Recruiting Firm When It's Time to Leave (60 minutes)

  • Michael Gionta photo

Why NOW is the most important time to think about it even if your horizon is fifteen years or more in the future!

The first reaction most people have to this topic is, “I still have ten or more years before I want to get out; why begin to prepare now?” Because it is EASIER to prepare the longer your time horizon. You need to know what buyers want and have your firm structured in a certain way or the company you built over the years could be virtually worthless!

During this session you will learn:

  • What buyers are looking for if you are to get top dollar.
  • The four key elements that maximize value.
  • What you need to know about YOURSELF before you hang the “For Sale” sign.
  • Overlooked things you can do easily NOW to increase future valuation and current income.
  • How to check out the buyer, can they sustain their commitment?
  • Who is the best buyer?
  • The ONE thing ALL Buyers want that most Recruiting Firms don’t do!

You will leave this session with ideas you can easily put in place now instead of waiting until later that will save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. You will also leave with a few different basic models of what a successful transition looks like. Lastly, by putting these strategies in place you will probably generate more revenues and profits in the short term by adding efficiencies to your existing structure.

Have you ever wondered what your recruiting firm was worth?

Speaker: Michael Gionta
3:00 pm –
3:30 pm
Coffee Break

Networking Coffee Break (30 minutes)

Take a moment to explore the exhibit hall and talk with the vendors! There are some great products and services showcased at the conference. While you’re there, get a refill on your coffee and gather your thoughts before heading in for the next round of breakout sessions!

3:30 pm –
4:30 pm
Breakout Session

Diversifying Your Business Income (60 minutes)

Jeremy Sisemore has built a practice that still embodies the traditional contingent and retained models of recruiting. However, he’s been able to create multiple revenue streams while being able to create more value for his clients.

  1. Staff Augmentation / Consulting — learn how to listen for buying signs and selling opportunities with your existing clients as well as the basics of how to set up interim placements. Place 1099 consultants with your clients and utilize contract-to-hire as alternate solution when a client is indecisive on one of your candidates.
  2. Priority-Engaged Search — understanding how to sell a hybrid pricing model that has the benefits of traditional retained search but also with performance guarantees for a customer that may be weary of the retained search option.
  3. Alternate Revenue Streams — Jeremy will walk through many other revenue streams that recruiters and recruiting firm owners should consider such as: M&A Brokering Services, RPO (Recruiter Process Outsourcing), Monthly Consulting Agreements, Team Transfer, Speaking Engagements, and even Channel Marketing Partnerships within your industry vertical.

Be prepared to have your mind stretched in this session; you won’t want to miss it!

Speaker: Jeremy Sisemore
3:30 pm –
4:30 pm
Breakout Session

Quality-First Sourcing (60 minutes)

  • Conni LaDouceur photo

Think you have a challenging or impossible position to fill? In this interactive session, Conni will demonstrate the “how-to’s” of ethical, efficient, effective telephone talent identification for recruiting, finding the talent that no one can find online. She will identify on-target talent by telephone from the hiring managers’ most desirable target companies: hire-ready candidates and she will play the recorded calls (recorded off-site) in which she has obtained the names, titles, phone numbers, e-mail address, and reporting relationships of the exact people who meet the position descriptions. What positions have been open the longest? What clients/hiring managers are suffering the most? What is the enterprise’s cost of filling these roles compared to the cost of vacancies? Her ethical, direct techniques are effective in all industries, all functions and at all levels, worldwide and demonstrate that original telephone research delivers the added ROI your company seeks. Think you have a challenging or impossible position to fill? Let’s challenge that!

As the go-to expert in recruiting for your company/client, ask yourself: Am I seeking the most qualified talent or the most available talent? Would I rather call 50 people to network with or 5 highly targeted prospects? How will this competitive intelligence increase my reputation as the go-to expert in recruiting? How can I save time and money while increasing quality?

Now you know how to add value to your clients/businesses beyond presenting candidates, improving your individual ROI in your companies and building your personal brands as “Deliverers of Results!”

What you can expect to learn in this session:

  • How to identify the on-target, qualified talent you seek from the very companies your clients/hiring managers want to recruit from
  • How to develop the smartest search strings to yield the greatest results
  • How to reel in truly passive talent
  • How to add value to your business beyond presenting candidates, improve your individual ROI in your firm & build your personal brand as the “Deliver of Results?”
Speaker: Conni LaDouceur
4:30 pm –
6:30 pm
Networking Reception

Networking Reception (120 minutes)

Wind down the day with drinks and appetizers in the exhibit hall — a great opportunity to find out what fellow attendees learned earlier. Don’t miss out on this chance to engage your colleagues in discussions about the challenges facing our industry. And if you see her there, make sure to wish the Conference Chair, Jenifer Lambert, a Happy 40th Birthday!

June 3, 2025
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Session / Description
8:00 am –
8:15 am
Opening Remarks

Opening Remarks (15 minutes)

Conference Chair Jenifer Lambert will recap yesterday’s sessions and highlight today’s discussions.

8:15 am –
9:30 am
General Session

How to Teach a Recruiter to Bill $1,010,349.50 in One Year (75 minutes)

Bob Marshall will walk you through the process of taking a ‘willing’ recruitment student to the million dollar plateau. In late 2006, at the suggestion of the past editor of The Fordyce Letter, Paul Hawkinson, David Thaler from Louisville, KY, called Bob and asked him the magical question, “Can you teach me how to reach one million dollars in production in one year?” Bob had been asked that on more than one occasion, but the timing was never right. This time it was. And the rest is history: $1,010,349.50 production in one year, 2007.

Bob will take you along on this journey. He will explain how he analyzes potential recruitment talent; how he looks for fixable behaviors; and how he diagnoses recruiter problems and prescribes the right remedies.

This session, as with all of Bob’s presentations, is a very ‘nuts and bolts’ approach based on reality. He will cover:

  1. The three main differences between superstars and average producers, along with the five main attributes of superstars
  2. Shaping your battlefield – defining and delimiting your marketplace
  3. Monitoring your daily numbers and knowing your ratios
  4. Why Marketing is King
  5. This is a process, not a series of events – ways to avoid the rollercoaster ride
  6. Planning for Focus
  7. Qualifying the JO
  8. “Never mistake Activity for Achievement”
  9. The Theory of Threes
  10. Knowledge Deficiencies versus Execution Deficiencies

Bob will include words of wisdom from Paul and two of his other million dollar colleague/students: one he simply calls ‘Robocruiter,’ and Andrew Jenkins, who is a London-based Brit recruiter.

This is a factual presentation. It is real. It is impactful. And the principles you will glean from it, simply put, work!

Speaker: Bob Marshall
9:30 am –
9:45 am
Coffee Break

Networking Coffee Break (15 minutes)

We know you will party hard on Thursday night! Take a quick break, stretch your legs, and grab a cup of coffee or tea before the next session gets started!

9:45 am –
10:45 am
Breakout Session

The Million-Dollar Duo: Two Methods for Building a Million-Dollar Desk (60 minutes)

  • Adam Dalva photo

Hitting one million dollars in cash-in per year is one of the first milestones that many of us shoot for in the recruiting business. There are two ways to do it: you can get on a desk and bill out a million dollars, or you can take what you already have and build on it. No matter which way you choose, it comes with some challenges.

In this session, Adam will provide insight on building a team, or turning your desk into a million dollar business. Twice in the last eight years he has started from scratch and built his firm to the million-dollar level within fifteen months, both in different industries, each time with a different team of recruiters. We will discuss:

  • How to build your business plan;
  • Hiring strategies;
  • Recruiter selection, and most importantly;
  • Your responsibilities in the process.
Speaker: Adam Dalva
9:45 am –
10:45 am
Breakout Session

Taming Your Technology: Tips for the Busy, Anti-"Social" Recruiter (60 minutes)

  • Eric Jaquith photo

Who has time to tweet? Eric’s session promises to provide you with productivity tips, tools, and strategies to apply to your digital resources and technology. Want to add an hour of productivity back to your day? Don’t miss this break-out!

Designed for those who never tweet, blog, or update their social media status, Eric’s session will show how you can still be very effective at finding and engaging talent for your clients. Expect lots of practical ideas on how to use and improve your existing technology as well as integrate and optimize the many free or affordable tools available. You’ll learn lots sneaky tricks and a few security tips for daily uses, as well as valuable information for mobile device and virtual work environments.

Speaker: Eric Jaquith
10:45 am –
11:00 am
Coffee Break

Networking Coffee Break (15 minutes)

This is your last (quad?) shot to meet your fellow attendees, ask a question of a speaker, and meet with our exhibitors. Grab a quick refill and get back to the content!

11:00 am –
12:00 pm
General Session

The Future of Recruiting and Next Practices (60 minutes)

  • Barbara Bruno photo

This is a compelling topic and yet we spend little time thinking five or ten years out. In 2009 owners were prepared for a rainy day and were hit with a tsunami! Recovery efforts followed but 58% of our profession went out of business. Those in the Staffing and Recruiting profession who think about and accurately plan for the future, will be the ones to lead and prosper.

Owners often discuss “Best Practices,” but during this session Barb will also discuss “Next Practices.” Learn how to ensure your practices are the best now and how you can effectively incorporate new practices to lead the charge into the future.

Learn how to identify trends and initiate timely changes
Understand why our Profession is cyclical
Set your ultimate goal and work backwards
Become proficient at making tough decisions fast
Know how to become the competition others envy
Know what and who to watch, rather than guess about the future

Speaker: Barbara Bruno
12:00 pm –
12:30 pm
Closing Session

Closing Session (30 minutes)

  • Jenifer Lambert photo

Conference Chair Jenifer Lambert will guide the audience through Fordyce Forum 2011 - extracting the greatest takeaways, most memorable moments, and sharing learnings from sessions you may have missed. You won’t want to miss this wrap-up!

Speaker: Jenifer Lambert

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