More than 400 attendees came to Avionté’s 8th Annual Client Connection Forum (CCF), which included 13 partners and 100+ Avionté employees. The Forum, themed “Elev8”, offered plenty of options to network, learn and grow their knowledge to equip themselves for today’s staffing industry and use Avionté staffing software more efficiently. The event was held at the Marriott City Center in downtown Minneapolis, and offered two full days of roundtable and breakout sessions, encouraging attendees to “optimize, elevate and thrive” by choosing from over 30 session topics to suit their unique needs in their roles.
The second day of the Client Connection Forum included a State of the Company address from John Long, Avionté’s CEO followed by a Keynote presentation from staffing industry expert, Scott Wintrip which included insights from Scott’s research on hiring the right talent in the right way and speeding up the onboarding process in today’s on-demand economy.
After a relaxed breakfast in the atrium, Long took the stage at 9 a.m. and spoke for a half hour about the company’s continued focus on partnerships and acquisitions. The speech included tidbits on noteworthy Development and Product updates since last year, noting Avionté’s focus on “SaaS-based upgrades”. Doug Newman, Former President of AST, also took the stage briefly to talk about Avionté’s recent acquisition of the company. Then, John gave the stage to Wintrip, who spoke for an hour and a half and gave attendees a glimpse of what they could read in his new book, “High Velocity Hiring” and on the “7 Principles of an On-Demand System”.
With a conversational style of speaking, Wintrip started his presentation with a story about his experiences in hiring and noted that, “in a world that keeps moving faster every single day… candidates are living in a world where speed is required for business. Yet, here’s the problem – hiring is getting slower.” His discoveries along the way led him to write his just-released book, “High Velocity Hiring”, which focused on how to “delivery speedy staffing” more efficiently through seven steps.
What was one key takeaway Wintrip encouraged all attendees to walk away remembering? “Speed creates engagement. Engagement quickly builds trust. And keeping people engaged sustains that trust,” said Wintrip.
Wintrip’s presentation wrapped up at 11 a.m. After his presentation, attendees chose from a variety of roundtable session topics, all of which counted for Continuing Education credits. These sessions included topics such as role optimization, marketing strategies, appealing to the millennial workforce and more. More sessions were offered throughout the afternoon. After a break from lunch, attendees made their way to afternoon breakout sessions, which took place in smaller meeting rooms located on the Marriott’s 4th, 6th and 8th floors.
The energy of, and learning opportunities for, attendees, partners and employees remained high throughout the day and continued on for the Client Connection Forum Customer Panel session, which took place at 3 p.m. in the General Session space. The panelists included: Tiffany Farr, Vision Staffing Solutions, Fran McGlynn, Protocall Group, Joan Paxton, Tristarr Staffing, Aimee Nichols, Penmac Personnel Services, and Laura Schmitz, Opportunities, Inc.
“We’ve heard over the years that one of the most valuable things you gain from is hearing from your peers,” said Rachel Graff, Customer Solutions Manager, when introducing the Customer Panel. The panelist fielded questions from the moderator on topics including preparing for industry changes, workplace compliance challenges and elevating efficiency.
In addition to the over 40 sessions – including the Keynote, State of the Industry Address and Customer Panel, the Client Connection Forum also included plenty of opportunity for attendees to get to know Avionté’s technical teams and partners. The Minnesota Room on the Marriott’s 6th floor included tables with representatives from nearly every department to answer questions and increase understanding of the features and functionality offered in Avionté’s newest version, Suite 17.1, a fully SaaS-based staffing software platform which includes a Recruiter Module, Talent Module and Job Board Module. Thirteen of Avionté’s partners were also positioned at tables in on the Atrium level of the Marriott. Avionté is a leading staffing software provider in providing partnerships and integrations to improve business efficiencies and save time and money.
Tony Poetz, Technical Writing Manager, and Rachel Graff, Customer Solutions Manager, took the stage at 4 p.m. for a quick closing and “thank you” to attendees who’d come out for the two-day conference and pre-conference activities. Prizes were also given out at the closing to attendees who’d participated in the challenges that took place throughout the event.
It was another great day of learning and networking, and attendees, partners and Avionté employees celebrated at the day’s evening event at The Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, a unique music venue located in the city’s “Dinkytown” area. The crowd remained strong for hours into the night, with food, drinks dancing and more.