Talent Unconference

Wireless or Wired, but Always Connected

Still working out the details, but in each conference room in which the Taluncon will be taking place, we will have either open wireless connections or a hub with wires you can patch into.

This is being provided so that people can use their laptops to write about what is going on (and post on this blog) and connect with resources outside their group to get questions answered. Some have said that they think I am crazy... that by providing Net I am ensuring that everyone will be doing their email and IM'ing instead of interacting. But I bet not. You all worked hard to get here, so wasting the opportunity by doing something that you could have done at home wouldn't make much sense.

Anyway, I like the "Competition in the Attention Market" theory. If I am walking around and seeing everyone doing their email instead of participating then I will know that the session blows and that the experiment is a failure. That feedback is invaluable for improving how (and if) this gets done in the future.

So bring your laptops (and your spare batteries, because there likely won't be many places to plug in) and create a direct link to the outside world while the Unconference is going on.

Wall of Fame

I will be sending out particulars around the agenda by the end of this weekend (some moving parts involved which I am just trying to get straightened out).

But regardless of what time we start you need to get there about 15 minutes early. Why?

• We have a lot of people checking in and I will only have one EA security guard there to get you badged and signed-in.
• We have to take your picture and get some info for our "Wall of Fame."

About the Wall of Fame. Linda Glass had this idea when we were talking about the Taluncon at Kevin Wheeler's Future of Talent conference. We were trying to figure out a way for everyone to share information about themselves in a fun and informative manner, and Linda suggested that we take a Polaroid of everyone, ask them to fill out a one page piece of paper with questions about what you expect to learn at Taluncon, what you like to teach and how you can best be reached. Then we are going to tape your pictures and info sheets on a big wall and offer a bunch of color markers. During the course of the day you will be able to take a marker and draw a line from your picture to the picture of people who you know (or have met) at the Taluncon. In this way everyone will be able to get a visual snapshot of all the connections at the event.

So please show up early and get ready to write and take a picture, because you are going on the Wall of Fame.

Video Anyone?

Part of Taluncon is attempting to build a multi-media archive of what went on at the event so participants can refresh their memories later, and people who can't attend can (hopefully) learn something from the event.

In the ever growing number of ways that EA is helping this all to happen (and let me tell you, with Cindy Nicola, Chris Nicola and the rest of the EA team, there is no way this would be happening), EA is going to have a video crew take about 20 minutes of video of the groups and also film the end-of-session report outs (morning and afternoon), which I will edit (in my copious free time) and get onto the blog.

But I still need some amateur videographers for each of the sessions. So if you can bring your video camera and some video tape, and want to record the session you are attending, and then upload the video to a special, invite-only area of YouTube (Sean will show us all how), and then put the link to the video up on this blog (again, Sean will show us how).

If you are interested in helping with video please leave a comment here or email me at jjhunter at ea dot com.

And remember, in addition to the video wonderland we will create, Peter Clayton will be creating podcasts of the events as he gets around to interview various attendees.

The Current List of 80 (Well 62)

Here is the current list of people who have expressed interest in the Taluncon. While this list is now 80 people long, as the notes will show it really only represents about 62 confirmed and 18 "definite maybes". If you know any of the people who are maybes please pitch in to convince them to show up. They are a great group of people and would add immeasurably to the experience.

To those of you who have confirmed... I am honored to have you be a part of this. I don't know whether it will be a "recruiting Woodstock" or not (someone sent me that comment earlier this week), but I do know that you should avoid brownies from strangers.

(In alpha order by last name)

Gary Alpert - I put my friend Gary on here in the hopes that he will be able to show, but their recent merger probably will prevent that from happening.
Mary Bows
Anna Brekka
Neal Bruce
Susan Burns
Phil Carpenter
Kristi Cavanagh
John Chaisson - John wants to come but has some conflicts and don't know if he can make it. For those of you who know John, he would be a great addition, so let's keep the pressure up.
Joel Cheesman
Peter Clayton
Sheila Couch
Gerry Crispin
Jim Cunneen - Jim may have jury duty, which as a former California State Assemblyman is not something he can ignore. Here's hoping he can make it.
Leonard Dandurand
Jason Davis
Christine Deputy
Scot Dow
Mike Euglow - Just got an email from Mike saying he has an emergency and won't be there. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Greg Garrison
Philip Gee - Just told me he has a conflict, but I am going to try to talk him out of it. Phil is awesome.
Hans Gieskes
Amitai Givertz
Linda Glass
Gautam Godhwani
Nancy Gray-Starkebaum
Bill Hanniman
John Havenaar
Joseph Hentz
Steve Hunt
Dennis Hunter
Krist Jake
Mark Jennings
Tara King
Colin Kingsbury
Sophie Kitson-Crolla
Lance Knobel
Dave Lefkow
Steve Levy - I owe Steve a phone call and keep getting hammered and not making the call. Sorry Steve. Call me on my cell.
Dart Lindsley
Peter MacGregor
Michele Macready
Humera Malik - Humera may have some conflicts, but is hoping to make it to at least part.
David Manaster
Kevin Martin
Sabrina Martinez - I have had some nice email conversations with Sabrina recently. Still trying to convince the powers that be that she should be there. I really hope she is.
Mark Mehler
Ryan Money
Scott Morrison
Chris Murdock
Joe Murphy
Peter Navin - An all around great guy and somebody who should be there, but probably too busy.
Chris Nicola - Another wonderful human being who I hope can attend.
Cindy Nicola - I am getting lots of good press for the Unconference, but at least 1/2 of it belongs to her. It wouldn't be happening without her active support.
Niels Christian Nielsen - May be in Denmark. One of the brightest people I have ever known. I really hope he can make it.
Alex Pedregon
Steve Pollack - Another great guy who may not be able to make it because of the recent merger.
Todd Raphael
Sean Rehder
Todd Richman - I have to admit that I threw Todd on the list because he was one of the best guys I have ever worked with, but he just started a new job and probably can't make it.
Scott Robarge - The last I heard from Scott it was iffy.
Jason Roberts - Jason told me he was interested but haven't been in touch with him since. You out there Jason?
Rob Salerno
Tey Scott
Frank Sennett - I wrote an article for Frank's publication before the holidays and thought he had expressed interest, but haven't heard from him lately, so may be a no-show.
Michael Shafrir
Craig Silverman
Raghav Singh
Martin Snyder
Chad Sowash
Shally Steckerl
Laura Stoker
Hank Stringer
John Sumser
Kristen Weirick
Mary Welsh
Dan White
David Williams - A definite maybe... pretty swamped back in DC.
Bob Wilson - The last time I talked with Bob (back at the Kennedy conference) he said he was interested, but haven't heard from him recently. You still interested Bob?
Wesley Wu
Kara Yarnot

Calling Out Track Leaders (Take 1)

Jason and David?
Shally and Kristi?
Scott and Nancy?
John and Raghav?
Sean and Colin?
Dennis?

Where are you guys? Dave and Susan have already put up the description of what they are going to tackle and it is damn good. Who is going to be next?

Send me Email First

Thanks to Sean for putting up the registration post, although we will be sending an email to confirm too. In order to get final numbers for meals and space everyone is going to have to confirm their attendance and tell us what sessions you want to attend.

One note: please do NOT use the form below as a way to tell us that you are interested in attending. You need to send an email to jjhunter at ea dot com first in order to do that.  This form is just for people that have already expressed interest. How do you know? If you got an invitation to be a guest author on this blog then we have your name and expressed interest. If you didn't, we didn't, and you need to send me an email.

Which Sessions Do You Want?

Just need some quick info so that we know what sessions people will be attending.  You also may have received this request in an email. To the right you will see a simple form for all participants who have already signed up with Jeff to attend the day event.  Just enter your name and pick your morning and afternoon sessions. Also, there will be a poker for charity event after the day's event going until possibly 1 am so please let me know if you will be attending.  :) Here is more information on the poker event.

Name   Morning Session Please Choose Future Tech Meaningful Connections Process Excellence Sustainable Sourcing Talent Planning & Strategy The Big Pipe Value of Talent   Afternoon Session Please Choose Future Tech Meaningful Connections Process Excellence Sustainable Sourcing Talent Planning & Strategy The Big Pipe Value of Talent   Staying for poker?     Please Choose Yes, I'll be staying No, Can't Stay

Sumser & Singh Lead "Value of Talent"

I am pleased to announce that John Sumser and Raghav Singh will be leading a new track called "The Value of Talent." Their pitch was pretty compelling. I look forward to their posting it here sometime soon.

Sean - add another track to the registration form (Sean just showed me the mock-up, and we're almost ready to get our Taluncon Salesforce implementation going so that we can track information for future Taluncon leaders).

Going to SanFran

Jeff H. kindly called me out of the woodwork, and I will be at the Unconference-  Jeff and I have talked in the past about the central role of K-12 education both in America and in Human Capital.   I hope I can contribute among such a stellar group of people and I think this event is going to be, at the very least, a darn good time, and maybe a whole lot more.   Looking forward to seeing everyone there--

Track Leaders... Start Your Engines!

Starting to get a lot of interest in the specific content and approaches of the individual track leaders. So I am asking each of the track leaders to get together with their co-leaders, put together their morning opportunity statements and backgrounds and their afternoon problems statements and backgrounds (if you have questions, just check here) and get them posted on this blog as soon as you can!

Sean Rehder and I are working to get a web application up so that each of the participants can express their interest in the morning and afternoon session ahead of time (and confirm your attendance). That will probably be up by this Friday. In the meantime, if you are ahead of the game (like Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler), just email me your choices or, better yet, post them here on the blog!