2010 AAGE Wrap up - Kudo's, congrats and a little contemplation

Published 15 November 2010 by Andrea Culligan - CEO of unimail

First things first, Thanks to all in attendance for a great conference!  As usual, it was an amazing week with some fabulous people, both old and new!
 
The conference had some real highlights for me..
Employee Enragement with James Adonis set the tone of candid conversation covering real life issues and what employees really want.  Working with people you like, says Adonis, is what drives people to stay.  Getting those people who like each other to work effectively is the tricky bit.

The Melbourne Aquarium hosted 350 delegates and was sponsored by Fusion.  Huge thanks to David Cvetkovski and his team for what was a brilliant show as we all watched Ben Reeve’s tiny (jealous!) little ankles peering out of a scuba suit, holding placards of the winners from the night’s draw.

Thursday started again with inspiration by Reach, if only we were all as confident as Jodie.  Many in the crowd were moved.  

I also particularly enjoyed the GradConnection session on stats and how to read them.  It did get a little “CIA” for my liking but it was very interesting to see it in play.

BHP & PWC both brought to light the ins and outs of their grad programs and the ATO provided a fun and interactive view on how to communicate your campaign to the CEO.

Tim Wise of High Fliers turned us all on with his numbers as we headed into the Gala Awards night full of anticipation.

So the AGRIA’s!  As always some great companies and people were recognized on the night and we’d like to again congratulate them on their successes:


There were also some awesome stats that came out of the conference on the final day.  Some highlights from the AAGE Employer Survey report:

• Vacancy rates went from -22.2% to 18% : almost a 40% increase in grad jobs over the past 12 months!
• 65% of the 175 companies surveyed recruits from 1-25 grads
• 9% of those companies recruit over 100 grads
  

No for the contemplation.  It was a great conference, but I’ve noted one thing from all the sessions and all the questions and all the ideas.  Everyone keeps asking for the “Silver Bullet Approach”, the one thing that solves all problems for all people and unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.  Asking someone what kind of car they would like to buy would get you a range from Ferrari to Toyota, from red sports car to big black people mover.  It is never one size fits all. In the same way there are 10 different dress sizes in 10 different colors in 10 different price ranges, so too should there be grad campaigns.  What you need, want and want to say will determine which parts of the process you focus on the most.  Be sure to take the information you learnt and apply it how it works for you – not how it works for your neighbours.

I had a wonderful time at the conference, from shark tanks to science labs; from social media to print debates; from PWC to BHP; and from walking into a lift backwards to creating faux marketing campaigns for the ATO.  I loved meeting and learning from everyone.  I’m already excited for next year!

What did you enjoy the most?  Tweet it and msg me on @acculligan or email me and let me know!