During May, June and July I will be flying around the US to attend a series of regional SuccessFactors customer events called “Learning and Recruiting Throwdowns”. I normally don’t get too excited about travelling across the country to attend best practice sessions since they tend to look and sound the same. But throwdowns are different. My only regret is I can’t make it to all eight events:
Dallas, TX: Central Recruiting Throwdown hosted by BNSF Railway on May 25th.
Charlotte, NC: Southeast Recruiting Throwdown hosted by Carolinas Health System on June 2nd Milwaukee, WI: Midwest Recruiting Throwdown hosted by Harley-Davidson on June 22nd
Irvine, CA: West Recruiting Throwdown hosted by Capital Group on July 20th.
Atlanta, GA: Southeast Learning (LMS) Throwdown hosted by AGCO on June 8th
New York, NY: Northeast Learning (LMS) Throwdown hosted by Ralph Lauren on June 21st
Los Angeles, CA: West Learning (LMS) Throwdown hosted by CBRE on June 28th
Chicago, IL: Central Learning (LMS) Throwdown hosted by Allstate on July 13th
Note that LMS Throwdowns will include an extra day of system training for interested participants.
If you are a SuccessFactors Recruiting or Learning (LMS) customer I encourage you to attend at least one of the throwdowns as an audience member. If you want to maximize the experience, enter as a contestant. It’s a fun, easy and incredibly valuable event. Here’s why:
Throwdowns bring out the best in best practices. The “Throwdown” concept was suggested by one of our customers last year when we were studying innovations in performance management (http://scn.sap.com/community/business-trends/blog/2015/08/11/5-examples-of-effective-performance-man... ). Modeled after a cooking show with the same name, Throwdowns create a friendly but competitive environment where customers showcase human capital management methods that have been particularly effective in their organizations. Because contestants are competing they focus on things that are uniquely differentiating about their processes. Contestants also receive extensive support from SuccessFactors subject matter experts in advance of the event to hone in on parts of their processes that are the most interesting, innovative and “cool”. This serves to eliminate the standard, generic content found in many best practice sessions and focuses on practices that are really new and different. The stuff you can really learn from.
Throwdowns exemplify effective “enter-trainment”. “Enter-trainment” refers to mixing educational content with engaging delivery methods. Throwdowns are an example of the right way to do enter-trainment. Start with extensive, content rich knowledge gained from customer experiences and mix it with a fast, action packed, and engaging delivery format. The result is a combination of learning and laughter that leaves participants with a wealth of useful insights and ideas. But, as they say on late night TV ads, that’s not all! Throwdowns also include roundtable conversations where audience members, contestants, and subject matter experts meet in small groups to delve into the details around different capabilities and ways to use SuccessFactors technology.
Throwdowns are free to SuccessFactors customers. Throwdowns are delivered through the SuccessFactors Value Innovation in Practice (VIP) program. The VIP program works with customers to host events around the globe where SuccessFactors SMEs and customers come together to share tips on maximizing the value of SuccessFactors’ solutions. VIP events are free for existing SuccessFactors customers. Note, some VIP events such as throwdowns may be restricted to customers meeting certain minimum solution licensing criteria as this ensures customers are meeting with other customers they can learn from.
If you work for a company in North America that is currently using SuccessFactors Recruiting or Learning (LMS) solutions I hope you will join one of the upcoming regional throwdowns Attend as an audience member, or better yet enter as a contestant. I’ve found many customers don’t realize how innovative they actually are until they compare themselves to others. Contestants also receive one-on-one consultations with SuccessFactors solution experts to help them prepare for the event. And regional event winners get to participate in the Grand North American Throwdown event this August at SuccessConnect!
Click on the following links in the SuccessFactors customer community to learn more about Learning and Recruiting Throwdowns in your region including how to sign up:
Learning (LMS) Throwdowns https://community.successfactors.com/t5/VIP-Best-Practice-Resources/Upcoming-LMS-Throwdowns-Register...
Recruiting Throwdowns https://community.successfactors.com/t5/VIP-Best-Practice-Resources/Upcoming-Cloud-Recruiting-Throwd...
Hope to see you at an upcoming throwdown near you!
Note: Although the throwdowns are all held in the US, we encourage customers in Canada or Mexico to participate. The location of the events was determined by availability of customer hosts. If you are a SuccessFactors customer and are interested in hosting a VIP event at your company please contact your SuccessFactors Customer Engagement Executive (CEE).
