Stephen Fowler (fellow blogger and UK Sales Manager at Arithon) kindly invited me to be his guest at the Recruiter Awards earlier this week. The last time I attended one of the Recruiter awards ceremonies was back when they were lunch time affairs (which wrote off nearly an entire day without fail!).
The Recruiter Awards always get a good press and this year's event was superbly organised. Held at the Grosvenor House hotel with 84 tables full of the recruitment industry professionals (I have to say I did make a poor taste joke about what a perfect target the hotel made that night for anyone with a grudge against our industry - and sadly there must be a few out there!).
We started with champagne reception, then onto the main event where we seated for dinner; veggie quiche, perfectly cooked lamb and a pretty spectacular trifle. But I'm jumping ahead here. Before the food arrived Dee Dee (Editor of Recruiter Magazine) came on stage to introduce the awards (and mention that Thomas International were sponsoring for the 7th year - why can't they throw some of their marketing budget at us?!). Then onto starters and lamb and then Michael McIntyre came on to present the awards. He is a superb comedian and gave us about 10 mins of stand up. Then he moved very swiftly though the first 16 awards... quick stop for pudding and then onto the final 11 awards. The winners are listed on their website.
I managed to fit a bit of networking in during the breaks and whilst the food was being cleared away and caught up with a number of people who all were bloggers or twitter users (do I know anyone in the real world!). Sadly, I had to depart before the disco but I understand that all I missed was "dancing and drinking" (so no gossip to report).
My summary:
Positives: Superbly and professionally organised. Great to bring so many recruiters together for positive reasons. Nice opportunity to meet up with people I normally only communicate with via technology. Good to have a "proper" presenter
Drawbacks: 27 categories is a lot. Awards ceremonies are not a great networking ground (unless you smoke!). No one asked me to present an award and I didn't win one either!
Photo credit: TheSourceress
Louise, thanks much for your kind words, and we're so pleased you enjoyed yourself. Cheers, DeeDee
Posted by: DeeDee Doke | 01 May 2009 at 03:44 PM