Rec Expo kicked off on Tuesday 19th March 2024 for 2 days of celebrating everything relating to the recruitment industry and the amazing recruiters who work within it. The bi-annual event has been running for 12 years, and this year The Recruitment Agency Expo was held at the Excel Centre in London for the second year running and was a mixture of industry supplier stands, informative seminars and networking opportunities.
The 2024 London Expo was a key event for us as it was our first one since the company launch in January 2024, here are our highlights over the two days: –
WHY WE ATTENDED REC EXPO
The Recruitment Agency Expo has always been something we have attended when in previous roles, it allows us to network with the many industry suppliers who have stands and those who attend over the two days. We used the opportunity to advertise the MAYACHI services in conversation and whilst wearing our new MAYACHI t-shirt. I had been out of the industry radar for nearly 5 months due to taking a break after my last role, so this was a great way to reconnect with industry friends and colleagues.
THE SEMINARS
On the first day, I attended the seminar given by Andy Dunne from the TEAM Network talking about networking and I also attended the very popular seminar held by Baroness Karren Brady. On day 2, I attended the marketing seminar held by Christina Robinson from Green Umbrella Marketing as well as the panel discussion from the Recruitment Start-up Hub. All the seminars were well attended and gave great insights into the speakers’ fields.
CAN YOU GENERATE LEADS BY VISITING THESE EVENTS?
The main focus of us being at Rec Expo was to use the time to speak to the other suppliers who would hopefully be able to introduce MAYACHI’s services to their customers (and vice versa). However, whilst waiting to get into one of the seminars, I spoke to a new start-up medical agency that is interested in our services. I also met with another agency that wanted to arrange a meeting following my recent LinkedIn post regarding attending the Expo. Both opportunities show that attending these Expo’s is as important and beneficial as having a stand.
OUR REC EXPO HIGHLIGHTS
Reconnecting with old friends and suppliers has to be one of our highlights. On day 1, we’d just got back into the main hall after lunch and sat down at one of the tables around the hall to check emails before taking another walk around the stands. Within 2 minutes of sitting down, we had two suppliers we’d had not seen for some time come up and say hi. We then had a message from another supplier and a call from a client from a previous company to ask where we were and they joined us. Another supplier came over and suddenly there were 8 of us around the table introducing each other, talking about the Expo and how business was going. After an hour I had to attend a planned meeting, but the group decided to continue to network between them even after I had left.
WHAT DID WE GAIN FROM THE EVENT?
The Expo has helped promote our services to a larger number of people in 2 days than some of the promotional projects we’ve done over the past 3 months. Over the two days we managed to have over 40 conversations about MAYACHI’s services and these conversations should lead to introductions and potential clients over the next 6-12 months. I got to understand more about the services and products offered by the various industry suppliers which could be of benefit to MAYACHI clients.
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT REC EXPO!
Following the success of the London Expo, we will certainly be attending the next Expo in October. This show is slightly different from the London one as it is at the Birmingham NEC, which means most visitors will have to drive to attend. However, based on previous shows, it will still be a good one to network with industry professionals and gain insights into the industry.
Rec Expo is a great advert for the recruitment industry and how it embraces new technology and methodology to help fill those all-important vacancies and keep the wheels of the industry moving in various sectors. If you attended, what was your biggest takeaway from the event? Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know!