Industry conferences provide a wide range of opportunities to learn new strategies and approaches, and understand how different technologies can help achieve your people objectives. Even better, conferences often provide the chance to network with other Talent Acquisition and Recruitment Marketing professionals to learn how they’re solving the same sorts of challenges you might be facing.
However, there are so many different conferences happening in our industry each year, that it can be tough to narrow down and decide which ones are the right fit for you. To help with the decision, here’s a comprehensive list of global Talent Acquisition conferences happening in 2020, along with some of the sessions that stand out as you look to increase your skills in Recruitment Marketing, employer branding and candidate experience.
We’ll be updating this list as more dates and sessions are confirmed, so bookmark this page and check back so that you can stay up to date on the latest details!
Before we get into our 2020 list, however, there’s an event in 2020 we absolutely have to highlight for you, which is the upcoming RallyFwd™ Virtual Conference!
RallyFwd™ Virtual Conference | May 6, 2020 – Virtual
Rally® Recruitment Marketing hosts a RallyFwd Virtual Conference two times a year, in May and December. Each free virtual conference is packed with expert guidance on Recruitment Marketing topics along with first-hand strategies and tactics. This May 6, 2020, our conference theme is “Elevate Your Employer Brand,” and we’ll be hearing from an amazing line-up of speakers on a range of employer branding topics that can help you level up your approach in 2020. Our closing keynote speaker will be Kathryn Minshew, CEO & Founder of The Muse. 99% of RallyFwd attendees would attend again, so be sure to save the date and register early.
RallyFwd isn’t the only conference worth mentioning in 2020. Here’s our curated list of the best Recruitment Marketing, talent acquisition, employer branding and candidate experience conferences to consider in 2020. Happy planning, Rally community!
Talent Acquisition and Recruitment Marketing Conferences in 2020
Winter 2020 Conferences
Talent Acquisition Week | January 28 – 30, 2020, in San Francisco, California
This year, 3 of the best conferences in the industry – the Social Recruiting Strategies Conference (SRSC), the Employer Branding Strategies Conference (EBrandCon) and the Talent Sourcing Strategies Summit – are taking place at one new industry mega event: Talent Acquisition Week. This comprehensive event in San Francisco will deliver insights on sourcing, recruiting and employer branding.
Stand-out sessions include:
- “Digital Marketing Strategies for Recruiting,” presented by Sara Pieper, Director of Global Employer Brand Marketing at Covance, and Hanady Khourshid, Manager of Employer Brand & Diversity at CDW, and moderated by Rally Founder Lori Sylvia.
- Get the slides from Rally’s session on Digital Marketing Strategies for Recruiting for a behind-the-scenes look at the strategies and results of real digital marketing campaigns used to attract talent, presented by Covance and CDW.
- You can also learn more from Covance and CDW about their effective digital marketing recruiting tactics that increase conversion rates on their careers sites and social media ads.
- “Structuring an Internal Employer Brand Team: From Costs to KPIs,” delivered by Charlotte Marshall, Global Employer Brand Lead at Danaher
- “Get More Out of Your Diversity Strategy,” delivered by Dan Sines, CEO at Traitify
- “Creating and Optimizing Content to Connect with Candidates,” delivered by Allison Kruse, Director of Content and Social Media at Kforce
Hiring Success | February 11-12, 2020, in San Francisco, California
The annual North American Smart Recruiters Conferences focuses on sessions that help elevate talent acquisition as a strategic partner to the business.
Stand-out sessions include:
- “Building Brand Awareness” – learn employer branding strategies from companies like Uber, Netflix and Spotify
- “How to Hire on Instagram”
- “How to Write So People Want to Listen”
IAMPHENOM | March 3-5, 2020, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phenom People’s annual conference offers up sessions on a range of TA relevant topics including candidate experience, recruitment marketing, employee experience, HR technology and more.
Sessions for 2020 have yet to be announced but speakers to date include:
- Mark Divine, Retired Navy Seal Commander & NYT Bestselling Author
- Mahe Bayireddi, CEO & Co-Founder at PhenomPeople
- Chip Heath, NYT Bestselling Author & Professor at Stanford
TalentNet Live | March 13, 2020, in Austin, Texas at Vrbo HQ
Talent Net is an annual conference that focuses on using the power of brand and human connection to improve recruiting and sales efforts. Some of the topics of interest for 2020 will include AI sourcing, job board strategy and media buying advice, talent acquisition’s growing influence on HR, inbound recruiting with employee advocates, employer branding verses job branding, and more.
SourceCon in North America | March 23-25, 2020, in Seattle, Washington
SourceCon is ERE’s sourcing specific conference, which focuses on creative ways to attract and engage with talent.
Stand-out sessions include:
- “Starting With Why to Inspire Candidates to Action,” delivered by Victor Ongpin, Senior Technical Recruiter at Outreach
- “Juggling the Tips, Tricks and Tools You Need to Succeed,” delivered by Dean Da Costa, Enterprise Sourcing Practice Lead at Lockheed Martin
Spring 2020 Conferences
ERE Recruiting Conference | April 15-17, 2020, in San Diego, California
ERE Recruiting Conference features speakers sharing real-life examples and results from implementing an innovative recruiting initiative or strategy.
Stand-out sessions include:
- “My Journey in Recruitment Artificial Intelligence Experimentation,” delivered by Mike Rasmussen, Sr. Talent Acquisition Business Partner at ADP
- “The Employee Advocacy Program We Created From Scratch,” delivered by Allison Kruse, Director of Content and Social Media at Kforce
- “Gaining Traction Using Social Media,” delivered by Lee Wills-Irvine, Head of Talent Acquisition & Culture at Sony Electronics
SHRM Talent Conference & Exposition | April 20-22, 2020, in Orlando, Florida
SHRM’s annual Talent Conference & Exposition aims to help organizations stay on top of the latest industry trends and best practices to advance their Talent Acquisition functions. Next year’s details have yet to be released, but last year’s program focused on a wide range of topics including diversity and inclusion, hiring assessments and internal development and mobility.
Talent Brand Summit | April 21-23, 2020, in Austin, Texas
Talent Brand Summit is a 2-day workshop for Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing practitioners. While next year’s exact session details have yet to be released, the site shares that the facilitators will include practitioners who have built out advanced programs or functions for companies like Instacart, Salesforce and Lyft.
RallyFwd™ Virtual Conference | May 6, 2020 – Virtual
Rally® Recruitment Marketing hosts a RallyFwd Virtual Conference two times a year, in May and December. Each free virtual conference is packed with expert guidance on Recruitment Marketing topics along with first-hand strategies and tactics. This May 6, 2020, our conference theme is “Elevate Your Employer Brand.” Leading practitioners will present their proven employer brand strategies, what technologies and platforms they use, how they have been able to elevate their employer brand, why their bold approach and investment has created a recruiting advantage, and the measurable results they’ve achieved.
Our closing keynote speaker will be Kathryn Minshew, CEO & Founder of The Muse. 99% of RallyFwd attendees would attend again, so be sure to save the date and register early.
Top Talent Summit Calgary | May 6-7, 2020, in Calgary, Canada
Top Talent Summit is back for the 7th year running! This event, which focuses on strategies, tactics and approaches for levelling up your talent acquisition career, has sold out for the last 4 years. There is also Top Talent Summit event taking place in Toronto June 3-4, 2020.
Most sessions for 2020 have yet to be announced but speakers to date include:
- Chris Havrilla, VP and Head of HR Technology at Deloitte
- Jonathan Mears, Global Head of Executive Talent Acquisition at VISASydney Coleman, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Programs Manager at Google
Indeed Interactive | May 11-13, 2020, in Austin, Texas
The Indeed team knows how to put on a great conference! Their conferences are always multi-day events with great experiences built in to keep attendees entertained as they learn. The focus for 2020 is on “A Better World of Work,” and sessions will address how the way we work is changing and what Talent Acquisition professionals can do to rise to meet this new world of work. Next year’s agenda has yet to be released but you can view last year’s agenda for an idea of the calibre of speakers and topics covered.
World Employer Branding Day | May 13-15, 2020, in Lisbon, Portugal
If you have the budget and appetite for a destination conference, World Employer Branding Day could be a great fit. World Employer Branding Day aims to pull together senior leaders and their teams from around the world together to discuss and share best practices, in an approachable and friendly environment.
Stand-out sessions include:
- “Authentic Employer Branding: It Works When Told Right,” delivered by Alon Laniado, Co-Founder of Path Motion, and Emma Britton, EMEA Graduate Recruitment Marketing Manager at Citi
- “Putting Diversity and Inclusion at the Heart of Your Employer Brand,” delivered by Holly Lignelli, Head of Talent Brand, Global Accounts and Connected Enterprise at LinkedIn
- “Enhancing the Human Side of Hiring with AI,” delivered by Matt Burney, Senior Recruitment Evangelist, Employer Insights at Indeed
RecruitCon | May 14-15, 2020, in Denver, Colorado
RecruitCon brings together Talent Acquisition professionals from around the world for 2 days of focused learning around sourcing and hiring best practices. While next year’s agenda has yet to be released, the event will focus on topics like employer brand strategy, AI and automation tools and how to create great videos for talent attraction.
SourceCon in EMEA | May 14-15, 2020, in Lisbon, Portugal
SourceCon puts an emphasis on attracting speakers who can share their real-life sourcing success stories with attendees. The event features a range of innovative session types as well, including hackathons and innovation labs.
Most sessions for 2020 have yet to be announced but speakers to date include:
- Mark Tortorici, Founder and Training Expert at Transform Talent Acquisition
- Evelyn Eagan, Head of Sourcing at Morgan McKinley
- Akberali Engineer, Global Sourcing CoE Lead at ThoughtWorks
Summer 2020 Conferences
Top Talent Summit Toronto | June 3-4, 2020, in Toronto, Canada
Top Talent Summit is back for the 7th year running! This event, which focuses on strategies, tactics and approaches for levelling up your talent acquisition career, has sold out for the last 4 years. There is also Top Talent Summit event taking place in Calgary May 6-7, 2020.
Most sessions for 2020 have yet to be announced but speakers to date include:
- Chris Havrilla, VP and Head of HR Technology at Deloitte
- Jonathan Mears, Global Head of Executive Talent Acquisition at VISA
- Sydney Coleman, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Programs Manager at Google
HCI Strategic Talent Acquisition Summit | June 22-24, 2020, in Everett, Massachusetts
The Human Capital Institute’s annual conference focuses on the information you need to build and adjust your overall Talent Acquisition strategy. This year, the theme is “Rethink Analytics, Process, and Tech to Close Talent Gaps.” While most session details have yet to be released, we’re excited about the “How to Write Better Job Postings” workshop with Katrina Kibben, Writing Coach for Recruiters, CEO and Founder, Three Ears Media.
Australasian Talent Conference | 24-25 June, 2020, in Sydney, Australia
The annual Australasian Talent Conference (ATC) markets itself as the largest gathering of Talent Acquisition industry professionals in the southern hemisphere. This year, ATC’s primary focus is on “putting people, purpose, empathy, transparency, trust and reciprocity at the very core of recruitment design.” Session details for 2020 have yet to be released.
SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition | June 28-July 1, 2020, in San Diego, California
This annual mega conference features sessions and speakers that are relevant to individuals across Human Resource disciplines. The event also features a Talent track, chock-full of sessions geared towards Talent Acquisition and Recruitment Marketing practitioners.
Stand-out sessions include:
- “Employee Offboarding Matters: Three Reasons Why HR Should Give Exiting Employees the Red Carpet Treatment,” delivered by Ramond Lee, CEO at Careerminds Group Inc.
- “Becoming a Best Employer: Mastering the Six-Step Process to Build Your Unique Employment Brand,” delivered by Bob Kelleher, CEO at The Employee Engagement Group
- “Choice as the New Competitor: Use the Employee Experience to Recruit and Retain Top Talent,” delivered by Stacey Kervin, HR Practice Group Manager at Kronos
Fall 2020 Conferences
Jobvite Recruiter Nation Live | 2020 date and venue TBA, typically September
Jobvite’s Recruiter Nation Live is an annual conference that focuses on candidate engagement and attraction. Details are yet to be released for the 2020 conference, but some of last year’s topics included candidate communications, data-driven decision making and diversity & inclusion hiring.
LinkedIn Talent Connect | October 14-16, 2020, in Boston, Massachusetts
LinkedIn’s annual Talent Acquisition conference, Talent Connect, draws thousands of attendees from around the world. In 2019, the event boasted 4,600 attendees! While 2020 details have yet to be announced, this conference always attracts top-quality speakers and innovative, actionable sessions. Some areas of interest for Recruitment Marketers from the 2019 schedule included how storytelling can complement AI tools, employee advocacy how-tos and the ways that word choice impacts talent attraction.
RallyFwd Virtual Conference | December 2020, exact date TBA – Virtual
Rally Recruitment Marketing hosts a RallyFwd Virtual Conference two times a year, in May and December. Each free virtual conference is packed with expert guidance on Recruitment Marketing topics along with first-hand strategies and tactics.
We hope this list helps you to choose which conferences make the most sense for you and your team to attend, based on what you’re looking to accomplish in 2020.
Let us know your top conference picks on our Rally Recruitment Marketing Facebook page or on Twitter at @Rally_RM. We’re looking forward to hearing what conferences you plan to attend next year!
Note: this blog post will continue to be updated as more events and associated details are released throughout 2020. Bookmark and check back for updates!
