2009 Aquire Virtual Conference Receives Rave Reviews
Posted in Events on June 3rd, 2009 by Lois Melbourne – Be the first to commentGuest Post by Amy Cohen, Director of Marketing
We all hear that change is good and while I usually agree, I must admit that changing our live customer event to a virtual event was not one I was originally on board with. To say we have the greatest customers is an understatement. Which is why the entire Aquire team looks forward each year to hosting the Aquire User Conference. The event is filled with great sessions, workshops, networking and product training, but more importantly it’s the energy and the buzz you get from being around people that love your product as much as you do that makes it such a special event.
That being said, we understood that HR needs had changed a great deal in the past few months which was our motivation for going virtual. Travel and training dollars were non-existent and while I like my colleagues a great deal, I didn’t want to spend 3 days with just them at a resort – and no customers. Because of the momentum we have built over the past five years hosting live events, we didn’t want to lose that by not having a customer event at all this year. We weren’t sure if we would have four people or 400 attend our virtual sessions and were pleasantly surprised when we far surpassed our original attendance expectations!
The conference started with a fantastic keynote from Dr. Kevin Carlson, Associate Professor of Management at Virginia Tech. His keynote, “Rethinking HR Metrics and Workforce Analytics: Making Them Work For You,” set the tone for the remainder of the conference. The sessions that followed really focused on the impact that accurate information has on an organization whether it be headcount management, succession planning before major workforce transitions, short and long term organizational modeling, tracking budgets in your org chart or generating org charts specifically for executives. The common theme was if you aren’t making your workforce data work for you then it’s not going to work at all. The tips, tricks and best practices that were shared by our presenters and participants were invaluable to all those attended.
So, while virtual worked this year, we are eagerly planning next year’s live event. But enough from me, here are some comments from customers who attended the virtual conference – customers we can’t wait to see in Dallas next year!
“Thank you for having the Virtual Conference this year. It was a great idea.”
“Great conference in today’s economy and a great way to get information out to the users. Great job.”
“For this time where we are all looking at cost containment, this format was very timely. I learned a lot about your new products and got some quick tips. Great change.”
“The virtual conference had the advantage that I probably would not have been able to attend any sessions if travel was involved.”
“We really appreciate this kind of event. It has been a great help to us.”
Amy has been with Aquire since 2002 and has more that 15 years of experience in marketing and event management.

The return trip home from the