The conference organised by the Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD) in October has become an annual event for general managers, managers and HR professionals. The conference has grown from an event of shared professional and a showcase of good HR practices to one that offers unique opportunities to local suppliers of people and office related services to reach out to their clients. Attendance at the conference is such that it has attracted a record number of exhibitors ranging from insurance and banking services to consultancy and training and software, as well as an opportunity for public agencies such as the ETC and the Malta Qualifications Council to raise the profile of their services. These institutions identified the FHRD conference and the HR & Training Fair as a platform through which they can communicate their message effectively.
The ETC used the event to promote its employment and training schemes and tap into new sources of placement for those seeking employment. On the other hand MQRIC moved closer to employers who are increasingly committing resources to upgrade their workforce and therefore seeking this public agency to accredit their training programmes.
Those coming from the private sector included GO, CSB Group, Rentastore, Key Training, Shireburn, MIT Centre, Future Focus, Outdoor Living Ltd, Castille Resources, Dakar Software, Malta Qualifications Council, ETC, Weave Consulting, EMD, Cross Roads, MIB (Mediterranean Insurance Brokers), MCAST, STC Training and D-Consulta.
From a survey conducted among these exhibitors, most expressed their satisfaction with the organization of the conference and HR and Training Fair. Exhibitors reported that the nature of this fair is unique in terms of the specialist audience that attends the conference, who also happen to be the decision makers in their respective companies. This opportunity enables exhibitors to come face to face with these managers and obtain first hand information from these potential clients.
The FHRD conference is the perfect venue where managers have the time to discuss and explore needs with exhibitors. The whole environment is a professional one where suppliers and purchasers can do business. There is no other event in Malta where so many managers and decision makers gather under one roof and have the time to explore options.
Caren Portelli, Head of Recruitment and Services at CSB Group said: “Exhibiting at FHRD’S national annual conference always generates a positive experience due to the consistent high attendance. Since we specialise in business and commercial services, we consider this event as the best one for us to reach our target audience. We get to have quality time with HR professionals − the ones we want to work with as third party recruiters. To be part of such a high quality event which attracts so much energy has not only been a success for our business in monetary value but in terms of exposure, contacts, knowledge gain and confidence as a professional it is invaluable.”
Another benefit mentioned by the exhibitors was the ability to promote awareness and offer exposure of their product and service. This is particularly important for those organizations exhibiting for the first time, as well as for those businesses with a new product or service. Roberta Lepre, Managing Consultant at Weave Consultancy stated: “Participating in this event provided us with an excellent opportunity to create awareness and arouse curiosity about our product since it is a new one. The conference was a truly enjoyable event and I was very glad to be part of it.”
Denise Portelli, Performance, HRD and Administration Executive at Multigas Ltd and a participant in this event, remarked: “FHRD’s HR & Training Fair on its own is a good enough reason why HR professionals should participate in this event because it brings together a good number of organisations under one roof. This facilitates the HR professional’s job because s/he is made aware of the different products and services available related to the HR function.”
Bronia Farrugia, deputy manager of the CEO’s office at ETC and a participant in this event declared: “The big plus of the FHRD’s HR & Training Fair this was the huge variety of organisations participating in this event. Thanks to it I was made aware of new products and services available related to the HR function. One example was the teambuilding activities organized by Outdoor Living.”
Indeed, exhibitors in this year’s HR & Training Fair received a variety of enquiries for their products and services from those participating at the conference. Participants’ enquiries ranged from training, teambuilding activities, recruitment assistance, schemes, and qualifications recognitions to enquiries on HR Systems such as online leave management, payroll software and personnel software. Indeed this conference is a must for any HR professional.
To succeed in today’s competitive business world you must continually connect with new people, cultivate emerging relationships and leverage your network. And because we are constantly bombarded with advertisements, emails, status updates, special offers, and sales pitches creating a cluttered message, face-to-face networking has become crucial to enable businesses to stand out from the crowd, rise above the noise and remain top of mind. Jeremy Dingli, Sales and Marketing Executive at Key Training stated: “The highly interactive networking platform at the event created an opportune avenue for us to meet many of our existing clients and strengthen our relationship, as well as meeting potential new clients. It’s getting harder every day to have face-to-face time with overworked clients while they are in their office, so events like this one give us the opportunity to do just that. This is the second year running that we are participating in this fair.”
Noel Schembri, Manager Human Resources and Admin at Citadel Insurance plc and a participant in this event explained that the HR & Training Fair was an excellent opportunity for him to meet and catch up with people at the stands and to strengthen his rapport with them as well as to build new contacts.
Generating new sales leads was another benefit reported by exhibitors that made their participation at the conference a truly important one. The response the exhibitors received was very encouraging and most of them said that they have already followed up on their leads. After all, the real value of participation in an event like this comes when organisations follow up on their leads and the contacts they have made during the event. Danica Fava, Director at Outdoor Living claimed: “The response of the participants at the conference has had a significant impact on my business. I gathered many high quality leads in just one day and I have already had meetings with them after the conference discussing teambuilding activities that we can do together in the upcoming months. Where else can you be more efficient than by attending this conference and making all these business contacts in the space of just one day? Moreover, it was great seeing delegates of last year’s conference. It shows the good experience of the delegates themselves as well. The FHRD’s national annual conference and HR and training fair is an event I never tire of recommending to organisations in our field of business. Will definitely consider taking up a stand in 2012.”
Finally, building a long-term brand image for their business was quoted as being another reason that made this year’s exhibitors’ investment valuable. Leonard Tanti Belotti, Product Manager at Shireburn said: “FHRD’s national annual conference and HR & Training Fair has met our expectations and proved to be more than successful. We consider our participation in this event as an integral part of our marketing effort to building a highly reputed long-term brand image for our company.”
This year’s HR & Training Fair exhibition was very well received and we want to thank all those organisations that were involved for making this an important element of the conference. Exhibitions provide the perfect environment for end-users to see the whole industry in one place, and for suppliers to position themselves in that marketplace according to their brand and corporate strategy.
Ms Camilleri is a researcher at the Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD)