We just won the iTalent Competition at HRO Today Forum 2017
I just landed from Chicago, where I was attending this year’s HRO Today Forum. I couldn’t wait to tell you all about my experience at the Forum and specifically participating, and winning (!!!) the iTalent competition.
The iTalent Competition seeks to recognize up-and-coming HR technologies. Each of the eight finalists were hand selected to the invite-only event, where they could pitch to the audience and panel of HR technology experts, industry analysts, HR practitioners and technology investors. Following the presentations, the judges and audience voted to select the winners.
An insider’s view of the competition
Our MC was the always wonderful Johnny Campbell from Social Talent, and the spin he put on our introductions was delightful and seamless. The hours leading up to the event were a blur as I prepared to take the stage and compete against three other companies in my category at the iTalent Competition. The two categories are Talent Acquisition and Rewards. There are four companies in each category, and we had five minutes to impress the judges and the audience.
I was number 5 of 8, and it’s always hard to be remembered when you are exactly in the middle of the competition. And listening to four pitches from some great companies and speakers made the competition intense.
I was really lucky in that I got to start off my pitch with a customer testimonial. We are so lucky to have such fantastic customers, and they really set me up for success in my demo. It’s a wonderful feeling to see everyone sit up and move forward in their chairs to the tune of the product that your team built.
In the short time period, I was able to share how Textio is the augmented writing platform that surfaces the data that you need, as you need it, to change your approach before it is too late.
Before I could get off the stage, the judges got to ask me a few questions. I’ll paraphrase:
- “Are those logos really your customers?” Why yes. Yes they are! The majority of them are enterprise subscribers but the slide is just a subset of all our customers, a representative cross section across industries, sizes, locations.
- “The only platform that makes a quantitative promise? How do you validate that promise?” Our customers share their data with us and we are able to analyze before, during, and after using Textio. Also, our customers make the platform stronger, by feeding back their data into the platform, through the learning loop.
The big unveil
And then I wait — three more pitches, and the judges scores are tabulated. First they announce the winner of the Rewards category: It’s Rideau! Congratulations! Finally, it’s time, and Johnny says “…as the judges said, she may be too smart for this stage but we’re going to bring her back up one more time: Charna Parkey with Textio!”
I was so excited I forgot to remove my jacket and name tag for a better photo this time, many thanks to Arleen for capturing the moment on twitter.
The audience was fantastic and came up afterwards to dig deeper, express interest, ask me more “what-ifs.” I hope to keep in touch with you all. If you wanted to come talk but missed the chance, just reach out and we’ll connect. Email, phone, twitter, LinkedIn however you like!
Also, stay tuned tomorrow where I will share a full recap of the conference!
