Bring your laptop or PDA to San Diego this year - some of the most exciting parts of the ERE Expo will be online!

This year we are doing some things differently - testing new ideas to extend the interaction and excitement of the ERE Expo experience via this web site.

Here are some of the ways that you can use this site:

ERE Expo Blog

The core of the online Expo experience will be the ERE Expo Blog. Every attendee and speaker will be able to post their thoughts on the blog before, during, and after the show. Those who are unable to attend are free to comment, but will be unable to blog new posts.

If you are looking to meet up at the ERE Expo with other attendees (”I want to find other recruiters from the St. Louis area.” “Do any hospital recruiters want to meet for lunch on the 18th?”), this can be an excellent way to organize before and during the show. You can also post photos or videos taken at the Expo.

Before the show, it can be a way to start discussions going and let the speakers know about specific issues that you would like them to address. During and after the Expo, it can be used to discuss takeaways, give feedback, ask follow-up questions and throw ideas and thoughts out there for additional discussion.

This is going to be as useful as the community of Expo attendees makes it, so don’t be shy - participate!

Attendee Map

One of the most frequent requests that we get at the registration booth is how attendees can connect with each other - “Are there other people here like me here?”

Check out the ERE Expo attendee map. We put this together as a mashup between our attendee list and Google Maps, so you can easily find and connect with attendees from your industry and area.

Even better, if you are an attendee (and only if you are an attendee), you can use the map to email other attendees and introduce yourself. It’s a great tool for finding and meeting other people at the Expo with common interests!

ERE Expo Daily

Todd and Elaine, our crack editorial team here at ERE, will be posting their thoughts and observations to Inside Recruiting live from the presentations, networking events, and tradeshow floor. We will have a feed of their articles live on the ERE Expo Blog front page.

ERE Expo Videos

ERE’s staff and volunteers will be recording video from every session, and we will be posting the highlights publicly on the ERE Expo Blog.

As I said earlier in this post, this is the first time that we have opened up the ERE Expo web site in this way, so your feedback and suggestions are be greatly appreciated.

See you in San Diego!