Being an "almost native Indianan" and thus branded as a hillbilly by Animal, I thought I would fly to Indiana to meet up with Andy Gregory of CGP Network and Jerry Albright of Verbal Summary, then make the 7+ hour trek North to meet up with the rest of the RecruitFest gang. I can tell you that I was right in my thinking. It was not only interesting it was a great time and exactly what RecruitFest is all about - free verse - like open mic night at the local bookstore.

On the road to RecruitFest - imagine this- my cabin mates: Jerry was the Master and Commander of the Odyssey and Andy was the Master and Commander of the iPod. We met with Border Patrol as we entered Canada. Jerry had me scared with with his "true" stories of strip searches and contraband. My last Canadian border encounter was in the airport and there was no issue. But today, I was seriously a-feared.

I thought Jerry was going to crack when the border patrol officer asked, "Why are you here?" Andy just looked straight ahead and never said a word. I waved anxiously from the back seat - now, that's team work. I think we're lucky we didn't get escorted to the "special parking" zone, where Canada would get to know each of us a little better.

Our Goal: Toronto. Our Quest: RecruitFest '09

Making good time and stopping only occasionally for potty breaks and some fast food, we battled over social media, sampled various types of music, sent out a few tweets, laughed and only cried when we learned Dave Mendoza wouldn't be joining us in our native Toronto.

An interesting conversation centered around how different recruiting and search has become over the last several years, whether or not social media has had anything to do with that, and in particular, the evolution of communication among recruiters, the open nature of these new discussions. The un-discussions, the un-conference -- un-covered here.