As we told you earlier this year, Fluency Corp has been spending a lot of time on the road in 2019. We’re spreading the word about the effectiveness of our corporate language training programs and learning about what’s new in our industry. Here’s a recap of where the year has taken us so far.
South Texas Human Resources Symposium 2019
February 7-8 in San Antonio, TX
Our good friend Bruce Waller, vice president-corporate relocation of Armstrong Relocation & Companies in Dallas, was the keynote speaker. He always has a strong message about leadership. We recommend checking out his book “Find Your Lane.”
Fluency Corp’s CEO and founder, Micah Bellieu, spoke about “Empathy and Improved Communication with a Multilingual Workforce.” She is on a mission to educate the world about how to better communicate when everyone has different first languages. From her years living in Mexico, she knows from personal experience what it feels like to work in her second language. And she knows that, through education, people can collaborate more productively if they understand where everyone is coming from.
2019 BAMM Annual Mobility Conference
February 20 in San Francisco, CA
Ah, San Fran! We swooped in so quickly and left too soon. This is a powerhouse conference, with all the major relocation industry players. This conference brings together the movers and shakers from the relo industry (global tax advisors, top international relocation companies, corporate language training, cultural advisors and more). It also attracts top global mobility directors. We were able to hear from and visit with directors from Intel and Google, among others.
We felt very in tune with the directors when they expressed the need to slow down the international relocation process and truly ask:
1) Why do we need to move an employee to another country?
2) Is it truly obligatory to move them?
3) Is this person someone that can thrive in a new language and culture?
GREAT questions!
WBENC Summit & Salute
March 11-13 in Houston, TX
Wow. Wow. Wow. What a tremendous week spent with 1,500 other women entrepreneurs. We felt as if we were among royalty when one of the first people we met was Patty Massey from MYCA: Material Handling. She guided us through our first WBENC conference and introduced us to other board members, making this event one we can’t wait to return to.
Not only did we get to meet female entrepreneur superstars, there was also a pitch competition. The winner was Jane Henry, founder of SeeHerWork. She won $5,000 and a free booth to exhibit at the national conference.
On top of all that excitement, Fluency Corp was able to meet with Apple, BNSF Railways, AT&T and BP America, who all said, “We need language training!” (Of course they do.)
See you all June 25-27 in Baltimore for the WBENC National Conference & Business Fair!
SHRM Talent Conference & Exposition
April 8-10 in Nashville, TN
This event couldn’t have been more relevant and spot on. Sessions focused on how companies can compete for top talent in a tight market and then retain those great employees after hiring them. (Of course, we think that language training is one of the most attractive benefits you can offer today’s globally minded employees or employees working in their 2nd language (English) right here in the US!)
We were in heaven when we saw the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, which basically looks like a small town, with a river, a boat, tons of restaurants and shops, and even a water park (that we unfortunately did not have time to test out).
During the event, Fluency Corp had a booth right next to Indeed. Since they were making luggage tags for everyone, this was a sweet location! We gave away $50 Amazon gift cards to conference-goers who wanted to test their world language knowledge. We surprised many people with the fact that Belize’s official language is English, and were surprised by one company’s knowledge of all three languages spoken in Belgium (French, German and Dutch). Way to go! Overall, this conference was a huge success, and we’ve already purchased our booth space for next year.
Look for Fluency Corp at These Events
We have even more travel on our schedule:
· 2019 EuRA International Relocation Congress. April 30-May 3 in Munich.
· Americas Mobility Conference 2019: It’s About YOU. May 8-10 in Atlanta.
· Gulf Coast Symposium on HR Issues. May 15-17 in Houston.
· California HR Conference. August 25-28 in Long Beach.
· Texas SHRM Global HR Conference. September 11 in Houston.
· Global Workforce Symposium. October 16-18 in Boston.
· The HRSouthwest Conference. October 27-30 in Fort Worth.
If you’re attending any of these events, please let us know so we can meet up with you. We’ll be available for a consultation about your multilingual challenges at work and how to improve communication and productivity. Reach us at getfluent@fluencycorp.com or (800) 401-3159. Can’t wait for a conference? You can also use that contact info to set up a free consultation.
