Day One of R&R 2019 is in the Books!

This morning’s first general session was the perfect way to start the day. We heard from New York Times bestselling author and one of Inc.’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers, Jon Acuff. His talk focused on how carriers can adjust their driver recruiting efforts to today’s truck drivers. Acuff gave attendees some great insight on how they can prepare for change and connect with the right drivers for their carriers. Attendees then heard from Christopher Penn, BrainTrust Insights co-founder and data scientist, as he defined dark data and explained its impact on driver recruitment marketing.

Following the first two general sessions, attendees were able to choose from a list of several workshops throughout the day. Experts from the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA) discussed the ins and outs of hiring student drivers. The workshop, called “What You Need to Know if You’re Hiring Students in Today’s Market,” included great information for a successful student driver program. In “How Technology & Innovation are Making it Easier to Recruit and Retain Drivers,” our own Lance Britton, Conversion Interactive Agency director of innovation, and Stephan Olsen, director of product planning for Kenworth, addressed what innovators are working on to help carriers meet current and future driver recruiting and retention challenges. Other workshop sessions were: “Building a Social Media Footprint Dramatically Impacts Your Driver Recruiting & Retention”, “Evaluating the Driver Perspective: What Matters to Drivers?”, “A Full Driver App is Yesterday’s Golden Nugget: Why Digital Short Forms are Today’s Treasure in Driver Recruiting”, “Cracking the Code on Driver Retention”, “How Small & Mid-Size Fleets are Competing with Large Fleets in Today’s Tough Driver Market”, “How Large Carriers are Responding to the Highest Driver Turnover Rates in Years”, “The Way Drivers Search Online Matters to Your Hiring Goals”, “Targeting Millennials in Today’s Trucking Industry”, “Driver Wages - Can the Industry Afford Not to Transition to a Guaranteed Pay Model?”, and “Retention Roundup: Dissecting How Shippers & Carriers Work Together to Improve Driver Turnover”.

Chris Spear, president and CEO for the American Trucking Associations, addressed ATA’s efforts on several legislative, regulatory and programmatic initiatives in support of the industry in “The Importance of Workforce Development in Trucking.” In the last general session today, Steve Sichterman, vice president of client services for Conversion Interactive Agency led a panel discussion on data and trends that impact driver recruiting and analyzing driver behavior and perspective. To end the day, we’re enjoying a dinner and special concert over at FGL House. The concert features Anthony Orio and The Goodfellers. Today’s sessions and workshops were a great way to start the conference. We’re excited about learning even more tomorrow.