Okay, I will have to admit you had me at flip-flop and my curiosity was off the charts. Now that the conference is over and I am on the plane returning to Chicago, I consider it an honor and a privilege to be part of the tribe. Even now as I put this blog together, I am smiling just thinking about the unique people that I met, the powerful messages given by keynote speakers and the flush mob performances. Most importantly, I am smiling because the feeling I have inside of me of being part of something that is so special.

I can’t imagine anyone ever attending Summer Brand Camp and not walking away feeling inspired. Inspired to doing something different to improve your organization’s social media experience, branding, leadership or how you can contribute to the communities that you serve.

The biggest message that I got from my experience is – I can do more. I can’t tell you right not what that “doing more” will look like for me, but I do know that Summer Brand Camp will be that catalyst in my life to figure out how I can do more in my role with my community. I was able to stick around on Friday morning and participate in the Changers of Commerce meeting. Again, that Jim Knight said that it is worth staying for Friday morning if I could and because I trust Jim, I did. I would certainly encourage any future first time attendees or anyone else that has not participated in Changers of Commerce meeting to attend. Your only responsibility is to listen. I can’t even tell you how moving it was to listen to Jeff Power talk about the Global Hope Network International and how they taught a poor village in Africa to be a sustainable and viable community. Not to mention hearing the real story of a Moore, Oklahoma resident whose house was located just a block away from the path of the devastating tornado that hit that community on May 20th. Jessica Miller-Merrell’s courage and strength to share her story just week’s after experiencing this natural disaster will be ingrained in my memory forever. It would be foolish to not mention the conviction that Amanda Hite has for No Kid Hungry and the restaurant industry’s responsibility in taking ownership of making sure that a thriving country like the US takes action now.

Wally Doolin asked me in the lobby of the hotel on his way out that Friday if I would return again to Summer Brand Camp. Of course my answer is yes, but do I really have to wait an entire year to meet up with the “Crazy Ones”?

But once the novelty of work had worn off (didn’t take long), I still didn’t mind wearing an embroidered polo, name tag and no-slip shoes because it meant working directly with people – most of whom were nice – and learning business first hand for the first time.

Since I quit that gig once I got my first car, I have stayed squarely on the consumer side of the restaurant and hospitality business – excessively so, these days.

My first experience at Summer Brand Camp (for which I received a merit badge – apparently summer camps invented engagement gammification ) marked my first time on the other side of the table since high school. And I’ll admit it took me two full days to realize that with this crowd, “menu refresh” wasn’t referring to a site navigation change.

It was only apropos that there was a panel featuring Undercover Boss alumni, because I felt a little like undercover diner at this conference devoted to specific talent challenges facing some of the biggest – and iconic – restaurant brands on the planet.

And as “the Insighters” panel discussion demonstrated, big data means big challenges – and opportunity – for big chains. Like in so many other industries, making meaning out of the numbers poses a daunting challenge for restaurants, yet in a cutthroat business for mindshare and margins, big data and the bottom line are inexorably intertwined.

“More data isn’t better. More relevant data is better,” said Bob Rycroft, PeopleReport Executive Consultant Partner and Insighters panel participant. “There’s a lot of things you can discover just with access to the right numbers and the curiosity to ask the right questions. The tools are available, but really, it’s the resources that are lacking.”

As the Insighters panelists unilaterally agreed, being able to translate data into actionable insights at the micro level – individual stores and individual consumers – means also being able to interpret how these proprietary numbers with macro trends across the entire industry landscape. And as data shows, the lack of available analytic resources is just another manifestation of an industry mired in tough times.

“It’s been tough times for the industry, and a weak environment for really anyone trying to sell to today’s consumer,” said panelist David Decker, president of Consumer Edge Insight, who suggested industry wide data evidenced a number of macroeconomic factors profoundly impacting the restaurant business.

Citing research from the Restaurant Demand Tracker, a quarterly survey of restaurant patrons across segments, Decker pointed out while the employment picture is brightening, consumers are still eating out less frequently – and being more careful with budgeting.

“Consumers are feeling less optimistic about their personal financial situation then even earlier in this year, and are cutting back on restaurant spending across the board,” Decker said. “People are feeling better about the economy or job market right now, but they’re skeptical that the recovery’s still going to be going six months from now. And because consumers aren’t feeling confident or stable about their household incomes, there’s really a tremendous amount of price sensitivity.”

These factors, echoed by several panelists as well as moderator Wally Doolin, included the decrease of women in the workforce, changing health expectations or the decline of the two parent family that provided the foundation for the explosive expansion of the multi-segment restaurant business.

“When we dive deeper into the data, we’re seeing negative trending in terms of traffic and growth, and a decrease in return customers that’s consistent over the past few years,” said People Report’s Victor Fernandez. “While the average check per person is up over 2% over the last 13 months, that increase in sales has been driven – and exceeded by – an increase in sales. That means in a really competitive marketplace, execution has to be flawless.”

The key competitive advantage in the restaurant industry, like so many industries, appears to come down to the fact that familiar cliché about your people being your greatest assets are really true – and nowhere more so than in an industry where service is the most predictable determinant of success.

Recruiting, developing and training the talent required to turn eating from a human necessity to an experience worth the time and discretionary income means building a magnetic employer brand with a differentiated employer value proposition that sets a restaurant apart from its competition more than any menu. Big data be damned.

“There are so many great tools and resources out there that have helped us drive profitability by helping us model and manage food costs, optimize labor scheduling, and things like how much food we’re selling, wasting, or have to put on a plate to turn a profit,” said Marc Buehler, CEO of the Fox & Hound Restaurant Group. “But we’re still in the people business – and we can’t run our business without people. And big data is about making it easier for those people to effectively exceed the expectations of both our company and our guests. A restaurant without people is basically a vending machine, and we’re not in the vending machine business.”

Kat Cole started us off with a quick lesson in conscious capitalism, then shared the video Jim Knight and Brandon Hill created.

Of course we all want our businesses to grow and thrive. But there is so much more to it than that. We have a social responsibility as industry and community leaders, business owners, critical team members…and humans.

Jeff Power of Pangeo Coffee and Global Hope Network International took us on the journey of Habiba and Wubshet – two members of the village of Gambella. This village simply wanted “a different life for our village and for our children.”

Many of us in our tribe are so generous with our time and dollars. However,” …don’t just drop money on poor areas,” says Jeff. That doesn’t help. It’s a band-aid to much bigger issues, and isn’t sustainable. Jeff and his team taught the village what they needed to do get Gambella on a path to success. “Just because you don’t have a formal education doesn’t mean you can’t be intelligent.”

What Jeff taught them seems so simple: Water. Food. Wellness. Income. Education.

But was it? No, but it was worth it. A new water system, tested, failed, rebuilt in part because of a town water committee and funding, and now sustainable. One acre of land with robust crops because of a drip irrigation system and a group of town members dedicated to its success, now producing 1.5 metric tons of food and a new fully-functional storefront. The town is now “getting fat” in the words of a fellow Ethiopian – with 3 meals per day for the last four years, and money because of the abundance of crop they are able to sell to other communities.

With a good water supply and healthy and abundant food comes wellness, but proactive wellness lessons were needed.Teachin the tribe how to prevent disease by knowing proper handling of human waste and hand sanitation has cut infant mortality by 80% (to almost zero) and adult illness by 80%. With these newfound lessons, income and education can be on their radar; one amazing example is a women’s business group that opened a tea shop serving tea and homemade cakes next to the camel stream. (Location, location, location!) Seeing the success of these tea shop owners, earning $10-$20 per day, the entrepreneurial bug hit Gambella, with soon 40 businesses opening their doors.

The future of Gambella is looking bright for the 200 children in the village. By building a location and finding educators (in that order), Gambella Primary School, voted the best primary school in their district of Kenya, is the reason many are moving to the area. It was amazing to see full faces, happy smiles, hopeful parents and children – knowing they are on a sustainable path for growth and success.

How does this translate to the rest of us? Joni Doolin put it best – their stories, their impact, their need –it is overwhelming. Their model works. This connected capitalist model works in the most extreme examples. Let’s spread it far and wide.

Ryan Scott, a first time #PRSCamp-er, talked about why his company, Causecast, is at its prime: They manage employee giving and volunteering by helping transform the communities in which they work and the company culture in which they work.

Why does Darden “Serve Up Hope?” Why Does Timberland give their employees 40 hours a year paid to spend volunteering – including reforesting desert lands? Is it an employee retention tactic? Sure. Is it for the PR? Maybe. But ultimately, it’s the right thing to do. Why don’t we all do it?

How can we get every business to support causes – all the time – deeply – and authentically? Obviously much of it boils down to logistics and technology. Everything from storytelling scaled to your company, payroll functionality, sharing tools to put the power into the hands of employees, and mobile applications all takes time, but with a company like Causecast, the model built is there to help companies succeed.

Who hasn’t heard about the tornado devastation in Moore, OK? Did you follow it on social platforms because of your interest, desire to help, or helpless feeling? If so, you likely saw Jessica – @blogging4jobs – live-blogging a tornado.

Jessica showed us the path of the tornado, and her route that day from home to school, crossing the tornado’s path. She showed her lost storage unit and devastation. She jumped into action and used social media for social good, the way we all want to use it. Jessica used twitter to communicate, to provide a tornado assistance and donation guide via her blog, with over 45,000 page views on that resource. Now those of you that know Jessica – or those of us that have blog posts and websites of our own, know that we’re always looking at our analytics. But with this, all Jessica wanted was to touch the right people and not worry about page views or virality. Questions such as “Where do I go to take the pictures I found in my yard?” “Where can I get a hot meal?” “Can you post weather updates?” “I can’t reach my family…” were answered. It became a trusted resource for people when they needed it most.

Jessica also set up a website to help a displaced family with five children: http://b4j.co/help-kara. Check it out, and be sure to help if you can! I know many (myself included) asked Jessica how we could help. Among the devastation, there are people like Jessica out there ready and able to help. Thank you, Jessica.

Many of us know Tim McDonald, Community Manager at Huffington Post. He told us some great stories and great interactions earlier in the week, and took just a few minutes asking us to share our stories with him, so he can leverage his networks for social good. “I focus on how I can help them through our platform or through other people I come in contact with.” I then tweeted that Tim has no idea what he just offered! I hope this community takes him up on it. In the words of Angela Maiers, let’s all choose to matter.

To cap off our great Changers of Commerce session, Rob Taylor of Splick-It showed us his mobile ordering app, and their latest initiatives to have guests roundup their to-go orders to donate to partner charities, including our favorite cause, Dine Out for No Kid Hungry. So excited to see this company grow, and the impact of this great technology.

I definitely recommend it – join the Changers of Commerce. Leverage your skills, increase your reach, and help reconnect business to society.

The theme is building connections in any way that you can. That could be by growing your personal or organizational brand and visibility on social media, figuring out a way to really connect with customers to meet their needs, developing a new way to impact people through community service, actually serving the community, becoming a better manager by understanding your employees, etc. I can say that all of the above were touched on and taught in the 4 days I was in attendance.

My most favorite part of the entire conference was actually serving the local community here in Dallas through the conference sponsored community service event. Not many conferences do this and I hope that more can jump on the bandwagon. The first morning of the conference, the folks at People Report and Black Box Intelligence planned a community service even with the Salvation Army of Dallas. Anyone who was in attendance could go and help this organization with several varied projects. I was excited to learn more about community service initiatives within my own community as well as doing something worthwhile with my fellow campers.

Once we arrived, several leaders of the local Salvation Army spoke and I instantly felt a bigger feeling or want to help growing in my belly when they talked about what they had done for local and not so local communities. The main pastor’s story of helping the tornado victims in Moore, Oklahoma and then he and his team becoming victims themselves when another storm came through, really told me how dedicated this group of volunteers was. I was glad that I could help them in their facility even just for a few hours.
While there, all the campers participated in several projects. I got to paint a gym and their bathrooms, I got to help re-mulch a playground and I got to help move some of their storage inventory to make room. This was all the while meeting my fellow campers and having a bit of fun. I also got to meet some of the elderly members of that facility who use it daily and they shared some of their stories with me.

That entire experience really set the tone for the rest of summer camp. While we like to have fun, be successful at our jobs and within our organization and do community service, I think really connecting with people and building relationships are what everything is all about. I was very proud and honored to have been included and I challenge anyone who wants to learn how to accomplish these things to attend something that People Report/Black Box Intelligence puts on! It’s completely worth it!

Lyrics to We Found the Love
By: Brandon Hill and Jonathan Brewer

This world needs more love makers
More visionaries and a few more risk takers
Like Joni, Wally and all you other rule breakers
Ready to shake the world like a salt shaker

Overseas, yeah, Kat Cole’s selling Cinnabons
Building wells in the village of Garmaan
In the U.S.A. the C-I-N-N-A
The Undercover Boss who always saves the day

But if we all could just swirl it like Suzy
Spread the love like we’re one big family
Maybe then the whole world would start to see
That we’re all in charge of this reality

It’s our cause, our place, our time

Together we’ll transform like Optimus Prime
Open your mind, turn on a dime and find
That all we’ve got to do is JFDI

We’ve got people leading, people trying
To make a difference, so no more hiding
Will you practice what you preach
Will you use your online reach

So workplace, marketplace let’s make one place
Send a message we’re proud of
And when they ask us how we did it we’ll say
We found the love

Make love
Make love
We found the love the love the love

And just when we think we’ve come so far
There’s hungry kids in our nation’s own backyard
Got the solution, but the problem’s still not solved
If you’re part of this tribe it’s time to get involved

Change this world that we’re living in
Tell them we ain’t giving in
Let’s make a decision then take love for the win
Then ask yourself – am I in for transformation
Just ask yourself – for the children of this nation

The truth’s not a secret can’t get swept under the rug
Cause it’s time for the truth and it’s time to spread love
We found the love y’all (spread the love)
And that’s the truth y’all (spread the love)

We’ve got people leading, people trying
To make a difference, so no more hiding
Will you practice what you preach
Will you use your online reach

So workplace, marketplace let’s make one place
Send a message we’re proud of
And when they ask us how we did it we’ll say
We found the love

The highlights:

Camaraderie:There wasn’t an unfriendly face in the bunch. I have attended many conferences in my vast 20 years in the hospitality business; many were uncomfortable, socially awkward (unless you are one of the click), and overwhelming with packed agendas and crowded breakouts. Brand Camp had an easy 300 attendees. The smart peeps at People Report gathered groups together on the first night for a scavenger hunt – go team red! It was easy to make new connections.

Content: There is simply too much good content to list. It started with Joni Doolin, in her no-nonsense way, who shared the hospitality data and statistics I need to run a strong business. Rob Estis told the Mayo Clinic story and the importance of having “heart” in the workplace. I listened in rapt attention to the Taco Bell success story; the inspirational and humbling story of Nick’s Pizza Pub, and finally, sang songs with the talented Alan Schaefer. My biggest take-away? The importance of collaboration. We will never get far in business if we don’t share ideas and build relationships with our teams and the experts in our network. And Summer Brand Camp was a perfect example of collaboration at its best.

Compassion: People Report cares. There were several moments during the 3 days where I felt inspired to “Live Mas”. I loved the energy and focus this conference put into growing awareness for any number of causes – including No Kid Hungry and seasoned humanitarians at Pangeo Coffee. Pangeo helps villages around the world become more self-sufficient – and not to mention, their coffee is delicious! Amanda Hite is an inspiration with her Be The Change goal and love for others. On the 2nd night, her team posted a “You are sensational!” message on my hotel room door; it made me smile.
I could go on and on, gushing like Jim Knight. But I’ll sum it up quickly. People Report Summer Brand Camp: “You are sensational!”

If you missed it, never fear, we’ve got your Q&A recap right. here.

Q1 — Tell me about a great hire you hired through social media:
Brianna Foulds shared a story about finding the perfect candidate for a CRM manager position she was hiring for through LinkedIn — they met at a nearby Starbucks, brought him on board and said he was an amazing example of a great hire through social — but that she makes a lot of hires at Oakley that are impacted by social media in some way. She said even her

Brianna’s Advice? Go to the space that you’re candidates are “in” and meet them there.
Lucy Smith: Lucy believes LinkedIn is the best platform to search for candidates, connect to top talent, and impact hiring.

Crystal Miller: Crystal mentioned a time working with a client who had an extensive strategy for hiring through Facebook — they received 100s of applications with an 8-10 percent conversion rate (source of hire) through Facebook. 8 percent of hires are cited as “from social media” — but really 8 percent of people are sourced through social media in Crystal’s opinion

Crystal’s advice? Almost all companies are on social media (92 percent) — so Crystal warns — whether you know it or not, social media is part of your recruiting and hiring process.

Q2 — What is the difference between a regular recruiting strategy and a social recruiting strategy?
Crystal Miller: You only have a recruiting strategy — social media is a channel in that overall strategy that needs to be defined and outlined, but it’s all part of your overall recruiting strategy.

Interesting Tidbit: No one in the room claimed social media was blocked by their current employer.

Q3 — Have you seen social media enhancing or impacting company culture?
Brianna Foulds: At Oakley, social media activity is constantly streaming through the building on monitors displaying Facebook photos, tweets, etc. — despite not having access to social media until fairly recently. Oakley also utilizes an internal social media network.

Lucy Smith: Lucy shared a story from Brinker International brand Chili’s where a little girl with autism said her cheeseburger was “broken” because it was cut in half. The story was everywhere very quickly and Lucy recommends — when you have a great story that could impact culture and morale for your team — share it.

Crystal Miller: Crystal urges HR and recruiting professionals to really think about the candidate experience with social compared to the employee experience with social — if you source candidates through social media, but when they are onboarded, they’re told that social is not supported or allowed, that creates a disjointed experience for candidates and, ultimately, employees.
Lucy Smith — end of presentation – “You don’t have to be everywhere, but be everywhere that you are.”
Snack-sized quotes from the session:

At Oakley, Brianna Foulds and her team send personal thank you cards to every candidate that interviews. Why? Brianna said everything comes down to experience.

“Recruiting is the most difficult sales and marketing job in the world — because it’s the only job where both your product and your buyer can say no.” — Crystal Miller

Lucy Smith recommended not making your top traditional sources for hires go head-to-head, but instead to marry them together.

The 45-minute session was highly interactive with regular audience participation. One attendee even received a warm round of applause for his company’s achievement of internal promotions as their #1 source of hire. Make sure you connect with the panelists and share your thoughts on social for HR with the event hashtag #PRScamp.

Moderated by:
Laurie Ruettimann, The Cynical Girl | Twitter / LinkedIn

Panelists:
Brianna Foulds, Head of Talent Acquisition for Oakley | Twitter / LinkedIn
Crystal Miller, Principal Strategist at Branded Strategies | Twitter / LinkedIn
Lucy Smith, Sr. Manager of Talent Acquisition at Brinker International | Twitter / LinkedIn