The Outsourcing Blog: Horses for Sources

Are you ready... for H Day?

Plug in your headphones, crank up the volume and ask yourself... are you ready for H day?

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How many of these images from the history of the Horses do you remember?

The Industry Spoke! Hear it all on a free webcast... just for you

For all 1055 of you who perservered through completing our survey, and then being subjected to six lengthy diatribes about what it all means, we can finally put this little study to bed with a FREE WEBCAST on Friday 5th March at 11.00 AM Eastern standard time. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Come to Jersey City in January

Have you ever had such an irresistible request?  Well... here's your chance to tour the exquisite delights of the picturesque tree-lined New York suburb, with its manicured lawns, fine eateries and state-of-the-art museums, where you can enjoy the famous hospitality of the jovial, friendly local folk who'll make you feel right at home, shrouded in luxury and fine local culture. 

However, sight-seeing in paradise, drenched in lovely winter sunshine, isn't all you can look forward to during this visit of a lifetime... you can also make a sneaky detour to the Global Services Conference, where you can mingle with the hoi-polloi of the services and outsourcing industry, at Jersey City's sumptuous Hyatt Regency hotel on 28-29 January.

Are prices really dropping, or are services merely being disaggregated?

One of the advisors which has really made a strong move in the sourcing business this year is Alsbridge.  Much of that has been down to its strong track record with clients, but its also made some canny investments to augment its advisory services.  One of these I've had some exposure to is ProBenchmark, which has been running some excellent webcasts looking into how pricing trends and dynamics in IT services. 

I caught up with CEO Ben Trowbridge the other day, and he wanted to let us know about a webcast ProBenchmark is running next week - you can register here.  Plus - for all you cheapskates... its FREE (Wednesday 10th December at 2.00pm EST).

Anyhow, I managed to drag Ben away from a hunting outing for a few minutes to pose the following questions:

PF: Which IT services have fluctuated in price the most?

Complete our survey. Now

Before you tuck into your Thanksgiving turkey and guzzle a gallon of bad quality Chardonnay, please take 10 minutes to complete our industry-wide study entitled "The New Normal in Outsourcing Delivery".  And if you're in Asia or Europe, currently giving thanks for US declaring itself independent from everyone else, this includes you too.

Anyhow, we are actively seeking the collective opinions and experiences of services customers, providers, and advisors and need 10 minutes of your time to complete this quick survey, designed especially for the patience-challenged, attention-deficit-inclined executive.  Simply click on the following link:

Click here to complete our survey "Seeking the New Normal in Outsourcing Delivery"

All individual responses to the survey will be maintained strictly confidential. In return for your time, you'll receive a free write-up of the survey findings (wow).

We have partnered with the member communities at Global Services Media and the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network to ensure a powerful global participation of decision-makers and senior executives engaged in outsourcing delivery services.  Please do participate and help advance our collective understanding of the industry.

Please note that "Horses" is a free resource for the sourcing industry at large, and the purposes of this research are to further all our knowledge and understanding of the direction of the global sourcing industry, whether you buy, sell, advise, criticise, market, commentate or analyse sourcing delivery.  And if you do neither of these activities, please seriously question what you're doing here in the first place -:)

PF.

Scale the peaks of FAO... in Tampa

As a wise man once told me, "there's nothing  quite like visiting Tampa in late October".  Many years on, his prophecy is coming true, with the second annual North American "FAO Summit", being held in the Saddlebrook resort, 20-22nd October. 

Anyhow, come and meet a compeling line-up of speakers, panelists, hobnobbers and politicians that include several outsourcing PMOs (for some strange reason they managed to attract several from beverage producers...), former senator John Sununu (one of the five panel members responsible for the oversight of TARP funds), a bunch of advisors, service providers and some crazed blogger.

As usual, a large discount is offered to the cheapskates who visit here, so click on the icon to the left to register quoting the code "FERSHT2".  If you are on the buyside and evaluating BPO strategy, drop me a note.

The future of the sourcing industry: DNA and industry knowledge trump scale

I spent much of last week at InsofysBPO's customer summit in Baltimore.  Infy always does a good job with their events - they bring their customers together and encourage open, unstructured debate, where the good, bad and plain ugly about BPO and ITO are openly discussed.  They know the best way to win business is through baring their DNA to customers and encouraging them to trust and want to work with them.

They also invited some industry personalities to wax on about their vision for the future - and some predicted rampant "consolidation among suppliers".  I say they are wrong - they are clinging to their knowledge of the past and are not re-adjusting their perspective to the present.  I'd be surprised if we ever see

The Alamo comes to HR Tech... get your front row seats here

Anyone from the world of HR, who cares about the impact technology has on their existence, is congregating at the infamous HR Technology show in Chicago on September 30-October 2, hosted by the legendary columnist Bill Kutik (pictured), the undisputed captain of HR controversy. 

It is the world’s leading event in the HR sector, and each year attracts 2,000+ high-level HR practitioners, software and service vendor CEOs. In addition, most of the HR sector's industry analysts, bloggers and foghorns will be there - including such celebrities as Jason Corsello, Mark Stelzner, Naomi Bloom and Vinnie Mirchandani. They come for the excellent no-sales-hype conference sessions, the largest show floor of 250 exhibitors, and Bill Kutik’s signature vendor Shootout session, which this year features software giants SAP and Lawson taking on their smaller rivals Salary.com and Plateau.  I am also assured that the word "Cloud" is to be officially banned from the festivities...

Here’s how you can get the $470 discount off the $1,645 regular registration rate:

Type FERSHT in the Promotion Code box in the online registration at www.HRTechnologyConference.com

Ever wondered about Brazil?

And just when you thought you were in the clear, here's another webinar for you...

 

In recognition of recent shifts in the global economy many global sourcing executives have determined a more “risk averse” approach toward their global outsourcing portfolio is a prudent and necessary means to ensure supplier stability, less volatility in certain markets and enhanced skill-set options vis-à-vis regional workforces.

Many executives are asking, what are the Near-shoring advantages? What are the trends in Outsourcing and how are emerging destinations (such as Brazil) affecting this landscape?

Join us for an insightful and interactive discussion where we will discuss Latin America, and how a near-shoring strategy in an emerging destination will benefit your IT Outsourcing portfolio.

Date: August 4th, 2009 Time: 11.00 AM PDT / 2.00 PM EDT

Cost: Free!

Click her for more information

Analysts Phil Fersht and Dana Stiffler, ITO & BPO Services, AMR Research, will join Mr. Bob Mejerle, VP – Outsourcing Practice, North America of Politec Global IT Services to on this LIVE Executive webinar.

We’ll also be joined by our Moderator, Frank Casale, who will host an open Q & A session after the briefing. If you are a C-level Executive, Vice President and Line of Business Owners responsible for: Global Sourcing, Program Management, Finance, Information Technology and Operations, then this webinar is for you.

Click here to register  

 

Everything you need to know about Supply Management BPO (but never dared to ask)

Folks - we're staging a webinar entitled "Supply Management BPO: Why Business and Technology Transformation is Critical for Long-Term Success". 

Hear the great Hags on global finance transformation

I never knew that one day I would get to co-host a webcast with the great John Hagerty, but tune in on June 18th at 2.00pm ET to hear about Transforming the Global Finance Function in Today's Economy.  Click here for full details, or register directly here.  And like everything else here, it's FREE FREE FREE.

John is a true legend in the analyst world, where he delivers insights in the world of finance transformation, performance management and corporate governance. He could also convince Newt Gingrich to vote for the communist party in 2012.  In addition to the great "Hags" and myself, you'll also get to hear from Joe Spears, senior finance executive at eBay, and Dominick DiPaolo, BlackLine Systems.

John Hagerty (pictured) is Vice President and Research Fellow for AMR Research. He is the recognized worldwide authority in business intelligence and enterprise performance management.  This picture also reveals the wear and tear of the analyst life -:)

Innovation: creativity within financial constraints is the key

So with all the talk about falling conference attendances, it's clear that people are still game for good events, but are simply being more selective about which ones they choose to attend this year.  After the success of the recent Shared Services & Outsourcing Network show in Budapest, I had the good fortune to be at AMR Research's Supply Chain Conference in Scottsdale AZ this week, which attracted 650 senior-level supply chain, finance, operations and IT executives, many of whom wanted to talk about sourcing issues.   

The one opportunity I did have to escape the analyst meeting room was to see former Disney CEO Micheal Eisner's keynote speech (pictured), where he talked about creativity under financial constraints being the key to success today. 

In order to demonstrate this, he played us the now infamous "sword" scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark:

According to Michael Eisner, Harrison Ford was having a few stomach issues on that day of filming and kept rushing back to the hotel, and with the sun setting, the crew were concerned that they would have to wait until the following day to complete the scene.  With production costs running at $100K a day (not chump-change in those days), Harrison just got out his gun and shot the guy... now that's innovation ;)

Always happy to hear any more examples of creativity that saved the day...

Going green with sourcing...

Folks - if you happen to be drifting around New York City on 3rd June, swing by the Philippine Cultural Center to hear some interesting discussions, including my friend and colleage Dr Stephen Stokes (pictured), author of the infamous piece "The Green Transformation of Indian Outsourcing: Heading for the Clouds, But Doing So on a Low-Cost and Carbon Budget".   

The event entitled "Global Sourcing After the Meltdown: In Search of Sustainability" is being organized by my good friends Christine Bullen and Wanda Lopuch at the Global Sorcing Council.  For more information click here.  You can also contact Wanda directly here.

Talk tracks for the day are as follows:

How to get two whales in a mini...

When I got a call from the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network crew back last Fall (Autumn) to run a session at their European Shared Services Week in Budapest this month, my immediate response was "how the expletives are you going to convince operations executives under severe cost restrictions to show up at a 3-day boonie in Budapest in the midst of the worst recession since Harold got clipped by an arrow in Hastings in 1066?"

One of my favorite jokes (and I do have a rather strange sense of humor), is "How can you get two whales into a Mini"... and the punchline is "Along the M4 Motorway and across the Severn Bridge".   If you don't understand this joke, click here.  I am going to add to that one:

"How do you get 400 senior operations executives, 200 of whom lead shared services operations, to show up in Budapest in the middle of the worst recession in post-biblical times?"

Yes, they managed to defy gravity, common sense and many other undefiable factors

Take part in our Budapest debate next week... from your front room

This Tuesday, we're holding a "World Exclusive", with a distinguished panel of Horses-readers being webstreamed live from the 9th Annual European Shared Services and Outsourcing Week in Budapest Hungary.  For those of you unable to make the conference, you will have a chance to take part in the debate via a live blog-cast streamed to a computer near you.  I do hope you can partake in the banter.

*World Exclusive* Horses For Sources - Live From Budapest

Deciphering The Business Value Of Tomorrow’s Sourcing Strategies In Today’s Economic Climate

Time to scratch that 7-year HRO itch

So it's coming again this week... the 7th annual HRO schmooze-fest in New York's plush mid-town Hilton.  Yes, I've been to every bloody one and I swear this will be the last :) 

This time I am assured there will be:

• No rubber chicken

• No dodgy awards

• Lots of buyers

In fact, with the industry enjoying something of a revival, this should prove to be an interesting experience, with focus on the core elements of HR operations:  payroll, benefits, recruiting, talent management and HR

It's not to late to go to the European Shared Services & Outsourcing Week

Folks - we're honing in on the European sourcing industry in May, with Horses die-hards taking center stage at the 9th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week in Budapest, Hungary.  It's Europe's largest shared services and outsourcing show, organized by the prolific SSON folks.   Yes - we're live in Budapest with a web-stream on Horses for Sources talking about "Survival Mechanics: defining a competitive sourcing strategy in today’s economy". 

If you can make it to Eastern Europe, it would be great to have you part of the show and take part in the debate.  And if you can't make it in person, log-on and blog your questions live to the panel.  You also get to hang out with the famous Emma Beaumont...

Horses readers can receive a 25% discount registering here, quoting promotional code MP23*.  For further information you can contact Liz McAleer. 

Oh - and check out the new look SSON website - very nifty.

 

Conference Alert: The FAO Summit Europe 2009

 

The hottest area for new BPO growth is over in Europe, and you can get a taste of the action at the forthcoming FAO Summit Europe in London on May 18-19. This is ideal for executives considering how to improve F&A’s impact on the total enterprise, including those actively engaged in F&A outsourcing and/or shared services.

There's also a compeling line-up of speakers, including a keynote address from Andrew Tinney, Deutsche Bank's CFO.  I will also be at the show and would welcome to chance to meet while am over visiting my homeland.

For more information please contact event organizer Faye Holland.  She promises special discounts for Horses readers...

Highlights from SIG

TPI's Bill Huber was busy on the blog all last week at the Sourcing Interests Group show and has good summaries of some of the key sessions.  For any of you who missed the show, I suggest you follow the progress of the group under the excellent stewardship of Dawn Evans.  To pack a place as well as she did - in this market - is a phenomenal achievement.  The fact the event was organized in Baltimore was a master-stroke... people don't feel guilty going to events in Baltimore :)

It's not too late to come to SIG

Folks, one event I've always found a lot of value attending over the years has been the Sourcing Interests Group's Global Sourcing Summit.  The organization always attracts a diverse group of professionals with responsibility for all types of sourcing responsibility, from supply chain through to finance, HR and IT.  I've been especially impressed with the new direction the association is taking under the guidance of Dawn Evans, since she took the reigns last year.

Come along to Baltimore this week if you can - there are some excellent sessions taking place all week at the Waterfront Marriott, Baltimore.  I'll be speaking about the BPO market outlook this Thursday if you want to come along and ask me some easy questions. And then I get to meet with Newt Gingrich prior to his keynote address later that day, where I'll blog his talktrack to you all (no Twittering...).

For more information contact Jeff Felix - he is offering a 50% discount for corporate buyers who read this blog.  Click here to access the main webpage for the event.

Being middle-seated... all the way to Orlando

You may recall the classic post “Being middle-seated in the back-row”. Well, I think I can go one worse… by being middle-seated all the way to Orlando (gasp). Yes, I was stuck in hell all the way to purgatory...or was I stuck in purgatory all the way to the gates of hell?

Orlando is my version of a very, very bad dream: a world where you can actually buy a fake Guinness in a fake Irish pub, and get stuck behind entire families in lengthy queues where the kids start at 220lbs… you never normally ever see people like this, but somehow Orlando acts as a magnet for over-sized, under-cultured plasticity.  Seriously, why bother with Guantanamo for interrogations? Just lock suspects in Epcot for a couple of days and we’ll find out who killed JFK, which Ritz-Carlton Osama Bin Laden resides in these days, and even where Bernie stashed his $50 billion…

Join the Horses... in Budapest

Folks - we're honing in on the European sourcing industry in May, with Horses die-hards taking center stage at the 9th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week in Budapest, Hungary.  It's Europe's largest shared services and outsourcing show, organized by the prolific SSON folks.   Yes - we're live in Budapest with a web-stream on Horses for Sources talking about "Survival Mechanics: defining a competitive sourcing strategy in today’s economy". 

If you can make it to Eastern Europe, it would be great to have you part of the show and take part in the debate.  And if you can't make it in person, log-on and blog your questions live to the panel. 

Horses readers can receive a 25% discount registering here, quoting promotional code MP23*.  For further information you can contact Liz McAleer. 

*not available for AIG employees who've just received bonuses

Where should outsourcing vendors invest their marketing dollars in this climate?

Being an analyst, you get a broad view of all the entities competing for the same service provider dollar. You also get a good perspective on how service providers can get the best bang for their marketing buck. And being a blogger, you also pick up a strong sense for the effectiveness of media outreach, but I'll save that discussion for another time.

There is no one-stop support shop for vendors to find and attract new clients, and influence the market - they need to gauge where they need to build influence, using both direct tactical measures - i.e. speaking at conferences or advertising, and indirect measures - i.e. influencing influencers or subliminal branding. The current pull-back in discretionary spending from vendor marketing budgets is seriously exposing the bloated array of firms feeding off the vendor marketing-dime, and with a lot less to go round, we're going to see some firms exit the market, some market consolidation, and others simply going out of business. We'll also see some boutiques linger around the industry because their owner has no idea what else to do, and his only costs are living and travel expenses, and maintaining a website.  Desperate times call for desperate behavior and none more so than for many of those entities forging their living selling to IT services and BPO firms.

NASSCOM: Pushing the Reset Button on an Industry, But Hush-Hush on Satyam

We are priveleged this year to have AMR's own Dana Stiffler at the NASSCOM show in Mumbai.  What a time to be at the heart of the Indian services industry with the recent Mumbai terror events, the Satyam saga and the current economic crisis...  How is India Inc. responding? Over you to Dana:

NASSCOM President Som Mittal opened the group’s 17th annual leadership conference with praise for the resilient city of Mumbai, as the packed house observed a moment of silence for the victims of the city’s terrorist attacks last November. It’s a watershed moment for NASSCOM and the industry in general and Mr. Mittal struck just the right tone in his opening comments: cheerful, welcoming, resolute. Addressing the attacks and Satyam’s challenges up front, he told us it was time to reset expectations.

As for specifics, Mr. Mittal announced that NASSCOM will reconvene its ethics and governance committee. He also highlighted green technology

We are priveleged this year to have AMR's own Dana Stiffler at the NASSCOM show in Mumbai.  What a time to be at the heart of the Indian services industry with the recent Mumbai terror events, the Satyam saga and the current economic crisis...  How is India Inc. responding? Over you to Dana:

NASSCOM President Som Mittal opened the group’s 17th annual leadership conference with praise for the resilient city of Mumbai, as the packed house observed a moment of silence for the victims of the city’s terrorist attacks last November. It’s a watershed moment for NASSCOM and the industry in general and Mr. Mittal struck just the right tone in his opening comments: cheerful, welcoming, resolute. Addressing the attacks and Satyam’s challenges up front, he told us it was time to reset expectations.

As for specifics, Mr. Mittal announced that NASSCOM will reconvene its ethics and governance committee. He also highlighted green technology

Conference alert: Shared Services Week

Folks - it's challenging cherry-picking which events are worth going to this year with everyone cutting back on the travel costs, but one you should definitely have on your calendar is IQPC's Shared Services Week, where I am hosting their F&A BPO session entitled Going Beyond the Letter of the Contract: Deriving Business Value From Your F&A BPO Experience, where I will be joined by my industry BPO friends Graham Russell (Astrazeneca), John Transier (Unilever), Mike Monaghan (Wells Fargo) and Sunil Narang (Level 3). Check out the session at 3.35pm on March 24th. 

And even if you can't make the week, you can still catch the highlights here, with the Horses being the official blog for the show.

IQPC have offered Horses readers a discount offer: 2-for-1 Special – Bring a colleague FREE when you purchase a main conference pass at standard pricing.  Reference code IUS_HFS_#1 to receive this discount. *Open to end-users only.

So why attend?

*A focus on quick wins for your shared services organization, with highlights on meeting short-term immediate gains and cutting costs without jeopardizing service levels

*An expert speaker faculty, including 4 Chief Economists, to demonstrate how to use survive the economic downturn and come out stronger on the other side

*Easy-to-customize conference experience: Choose between 7 tracks, including HR Transformation, Sourcing, Talent Management and Blue Sky Innovation Room, 3 Master Classes, 4 site tours and 16 workshops

*Expanded Exhibition Hall, networking opportunities and an exciting new year for the Annual Shared Services Excellence Awards.

4 Chief Economists will be speaking

Gregory Miller, Chief Economist, Sun Trust Banks
Brian Fabbri, Chief U.S. Economist for North America, BNP Paribas
David Wyss, Chief Economist, Standard & Poor’s
W. Michael Cox, Chief Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

For more information, please contact: Kim Vigilia, IQPC || Ph: 212-885-2753 || [email protected] || www.linkedin.com/in/kimvigilia

Dispatches from DC: Shift Happens

Here is the movie clip taken from my recent presentation "Creating a Strategic Enterprise Sourcing Strategy and Governing Change".  A special thanks to John Fisch for supplying some great content, and Mike Brown at AMR for mixing up the clip with this great soundtrack.  Enjoy.

Click to Play

 

And we did this before the Wall street shenanigans, just to add fuel to the fire...

Dispatches from DC: What's a mouse son?

Jason Averbrook on HR and technology:  the core theme is about how HR needs to reach outside of the organization to drive performance inside.  And technology and social networking tools arethe enabler to make this happen.  Here are some of the sound-bites:

"What we thought we were getting from technology is not what we have.  We outsourced benefits and payroll, so what are we left with - an address book, and IT tells us it'll cost a million dollars to upgrade!"

So why are people are unhappy with technology?

Dispatches from DC: going global with your HR function

Been listening to some excellent discussions at Mercer's client event, where the central theme is all about globalization.  Mercer's Jeff Miller and Julia Velixon discussed the results of their new study, conducted with the Harvard Business School, based on interviews with senior HR leaders from 60 global corporations.  Some key points of note:

• Workforces are becoming more globally-dispersed.  More than 50% of respondents' workforces reside outside of their corporate home country - the pressure to standardize policies and processes, manage increased workforce mobility and manage compliance needs is greater than ever;
• Many senior HR executives are stepping up into global roles, but are finding the transition challenging.  45% of the executives have moved into global roles over the last two-to-three years - many of these transitioned in the last year alone.  However, while roles are being structured globally, most of the executives have been struggling to get away from dealing with local and regional issues. 
• Lack of standardization.  The lack of a consistent approach to governance and compliance, especially in Europe and Asia - where employment and tax laws vary widely in different jurisdictions - creates further challenges for HR leaders.  There is also a lack of standardization around the approach to global mobility, which hinder's HR's ability to apply consistent procedures to the compensation and benefits of a workforce that has been growing rapidly.  It is becoming increasingly important for companies to properly manage the logistics of moving there employees from country to country.

Food-for-thought...more to follow

Blogging on the road again...

Washington D.C.this week:  I have the privilege of delivering a keynote address to Mercer's clients on the subject entitled "Creating a Strategic Enterprise Sourcing Strategy and Governing Change" (whatever will I think up next...).  I look forward to posting some banter from their conference, where the central theme is "Successfully Managing the Global Journey".  I am particularly interested to hear Jeff Miller and Juila Velixon discuss Mercer's recent study conducted with the Harvard Business School on global service delivery models.  I promise to share the findings here.  Am also looking forward to hearing Jason Averbrook (great blog by the way) attempting to tie together web 2.0, new HR technologies and outsourcing.  Big topics - I love it :)

San Francisco and New York next week: I am more excited than usual at the prospect of attending Oracle OpenWorld this year.  Both Oracle and SAP's signature events have fast taken-over as industry meets to anyone in the hi-tech and services businesses.  If you are there and want to meet up, drop me a mail.  What's exciting this year is the stage they are giving to BPO - come visit the panel discussion entitled the "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", Moscone South, 307 at 5.30pm on Monday.  I'll be joined on the panel with my long-time industry cohorts Stan LePeak (Equaterra) and Mark Stelzner (Inflexion Advisors). I'll be spending the latter half of the week in Manhattan where I have brought together some of the leading minds in the BPO industry for a behind-closed-doors round-table (no vendors allowed...sorry).

London and India:  Am making plans to visit London and India later in November and December, so look forward to meeting up with many of you during my travels.

NASSCOM dispatch: "We're now past the era of BPO" (Pramod Bhasin)

Have just listened to the inaugural NASSCOM address delivered by Som Mittal (President, NASSCOM), Ganesh Natarajan (Chairman, NASSCOM), Shri Jainder Singh (Secretary for IT and Comms Department for the India Government) and Pramod Bhasin (CEO Genpact).  My main observation is the level of energy, passion and enthusiasm for the industry by the speakers - a far cry from some of the tired, jaded speeches I have been subjected to in the States and Europe recently. 

Musings from abroad... dispatch #2... meet me at Nasscom

I'm leaving for a tour of the sub-continent next week, stopping in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, where I will be speaking at the Nasscom BPO strategy summit chairing a CEO Panel looking at BPO competitiveness.  Key discussion points will focus on:

• The survival prospects of pure-play BPO providers to compete effectively with the IT and business process The importance of knowledge process outsourcing to the future of successful BPO solutions
• Whether BPO vendors should take more responsibility for helping their clients establish stronger and more effective governance capabilities
• Measures BPO providers should take to add more value-added servicesinto the engagements to ensure their clients receive ongoing quality
• India's major strengths and challenges with BPO in the medium-to-long term and whether Latin America, China, and other regions could threaten India's current dominance in BPO

Drop me an email if you want to meet up while I'm at the show.

Upcoming Event: The FAO Summit, New York

My friends over at FAOToday magazine (Crossing media) are staging an "FAO Summit" at New York's Union League Club on 2nd and 3rd June, entitled "The Art of the Deal".  They have kindly offered free passes to the first 5 "Horses for Sources" readers to register:  Register here, or email Adam Bleifeld for more information.

Unfortunately I will be in India at the time, otherwise would definitely have been there, but thanks for the award nomination chaps.