TalentSphere 2026: What we learned in Savannah

Every year, I hear practitioners say the same thing about big industry conferences: exhausting, surface-level, more performance than substance. TalentSphere was built as the direct response to that — and our time in Savannah felt like proof that a different model works.

Small, curated, and practitioner-led. Senior talent leaders doing real work together in a space designed to support that. No endless ballrooms and vendor demos dressed up as insight.

Findem joined as a Marquee Sponsor this year, and the team delivered. They led three sessions that landed well with attendees, and the welcome kits they put together — TRIP drinks and a Calm subscription (plus actual good snacks) — set the tone we were going for: grounded, not overstimulated.

Here are some of my most memorable takeaways.

The AI conversation finally moved past efficiency

Brenna Schnaare, Findem's Head of Talent Consulting & Transformation, opened with a keynote that hit close to home for so many in our space wrangling with AI. Her core argument: most talent acquisition teams are using the technology to do the same things faster, but that's a missed opportunity. 

The organizations seeing real, sustained ROI aren't layering tools on top of old workflows. They're redesigning how talent decisions get made, with a focus on leadership alignment, operating model changes, and clear accountability for outcomes. That's what separates experimentation from transformation. The room had a lot of questions — a good sign!

Candidate fraud is a bigger problem than most teams are ready to handle

Frances Wei, Findem’s Head of Product Marketing, and Karen Arnold, Global VP of Talent at Automattic, ran a session on something that keeps coming up across the industry: the rise of AI-generated resumes and inflated credentials. Traditional screening wasn't built to handle this. 

The framing I found most useful from the duo: validation has to be embedded throughout the hiring workflow, not bolted on after interviews and conversations have already begun. Technology surfaces risk, while people are left to interpret it. You can't just rely on technology, and pretending otherwise is where hiring integrity can break down.

Veteran hiring as a financial strategy, not a brand play

This panel — with speakers from Findem, RecruitMilitary, and Southern Company’s Josh Deason — reframed an initiative that too often gets siloed under DEI or employer brand. The data on veteran hiring outcomes is consistent: lower turnover, faster ramp, and a stronger return on training investment. 

Run it through a financial lens rather than a goodwill lens, and it becomes a much easier conversation to have with leadership. 

P.S. This is worth bringing back to your team if it hasn't already come up!

Missed TalentSphere? Come see us at Unleash!

What I walked away with, across all three sessions, was a clearer sense that the practitioners pushing talent acquisition forward aren't waiting for permission to think strategically. They're already doing it; they just need the space, the right peers, and honest conversations to accelerate it.

That's what TalentSphere is for. If you missed our sessions in Savannah, we'll be at Unleash next. Come find us at Booth 532!