Thank you...better late than never.

The 13^th Annual Illinois State SHRM Conference ended two weeks ago today (that is if I finish this in time to be posted Tuesday morning) and I am just getting around to saying thanks.  I feel bad that it is taking me so long to write this but a couple of days to decompress, answer e-mail and resume other projects went a little too long.  But it is better late than never to say:  THANK YOU!

Thank you to the staff at Drury Lane, MCS and NIU Outreach.  Even though we do pay for your services, the cooperation and customer service that you deliver far outreach our initial agreements.  It is such a pleasure working with all three of your organizations, it makes running ILSHRM almost fun….ok, it is fun.

Thank you to our exhibitors and sponsors.  Without your support, we would not be able to offer such a great conference at such an affordable price.  In return, I hope you made some great new contacts that will bring in new business that will along you remain successful until we meet again next year.

Thank you to our speakers, both concurrent and keynote.  Because of your tremendous knowledge, speaking ability and congeniality, you have allowed our attendees to obtain new, valuable information and obtain new ideas that will allow them to continue to be a success in their current jobs and to launch new and innovative programs in their work places.

Thank you to our Social Media team.  You traveled across the country, and in a few cases, country borders to help us let the HR social media world know what a great event we have in terms of content and networking.

Thank you to the ILSHRM volunteers, ISC Board members and SHRM Staff.  All of you (well, most of you) are volunteers and go way above and beyond the call of duty in making the Conference a huge success.  I must point out one person in particular.  Sabrina Baker has been my right hand person for the last two year in running this conference and I have all the faith that she will continue to make this conference evolve and grow in her two year term as Conference Director.  I could not have done it without her.

Finally, Thank you to the people we do this for, our attendees.  You are the reason we’ve done this for the last 13 years and will continue to do it into the future.  Part of SHRM’s “motto” is to Serve The Profession.  We feel one of the best ways to serve it is to provide great programming and networking that will continue to allow the HR field to grow at the rate it has over the last decade or so.  Thank you for coming and supporting us in that ideal and we hope to continue to see a lot of familiar faces next year on August 18-20, 2013 at Drury Lane for the 14^th Annual Illinois SHRM Conference. 

Even though my tenure as Conference Director is over, I will see you next year.  Wouldn’t miss it for the world.

-John Jorgensen SPHR, 2011 and 2012 ILSHRM Conference Director