Thursday gave us the obligatory sad to see you go for outgoing Chair Jose Berrios. Hank Jackson also addressed the group and was well received. In total I understand there are about 1000 attendees. Nearly 400 made the trip to Capitol Hill on Lobby Day.
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| The huge hotel atrium overlooking the Potomac River. |
While the sessions have been good I have heard negative comments about the food, the heating, the front desk billing issues and I hate to say it but the complete lack of wi-fi service in any of the conference rooms. Not that we ever had that at the Crystal Gateway - but I keep hoping someday that as much as SHMR purports to be social media friendly, that they would have free and open wi-fi at ALL OF THEIR EVENTS..
Another thing that I have been made aware of is the seeming lack of young people in chapter leadership positions. I don't know how or why this is, but it appears to be evident, as this was pointed out to me by a young attendee.
Now with all of that said, the conference is GREAT. This is a wonderful time to get together with other volunteer leaders and share information, practices, stories and maybe a few drinks. I will be following up with a couple posts on the hill visit, a couple conference session and what the collective take always for the largest contingent of Illinois HR pros to ever attend the event. My count had 40+ red shirts at the event - perhaps the largest group from any state.
The closing dinner is yet to come, so there will be more from the Pinnacle Awards and the Saturday's closing sessions. I hoped to give those not in attendance a little flavor of the event. If you are on-site please comment on my observations. I would like to know if others agree or disagree.
-More to come...
Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM