Top Ten HR Moments of 2011

There is little doubt which news stories will revisit the airwaves as we recollect and close the year of 2011: the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the death of Osama Bin Laden and Moammar Gadhafi, the loss of business icon Steve Jobs, the pop-culture take-it-or-leave-it rants of Charlie Sheen, and the shocking shooting and miraculous recovery of Gabrielle Giffords. Maybe our stories pale in comparison, but as HR professionals we've also watched some highlights in the year 2011.

1. NLRB and its battle with big business Boeing. I love a good case study. Maybe it's because I'm in education or that I've always wanted to be a lifelong student, but this is good stuff. I challenge anyone to find an HR or labor relations class that didn't follow this story in 2011, and while it appears to be wrapping up at year's end, it will be a precedent for future labor issues.

2. Wisconsin vs. Public Unions. Who doesn't love a good union battle? Regardless of your position, or mine for that matter, the full assault between Governor Walker and the public unions was dramatic (yes, I'm a nerd). Throw in some teachers, pension plans, a multibillion dollar deficit and a contentious political environment and you were guaranteed to see cardboard-sign wielding protesters on your Capitol's front lawn.

3. SHRM National. Keith Urban labels us as SHRMies. And yes, the networking is phenomenal, the sessions are the best professional development around, the exhibit hall is second-to-none and who can forget the tweet-ups and the monster party hosted by Monster.

4. Occupy.  A stretch, perhaps,if you think occupy is all about business. But yes, I'll make the ever-heard argument that HR is business. Just ask UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi who's being pressured to step down from her position because of the way the campus police handled the protesters, and by handled, I mean doused with pepper spray. Employee relations, employee communications and leadership development could have gone a long way to prevent this event. Maybe.

5. The Herman Cain conundrum. It might not have any long-term influence on HR policy and it might not have had a realistic impact on the polls, but you can bet a lot of HR managers were revisiting their sexual harassment policies. And I guarantee more than a handful of businessmen were second guessing their past actions.

6. SHRM Leadership - The case for real HR Leadership? It exists. Tiffany, Steve, Ellen, John, Tara, Kristi and Dave among countless others are proof. Giving back to the profession never felt so good.

7. Penn State. Ethics, leadership, power and oversight of leaders. Did you see Sandusky was denied a volunteer coaching position after background check? This story continues to evolve and will surely have human resource repercussions. Lesson learned.

8. Illinois SHRM State Conference. It might not be everyone's top 10, but with Bryan Wempen, Michael VanDervort, Jessica Merrell, Dwane Lay, Charlie Judy, Geoff Webb, Joan Ginsberg, Josh Rock, Kristi Jones, Susan Avello, Ryan Estis, John Jorgensen... ok, you get the idea... fabulous.

9. To infinity and beyond: the last space shuttle flight.  As a girl who grew up wanting to be the genie in I Dream Of Jeannie, I imagined nothing but astronauts, palm tress and the beach. As an HR gal, I now see the impact of the shuttering of the space program including over 8,000 jobs lost at Kennedy Space Center alone. The impact area extends into the Space Coast with losses at retail, restaurant, tourism and other businesses. I've got this issue on my watch list for strategic planning initiatives for future developments and municipal and industry transitions (don't you just love a good public administration story?).

10. The Recession. Wait, what year is this? Still? Is this a double dip? Call it what you like, analyze it at will, but for many the recession is still here. Unemployment hovered around 9% in many markets and even topped 10% in Illinois. Our economic woes, health care costs, unemployment, underemployment, and debt continue to influence our HR programs and practices.

Way to go, 2011! It's not a Kardashian wedding implosion, but these stories swept me off my feet... and will be a part of my life for more than 72 days.
Amy Dillman - President Elect Central Illinois Human Resource Group
Photo credit  Lake City Community Church

Charlie Judy ILSHRM OHSHRM and LASHRM

If you have seen some of the things we have posted up here lately, we have kind of slighted our state council.   Even though our conference is over for the year, we are already working on next year's event and moving forward with many of our on-going projects, like hosting the SHRM Strategy Conference in Chicago. Oh and by the way this is our 100th post on this site! Thank you very much!

Among other things that John Jorgensen and I did while we were over visiting the Ohio SHRM State Conference, we had a chance to review some things from our conference.  One of the more interesting things we did was to check out some digital video from our conference.  We compared what we had done to what Ohio had done, in terms of conference openings.  Without argument, you must agree that the conference openings for Illinois compared to Ohio were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Each was unique and fit the flavor of their event.   After looking at the video below, I think you will find Mr. Judy's comments most enlightening.


Charlie Judy Emcee at ILSHRM 2011 from Illinois SHRM on Vimeo.

Now we think Charlie did a great job.  And not only do we think that he did a great job but apparently our friend Robin Schooling, from Louisiana who attended IL SHRM, thought Charley did a good job as well.  In fact, she thought Charlie did such a fine job, Robin invited Charlie to emcee at the 2012 Louisiana SHRM State Conference.   We found out about this  on the trip return back to Illinois from our Ohio experience. I understand Charley attended school at Tulane, thus the willingness to return to Louisiana, or perhaps just Ms. Schooling's sheer charm, who knows.

The bottom line is this. It is all good stuff.  Our SHRM state organizations are sharing experiences, speakers, topics, ideas and concepts, and it benefits everyone and it hurts no one.

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

ILSHRM All Access - Daily Video Wrap-Up - Day 2

Sorry for the delay in posting the day two wrap up from our 2011 Conference.  We owe a big thanks to Curtis Midkiff from SHRM for putting these together.  Think of this like fine wine - it is worth waiting for.




- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Final Thoughts Before the 2011 Illinois SHRM State Conference

The car is packed up, I am ready to go ride for about three hours up I-55 to the Chicago area for the show (I like that better than conference).

My toys that I am bringing to the show.

It is almost an emotional time.  I am going to get to see a number of folks whom I respect and like very much, a.k.a. the HR twitter gang. I am going to get to meet a number of folk face to face for the first time –folks I have interacted with for a long time in several instances. (Susan, Sabrian and Abe)

With the sessions that we have planned for the show, I am going to get to hear from a number of folks who know their stuff and get a bunch of HRCI credits as well.  Monday night we are having what I will call a tweet-up. This should be great too.

As the Director of Social Media for the Illinois SHRM State Council, the show gives me an opportunity to do my thing – tweet, take pictures, video, blog things I truly enjoy doing.  Along with some serious support from Curtis Midkff, we are going to post a daily wrap-up of events. I am all geeked up about this as well.

Best of all I get hang with about 800 people who tend to think and view things like I do.  It should be a great three days.  See you in Oak Brook!

Meet Mingle and Tweet

Ok all of you social media types headed to the Illinois State SHRM Conference, I am going to lay out there a goal for our upcoming conference. 100 that is the goal!

One of my goals for this conference is to create 100 #newusers on twitter.

This shouldn’t be too hard, I don’t think as our friend Jessica Merrill-Miller (no @blogging4jobs is not her name) will be instructing a social media boot camp on Sunday leading up to the Mondays keynote session.  While Jessica’s efforts will no doubt give my goal a giant boost, the omni-presence of social media luminaries should help the cause as well.

But we have to be careful… we want to reach out and welcome all of the folks who are new to twitter and other social media outlets that are in attendance. Ya know sometime we hang together… like a gang or something, which intimidates some folks. Or if we are not hanging out, like a pack of social media wolves, we are all standing around looking at our smart phones and not interacting with other folks.  If you really old then you have to hold the phone close to your face and look over the top of you bifocals. So let’s make sure we don’t do this.

Don’t get too caught up in tweeting or blogging while you are in a session. I still have people glare at me like, “how rude.”  If only they new I was complimenting the presenter.

We should have some great content coming out of the conference let’s just make we step outside the echo-chamber and engage the rest of the world; to see what they are thinking and doing at the conference. 

The mantra for the conference is meet, mingle and tweet!

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC-SHRM

The Countdown Begins

It is less than a week away for our big show here in Illinois.  So as we put the final touches on things we are looking over all of the details. 

We have put together an impressive list of sessions offering up a ton of HRCI credits. We have created a TWUBS feed so you can follow or embed the tweet stream. We have created a list of twitter users who we know will be in attendance (and would be happy to add you).  We will be hosting a meetup/tweetup on Monday evening August 22^nd.  We will be recognizing our Wellness at Work – WOWWIE winners at a lunch meeting. We will be hosting official from the SHRM .Bookstore – and all that they bring with them to the conference.

List of bloggers from the TWUBS  site.

We will have in attendance two internet Radio sensations (yes I chose that word carefully) Steve Boese host of HR Happy Hour will be in attendance and trying our some new and exciting technology. Also we have the dynamic duo of Bryan Wempen and William Tincup host of the daily internet HR Radio show Drive Thru HR. Bryan and William will be doing two broadcasts from the event.

Also in attendance we will have SHRM’s own Social Media Guru Curtiss Midkiff, who to will be doing something new and different for a state conference.  You will have to follow the event to see what Curtiss has up his sleeve.

How about Google + what are we going to do with that?  We are not sure yet, but it is on the radar and we are going to try to integrate that into the event somehow.

We have over 25 bloggers who will be on site. No doubt that will generate a sizable about of content coming out of the conference.

We will have nearly 60 vendors at our vendor fair showing off some of the latest things for the world of H.R.

If you haven’t signed up it is not too late.  If you are registered, make sure you sign up for the meetup and join our twubs page.   See you soon!

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

The Conference Twub Site ... Forgive me for I know not what I do!

I spent most of last evening doing some work on a site called www.twubs.com . This site was introduced to me by Mike VanDervort (who you can see and hear speak at this year's conference)  prior to last year’s state conference.  If you look, you will see that twubs is a site that integrates with twitter.    Some of the work I was doing last night had to do with setting up sessions.   While I was doing this, I was trying to understand what is going on with the program.  It looks like it has a lot of great features and can assist nicely with a conference.  So I am charging ahead with the use of it.

This, for me, is where it starts to get a little dicey. I am not sure of how to use the program, nor do I understand all of the features.  But at the risk of looking foolish, I am going to charge ahead with twubs, because my intuition tells me it will be a great thing.

What all does our twubs feed  do?

• Creates a twitter stream that can be followed or embedded
• Let’s a planner set up sessions or other events inside the conference
• Assigns (sub) hashtags to sessions [The conference hashtag is #ILSHRM11, the hashtag for Ryan Estis’ opening presentation is #ev3-ILSHRM11.
• It allows twitter users to join the event and tweet from the twubs interface
• It allows users to sign up to attend or not attend sessions (subsets of the conference)
• It allows the posting of other conference related links.
• It will display RSS feeds

Now it probably does a lot more than that, I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.  So this will be a learning experience for me as well as any of the attendees who are nice enough to sign up and use it. 

Here is an embed of  the twubs feed for #ILSHRM11.

The embed is a one step cut and paste of HTML code into the post.   Even I can do that!

All right - so if you look at this - PLEASE go the our twubs page www.twubs.com/ilshrm11 and join, and together we will figure out what else this site does.

Send me some comments or tweets - if you know more about this than I do.

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Human Resources – Illinois Style

Todays guest post is from Robin Schooling.  You can meet her at our State Conference this year.  Otherwise a bit about her...

Robin Schooling, SPHR, is an HR Leader in Louisiana with 20 plus years of experience in a variety of industries and organizations.  She writes at HR Schoolhouse and also contributes to the blog Women of HR. She’s an active volunteer with SHRM, ASTD and community organizations.  A native of Wisconsin, she doesn’t miss the Midwest winters.  At all. Well, OK  - maybe at Christmas when there should be a lovely dusting of snow on the ground. 

I’m so totally excited to be attending the Illinois SHRM State Conference in just a few short weeks.   I’ve been asked to participate as a member of the Social Media Press Corps and am so looking forward to helping share content with a wider audience and spreading the word about great HR practices.    But there are a few other reasons I’m excited to make the trip northward:

·         I’m an HR nerd (wearing the badge proudly) and just LOVE sucking up all the knowledge and HR goodness I can.  Yup; I’m one of those people who read HR/business books, articles and blogs on the weekend. And into the night.  And highlight passages and make notes.   

·         I can’t wait to sample the smorgasbord of speakers and topics that are lined up for ILSHRM11.  And I can sort-of speak as a conference veteran because I’ve gone to my fair share of SHRM state conferences in various states over the years (WI, FL, LA) plus a good number of  national SHRM conferences.  And yes, I can even admit that I work on the state conference planning committee for Louisiana (**)

·         I’m so excited to hear what the keynote speakers will be unveiling for us in August.  What’s up NOW in the fabulous brains of Ryan Estis, Joe Gerstandt/Jason Lauritsen and China Gorman?  Not to mention the awesome concurrent session speakers.

·         The last time I was at Drury Lane in Oakbrook was when I came to see my friend perform as a member of the chorus in “Oklahoma” (circa mid 90’s).  Singing and dancing her heart out as a prairie girl during “Kansas City.”

**********

And no - I didn’t drive 1,000 miles from Louisiana to attend a fabulous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical; rather, I drove down from Wisconsin. Therefore, reason #5…

·         I get to come “homeward” and hang with some fabulous Midwest HR peeps.  And sure, HR-is-HR-is-HR.  We’re a global economy, we cross-borders, we zig-zag across the country, time-zones and social media channels to share knowledge, information and ideas.  But….

There’s still a lot to be said for being back in the region where one, as the saying goes, ‘cut one’s teeth.”  You know what I mean?  We Wisconsin/Illinois HR peeps were always sort of simpatico.  As much as we indulged in cross-border turf wars around the Packer vs. Bears, Chicago Hot Dogs vs. Brats, or Door County vs. Lake Geneva (oh wait… those were both chock-full-off Illinios peeps), we still had sort of this “we’re in this together vibe.”  Am I right?  chest bump.  fist pump.  bro hug.

Sigh.  I’m getting totally nostalgic for our shared heritage.  Cheap Trick.  Gurnee Mills.  Mars’ Cheese Castle. 

**********

But at the end of the day, all I know is this….I am going to get to hang with awesome HR professionals who are attending a conference because they want to learn, advance the HR profession, propel their careers and strengthen their professional influence.  And at the end of a few short days crammed full of awesome HR content we will have made new connections and we will have expanded our individual and collective visions of what Human Resources is and can become.

And THAT – above all else – TRULY excites me!

(**) And if you have a desire to come sample the awesomeness that is New Orleans, April is the BEST time of the year.  The 2012 Louisiana conference ends on the Friday of opening Jazz Fest weekend.  If you can’t resist the thought of a little southern hospitality – please consider this your personal invitation to come check us out!

Mike VanDervort Speaking at Illinois SHRM Conference

Pictured at SHRM  2011 Legislative Conference Tara Mauk Arthur,
Donna Rogers and Mike VanDervor 

At this year's Illinois State SHRM Conference I will be watching a social media leader, and friend in transition. I have known Mike VanDervort for around three years. We met as friends on line before meeting face to face in 2009.

Mike is actually in transition on a couple different fronts. He has recently taken on new responsibilities in his day job with Publix in Florida. His focus has moved more towards social media away from labor relations. He still is an unquestionable subject matter expert and leader in the area of labor relations. His opinion is sought regularly about matters of labor relations. He also writes about the subject frequently at his blog site The Human Race Horses. Mike is also considered by many to be an expert, as well, when it comes to matters of social media. That is phase one of Mike’s transition.

2010 IL SHRM Keynote Speaker Pamela Meyer PhD.
Pictured with Mike VanDervort.

The second part of the transition is where you will find Mike at this conference. I am sure we will see Mike hanging out, observing, writing, posting, visiting and interacting with attendees what he does at most every event he attends. But this year, Mike is going to be one of the presenters. Mike is presenting one of the Social Media sessions. Mike is presenting “Unions are getting Social with your Employees.”

Mike is going to share some of the things he has learned along the way. For anyone who attends this session you will walk away with a keen insight into how unions are currently using social media.

Mike joined Illinois SHRM last year and participated in the conference and blogged about the event as well. We are excited to have him back again this year and look forward to seeing him in this new role.

- Dave Ryan ISC-SHRM Director of Social Media

Twitter List for ILSHRM11

We are in the process of putting together a list of active tweeters who will be in attendance or would like to follow the 2011 Illinois SHRM State Conference.  Here is a link to the list  http://twitter.com/#!/DaveTheHRCzar/ilshrm11tweeps.  The official hashtag for the event is #ILSHRM11.

If you are not on the list and would like to be on the list contact me on twitter @DavetheHRCzar or via email at drsrdrkr@comcast.net and provide me with your twitter handle and I will add you to the list.

Look for more frequent updates as our conference date is getting closer. – We can’t wait!

- Dave Ryan ISC SHRM Director of Social Media

ILSHRM11's Social Media Press Corps

THIS JUST IN

We are pleased to announce one addition to the ILSHRM Social Media Press Corps.  Trish McFarlane (@TrishMcFarlane on Twitter) aka The HR Ringleader will be joining the social media group covering the Conference, giving her unique view on what to look for, what is being said there and her analysis after the event.  She was one of our original social media participants last year and we are thrilled to have Trish back this year.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Last year at the Illinois State SHRM Conference, we experimented with using social media by inviting some well known HR bloggers and social media personalities to attend and report on the Conference. It allowed letting those who couldn’t attend follow the excitement and what was happening at the Conference. It also allowed conference goers an opportunity to “hear” what was happening in other sessions that they couldn’t attend. We were one of the first state conferences to test out using social media as a tool and based on reports and comments it was a success.

This year, we are expanding our use of social media as far as numbers involved and hopefully in creating pre and post conference excitement as well as a method to document what happens at the Conference. Many of our speakers have a powerful presence in social media and we are taking advantage of that to create our Social Media Press Corps, while adding a few other social media reporters to the mix. In addition to the written blogs and tweets, we have several noted social media pros coming to video what goes on at the conference as well as interview speakers and attendees alike. Finally, the only daily internet talk radio show dealing with HR practitioners, Drive Thru HR, will be working from our Conference.

We have added a social media track to the conference to teach HR practitioners how to use these new tools and in order to help HR professionals understand social media and how to use it, the Illinois State Council of SHRM is sponsoring a Social Media Boot Camp, being held on Sunday, August 21 (the day before our Annual Conference) at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakbrook Terrace, the same location as the Conference. This how-to program was a highly requested item that came from our first presentations on social media at last year’s conference.

Below is the roster of our Social Media Press Corps, along with their blog/web site and Twitter handles:

Bloggers

Blogger                         Blog Site                                    Twitter Handle

Robin Schooling           The HR Schoolhouse                 @RobinSchooling

Jessica Miller-Merrill     Blogging 4 Jobs                          @blogging4jobs

Jennifer McClure           Unbridled Talent                         @cincyrecruiter

Joe Gerstandt                Joe Gerstandt                             @joegerstandt

                                    Also Talent Anarchy

China Gorman              China Gorman                            @chinagorman

Dwane Lay                  Lean HR                                       @dwanelay

Mike VanderVort        Human Race Horses                     @mikevandervort

Jason Seiden              Jason Seiden                                @seiden

Ryan Estis                  Passion on Purpose                      @ryanestis

William Tincup           Drive Thru HR                               @williamtincup

Charlie Judy              The HR Fishbowl                           @HRFishbowl

Video

Maren Hogan          Marenated                                    @marenhogan

Geoff Webb            Radical Events                                @radicalrecruit

Internet Radio

Bryan Wempen       Drive Thru HR                             @bryanwempen

William Tincup        Drive Thru HR                             @williamtincup

In addition, follow our "house" crew of social media folks of Dave Ryan (@DaveTheHRCzar), Donna Rogers (@DonnaRogersHR), John Jorgensen (@jkjhr), Cathy Plouzek (@smiling26.2), Jeff Williams (@_JeffWilliams) and Sabrina Baker (@Sabrina_PHR) among others who will be using the #ILSHRM11 hashtag.

For the Press Corps members pre-conference thoughts, on-site posts and post-conference wrap ups, follow their blogs and to follow what is happening at the Conference if you are on Twitter, follow our hashtag of #ILSHRM11.

- John Jorgensen SPHR Conference Director ISC SHRM

IL SHRM 2011 – Let the Excitement Build

Sabrina Baker

Today's guest post is from Sabrina Baker, PHR,  who is working with ILSHRM on the Conference, helping to fill the exhibitors/sponsor rolls.  She also writes a great blog as the HR Chatterbox. You can also find Sabrina on twitter as Sabrina_PHR

I know that everyone is gearing up for the National SHRM conference coming up in a few weeks, but truth be told, I’m more excited about our state conference happening in August.  The national conference is a great experience and offers lots of opportunity for personal growth, but there is something about bringing that down to a local level that really makes it impactful.

I was lucky enough to see the space where we will be hosting the 2011 conference and participate in discussions around setup.  This year’s event is sure to be bigger and better than ever before and I can not imagine anyone not walking away feeling energized and excited about the direction our profession is heading.

Working with the planning group has opened my eyes to how much conference organizers care about your experience.  This group is wholly dedicated to making sure this is a meaningful event for you, that conference tracks and speakers are relevant to the issues facing HR professionals today and that you have a sense of pride in not only yourself, but the professional organization that supports you.

If you have not made the decision to attend, I encourage you to do so today.  We are expecting over 600 attendees from all over the state and even if you get nothing out of the speakers (which I promise you will) you will have a great opportunity to network and learn from one another.  It doesn’t get much better than that.ns around setup.  This year’s event is sure to be bigger and better than ever before and I can not imagine anyone not walking away feeling energized and excited about the direction our profession is heading.

WOWIE Wednesday: Three Questions with Lynn Creedon, City of St. Charles, WOWIE Winner in 2010

Coming off its WOWIE 2010 Award, the City of St. Charles can offer good advice to those interested in employee wellness programs.  Here at the ILSHRM Blog, we thought it might be beneficial to ask Lynn Creedon, SPHR, and benefits coordinator for the City of St. Charles, about how St. Charles implemented its award winning program.

First, some background:

City of St. Charles, Il  by Night

The City of St. Charles has had a multi-department wellness team in place for 10 years.  (Prior to that time, the HR department handled all wellness initiatives.)  The Wellness Team’s mission is to encourage our employees and their families to become healthier, both physically and emotionally, and to achieve greater balance in life.  The Wellness Team provides ongoing opportunities through programs, activities, and education to assist in achieving a healthier lifestyle.  Additionally, an important part of the mission statement of the HR department is "to hire and develop quality people, and to foster an environment that embraces total wellness.”  We have support from top management which allows employees the ability to participate in our many programs.  We look at the whole spectrum of wellness and have selected four topics on which to focus this calendar year; we present the topics through various mediums several times throughout the year, which enables us to reinforce these foundational building blocks for a healthier lifestyle.  This year’s topics are:

§  Physical/nutrition

§  Safety

§  Emotional

§  Financial

  

ILSRHM: Was it difficult to convince management to invest in employee wellness?

LC: It was somewhat difficult to get all of the top management on board at first.  We had to provide validation of our efforts and did this through showing the reduction in workers’ compensation injuries, the participation in our HEALTHY program, and through employee feedback from our Wellness Team survey.  Also, for the past three years, a department director has served on the Wellness team, which has provided top level management firsthand experience of our goals and programs. The Wellness Team meets at least once a year with the department directors and City Administrator to provide updates on the wellness initiatives.

ILSHRM:  What advice would you give your HR colleagues about setting up such an effort?

LC:  You definitely need the buy-in from upper management.  The best way to get this support is to provide quantitative data to validate the importance of offering a Wellness program. (There is much research available as well to validate the importance of focusing on prevention and workplace wellness.) It is also helpful to have employees from various departments serving on the Wellness Team so that a cross section of employees can get the word out about wellness initiatives and provide feedback to the team from a diverse workforce.

ILSRHM: How do you measure the effectiveness of your program?

LC:  We do annual surveys to get feedback from our employees, keep data from all of our programs/initiatives, and look at reports regarding absenteeism, workers’ compensation, medical insurance statistics, etc.

If you would like to learn more about the City of St. Charles’ winning WOWIE Award from 2010, post a reply here or email chris@addcmpr.com.

Guest Post from Chris Martin

ILSHRM Conference 10 Hours of HRCI Credit

The Illinois State Council of SHRM is pleased to announce that our upcoming 12th Annual State Conference has been allowed to award up to 10 hours of HRCI certified credit for those seeking recertification for their PHR or SPHR certifications. Every session has received at least general level certification by HRCI and all three keynote presentations and 7 of the concurrent sessions have received Strategic Credit for those who hold the SPHR level certification. In addition, our Social Media Boot Camp being held on Sunday, August 21, has also been awarded Strategic Credit, adding another 3.5 hours credit available to the 10 for the 2 day conference.


While HRCI credit is not the prime objective of the educational sessions, ISC-SHRM realizes that it is a major concern for those who need to add the credit hours as part of their recertification efforts. We are pleased that we are successful in doing so this year, while still holding the cost of the conference at a very reasonable level.

Please join us on August 22-23 at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oakbrook Terrace for what we feel is one of the premier SHRM State Conferences in the country. For further information, please see the Conference page of the ISC-SHRM web site.

-  John Jorgensen SPHR Immediate Past State Director ISC SHRM

ISC SHRM Update

Happy Spring!

I hope that you have now had the pleasure of visiting our newly remade website at www.ilshrm.org which features a whole new look and many user-friendly features.  In conjunction with this exciting step, another important communication tool will be getting a facelift.  Our summer 2011 newsletter will be our first “e-newsletter,” complete with links to your favorite ILSHRM newsletter features including Chapter Notes from around the State and a Message from Our Director!  With the look and feel of our website, the publication will mirror other branding efforts for ILSHRM.

One exciting features of this new format will be that we will no longer be limited by the constraints of a traditional newsletter format.  This means that we will have much greater flexibility in the number and size of our submissions.  While we would like to keep with spirit of a true newsletter with concise bits of interesting tidbits, we will now be able to feature more photos and features.

Our next newsletter deadline will be June 1, 2011 and we have a lofty but achievable goal.  Chapter Notes is an important tool for local chapters to share upcoming events, best practices and member recognition.  For our summer edition, we are targeting a 100% participation rate from our chapters.  Whether it’s a quick note about a successful educational session you’ve held or a new volunteer project your chapter has undertaken, we want to hear from you!  So, if your chapter is not a regular contributor to the ILSHRM newsletter, let’s take advantage of this new online format to turn a new page with participation.

Our next publication will also be our final newsletter before our 12^th annual conference August 22-23 at Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace.  For those of you who have never attended, or who haven’t attended in recent years, the conference is now bigger and better than ever.  Whether you are a seasoned HR executive or new to the HR scene, this event has it all- education, networking, an outstanding display of vendors, and did I mention a top-notch venue in the hub of great dining, shopping and culture! 

Heather Hammitt - Marketing/Communications Director for ISC-SHRM

SHRM North Central Regional Student Conference

I am attending a conference this weekend. It is a SHRM Student Conference for the North Central region. I am going to be a part of this. I don't know why, but when these things get close I feel like a kid in candy store.  I guess the best way for me to express how I feel was summed up by Flounder in Animal House



Silly isn't it?  Not really.  Most of the conferences I attend have to do with things I feel passionate about, with HR being one of them.  So then when I get to hang out with a bunch of like minded people the energy and excitement gets taken to the next level - and I really enjoy that.

SHRM is bringing together 11 teams from the North Central Region to test their Human Resources prowess against one and other.  Exciting stuff... you bet!  It is going to be a day and a half of hanging with these folks with young minds and high energy levels.   That always charges my batteries just like getting to hear SHRM's Membership Chair Pam Green speak. She doesn't just talk she demands and gets audience participation.




If you want to tweet about the conference, or follow the tweet stream,  the Duke Street Mothership (otherwise know as SHRM Headquarters) tells us the correct hashtag for the event is #SHRMNCStudent.

Here is more information on the Conference...

Group Number	Preparation Room	Room Monitor
1	Harold E. White Building, Room107	Rick Schemm
2	Harold E. White Building, Room109	Philip Deger
3	Harold E. White Building, Room 24	Latecia Braud
4	Science Building, Room 032S	Lindsie Schoenack
5	Science Building, Room 054S	Noreen Mysyk
6	Science Building, Room 108S	Ashley Truhlar
7	Science Building, Room 119S	Teresa Los
8	Academic Building, Room AS121A	Cyndi Hanson
9	Academic Building, Room AS132A	Michelle Robbins
10	Academic Building, Room AS133A	Janelle Leonardo
11	Academic Building, Room AS156A	Dave Ryan

Again, here is the campus map, http://www.lewisu.edu/campuses/pdf/BuildingsLocation.pdf.  It is important that you familiarize yourself with the team preparation room as we’ll be under a tight timeframe.

Building 1 – Harold E. White Building (3 team preparation rooms)

Building 11 – Science Building (4 team preparation rooms)

Building 12 – Academic Building (registration, Friday night welcome and presentation, educational sessions, 4 team preparation rooms)

Building 22 – Learning Resource Center (Preliminary Presentations)

Competition Team Check-in Schedule  **Please arrive 30 minutes before to familiarize yourself with the room location and to register**

Check-in             End-Time

Group #1 and #2              8:15 a.m.             12:30 p.m.

Group #3 and #4              8:45 a.m.             1:00 p.m.

Group #5 and #6              9:15 a.m.             1:30 p.m.

Group #7 and #8              9:45 a.m.             2:00 p.m.

Group #9 and #10           10:15 a.m.            2:30 p.m.

Group #11                       10:45 a.m.           3:00 p.m.

Maps of Campus

The North Central Regional Student Conference will be using a number of buildings throughout the weekend.  The campus map can be found online at http://www.lewisu.edu/campuses/pdf/BuildingsLocation.pdf.

Building 1 – Harold E. White Building (3 team preparation rooms)

Building 11 – Science Building (4 team preparation rooms)

Building 12 – Academic Building (registration, Friday night welcome and presentation, educational sessions, 4 team preparation rooms)

Building 13 – University Dining (all conference meals, Written Judge Room)

Building 22 – Learning Resource Center (Preliminary Presentations)

The campus is fairly compact.  Buildings 11, 12, and 13 are all connected and buildings 1 and 22 are a 3-5 minute walk from the main area.

Here is a virtual tour of the campus, http://lewisu.edu/welcome/vtour/vcampus.htm.  It will provide you with a look at what the building looks like. 

Parking  For the individuals who drive to campus, you can park in Lot F or G.

Attire

Conference participants typically wear business casual attire to the event.  Remember that you will be networking with HR professionals, and it is important to make a good impression. 

Students competing on a case competition team must be in business professional attire on Saturday.

Weather

The preliminary forecast for this weekend is mid to high 60’s on Friday and Saturday isolated thunderstorms and a few showers on Saturday.  As we move closer to the event, you can check the weather forecast at http://www.weather.com/weather/weekend/60446.

Please plan accordingly as we are in a few different buildings for the case competition.

Registration

Conference registration will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 8 and last throughout the evening. Registration will be in Building 12 – Academic Building Room AS158A. Please follow the SHRM signs leading to registration. Conference attendees, advisors, and volunteers must check-in at this area.

Tentative Conference Schedule – a full agenda will be provided on-site

Friday, April 8                                                                                                                                    

4:30 p.m.                        Conference Welcome        
                                                               

5:00 p.m.                          Backpack to Briefcase

Pamela J. Green, SPHR, Chief US Membership Officer
               

6:00 p.m.                            Networking/Dinner                                                                 

Saturday, April 9

8:15 a.m.                              Conference Welcome and Day Ahead

8:15 a.m.                              Team Case-Competition Check-in Begins

8:30 a.m.                              Educational Session #1                                
Social Media from College to Business
Dave Ryan, SPHR

9:45 a.m.                              Educational Session #2                                
How to Create a Great Elevator Speech
Jodi Harmeyer, SPHR
                               

10:30 a.m.                           Judges Training                                                
                               

11:15 a.m.                           Educational Session #3
Volunteerism for Life:  Making a Difference While Building a Valuable Skill Set
Donna Rogers, SPHR
                                                                                               

11:30 – 1:30 p.m.              Boxed Lunches Available
               

12:30 p.m.                           Group #1 and #2 Present            
1:00 p.m.                             Group #3 and #4 Present            

1:30 p.m.                             Educational Session #4                
Your Career in Human Resources
Carolyn Sperl, JD, SPHR, GPHR

1:30 p.m.                             Chapter Advisor and College Relations Volunteers
Roundtable Discussion
Chuck Salvetti                   
                                                               

1:30 p.m.                             Group #5 and #6 Present                                            
2:00 p.m.                             Group #7 and #8 Present                            
2:30 p.m.                             Group #9 and #10 Present                          
                                                                               

3:00 p.m.                             Educational Session #5
                                HR Hotdish: Feeding Student Appetites
                               Philip Deger, MSIR, SPHR
                               

3:00 p.m.                             Group #11 Present

4:15 p.m.                             Announcement of Top 2 Finalists             

4:30 p.m.                             Finalist #1 Presentation
5:00 p.m.                             Finalist #2 Presentation
               

5:30 p.m.                             Awards Dinner 

- Dave Ryan Director of SM ISC-SHRM

                                                               

2011 IL SHRM Conference Agenda Is Out

My wife and her new Cadillac.

Last year my wife and I purchased a new automobile. We looked at a lot of different manufacturers, styles and price ranges before settling on a Cadillac SRX. Quite frankly I never saw myself as a Cadillac owner.  However after looking at all of the vehicles that we thought would fit our lifestyle and were within our price range I was truly dumbfounded to find my wife and I purchasing this car.  My point is this, one needs to look closely when making a buying decision. Sometime the particulars are not always what you think they are, 

Now late last week I was contacted by some of my ILSHRM buds letting me know that the agenda for our State Conference was complete.  I had heard some of the topics and presenter names that were on the docket.  I knew they would be thought-provoking and the leading edge HR, but when I saw the whole listing in a matrix format I was amazed.  

When I look at our conference offering, I liken this to my Cadillac purchase.  Given what Illinois SHRM has put forth I feel like we are offering a Cadillac at an affordable price. The programs are cutting edge, out front subject matter presented by some of the most well known folks in our industry.  While you might think that a conference with this caliber of talent and subject matter would be unaffordable, or somehow out of your grasp, such is not the case.  For the early registration fee $350 you can attend both days August 22 and 23.

Over the next few weeks we will be visiting with our presenters in this space, so you can get to know them better and see if you would be interested to hear what they have to say at this year’s  Illinois State Council of SHRM 12^th Annual Conference.

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM