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

Guest Post From Charlie Judy - a.k.a. HRFishbowl

Charlie working his magic at ILSHRM11

It was my pleasure playing Master of Ceremonies at this year's Illinois SHRM Conference in Oak Brook. What an amazing community showing! We left feeling smarter, invigorated, and maybe even optimistic about our profession, its future, and the tremendous value we might bring our organizations. And then maybe some of us fell back into our routines and fell prey to the competing priorities, multiple commitments, and the myriad distractions that pepper our lives. And it suddenly got harder to keep that energy flowing. The batteries started to drain and the lights dim. That’s cool…it happens…and it’s not really your fault.

The beauty of this year’s conference was that many of the presenters and speakers share their goodness each and every day through their blogs. You don’t have to wait until the next conference for them to impart their wisdom. Subscribe to their blogs (all it takes is a ‘click’ and zero dollars) and their knowledge, expertise, perspective will automatically flow to your Readers (or your Email box if you prefer) with tender loving care. Here’s a beginners guide to who you might strongly consider subscribing to. All of these Talent Management Bloggers were at the 2011 Illinois SHRM Conference.

In no particular order…

The Blog of Ryan Estis, Passion on Purpose: “[His] premise is passion at work occurs most often when the right person, in the right job is supported through very intentional and strategic action by an organization. Where leadership is aligned with the mission, vision and values and employees are the ultimate extension of the brand.”

The Joe Gerstandt Blog, Illuminating the Value of Difference: “…helping people and groups of people truly understand diversity, inclusion, and culture so they can deliver better on their promises. His work is not about tolerance, sensitivity, or compliance; it’s about letting the dog off the leash.”

The Jason Lauritsen Blog, Transforming Business through Talent: “… [helping] transform human resources teams into business leaders who help the organization succeed by unleashing the talent of its people.”

HR Fishbowl, Charlie Judy: "HR Simply-Engineered...it's about humans for goodness sake. Getting back to the basics of strong connections, good relationships, personal attention, customization, and simplified processes are what he believes to be more important than anything the broader HR community is currently focused on."

The China Gorman Blog: ”Leading organizations that support HR professionals all over the world in making their organizations more competitive and more profitable with highly engaged and productive employees.”

Lean HR Blog, Dwane Lay: “…a firm believer that everyone should spend some of their formative years in a function other than the one they choose as their career path.”

Unbridled Talent, Jennifer McClure: “recruiting/social recruiting, employment branding and leadership/career development”

HR Schoolhouse, Robin Schooling: “there’s a need for folks in HR to keep learning and growing and [she] encourages curiosity, conversation and change.”

The Working Caregiver, Susan Avello: “walking you through work / life issues while sharing [her] own.”

The Human Racehorses, Mike Vandervort: “[shares his] thoughts, rants, advice, training and consulting in human resources, labor relations, and social media.”

The Tim Sackett Project, Tim Sackett: “open dialogue with other HR/Talent Pros…to help in [his] development as a professional and to throw out ideas that challenge our daily perception of how HR should be done.”

Marenated, Maren Hogan: “travel…technology…recruiting/HR…parenting/marriage…boots/cereal”

HR Tailgate, John Jorgensen: “discussing all things HR and then some…”

Rogers HR Warrior, Donna Rogers: “much “to do” about the Illinois State Council of SHRM”

Radical Recruit, Geoff Webb: recruiting, talent, social media, and lots of video.

The Jason Seiden Blog, Jason Seiden: “[his] blog is profersonal™. It blurs the line between professional and personal”

Blogging 4 Jobs, Jessica Miller-Merrell: “intended to be honest, creative, and offer an unconventional POV for the HR, Business, & Human Capital Management industries.”

HR Chatterbox, Sabrina Baker: “All things HR…with special attention given to leadership, communication and building relationships.”

H.R. Official, Dave Ryan: “making light of both of his passions of hockey and human resources.”

HR Soot, William Gould: “learning through the incomplete combustion of people matters.”

Just Joan, Joan Ginsberg: “Where business meets personal, because you can’t separate work and life.”

Lunch Conversations with Drive Thru HR, William Tincup and Bryan Wempen: hear from real HR peeps (#TrenchHR) about the great things they are doing in the world of talent…on live radio…every day.

The greatest thing about blogs is that everyone has their voice…you just have to find the ones that speak to you most. Pick a few from this list of great HR speakers, experts, pundits and subscribe to their blogs: click through and read their posts every now and then. You’ll laugh a bunch, scratch your head, and probably get angry and grind your teeth here and there; your perspective will broaden and you’ll challenge yourself maybe more than anyone else can. But more importantly, you’ll stay well connected to the Illinois SHRM community and the HR profession…in perpetuity.

Looking forward to seeing you in 2012!

Charlie Judy

ILSHRM Master of Ceremonies

I Am Thankful For.....

Well, it’s come and gone. I hope that most all attendees at the 12th annual Illinois SHRM Conference (ILSHRM11) had the amazing time I had. We had a record crowd, cutting edge speakers and very intense but invaluable networking and I hope a little fun. I sit here trying to write a thank you post but have so many to thank I don’t know where to start and if I can keep it the length of a post and not a book, because it would not be hard to do.

First let me start with our keynotes, pre-conference speaker and our emcee. Our opening keynote, Ryan Estes, kicked us off with a very motivating and moving presentation that set the tone for the entire conference. Talent Anarchy (Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt) did what many keynoters fail to do and that is took the tough after lunch spot and they OWNED it. Testify. China Gorman gave our final keynote as only China can, informative, entertaining and classy. As I said in introducing China, when I took on ILSHRM11, I had a short list of 3 keynoters I wanted and I was blessed enough to get all three, China being top of that list. Whew. Jessica Miller-Merrell came in and led our first ever pre-conference session and did everything I thought she would do and more. And what can I say about our first ever conference emcee, Charlie Judy, but WOW. (Already got him committed to ILSHRM12).

Next, I have to thank our concurrent presenters. I wish I could list all 30 of them but space does not allow it (we run into that book length problem). The only complaint I have heard so far is that we didn’t have bigger concurrent break out rooms (we are working on that). They engaged, entertained and educated all of you. If you attended one (or five) great session, I encourage you to reach out to the speaker and connect with them to thank them and network. They are easily findable on the internet and if not, let us know; we will try and hook you up.

Next, our Social Media folks who came in and shared the conference with the world in ways I never thought possible. The number of over 3.8 million internet impressions just staggers me. Thank you Robin, Geoff, Maren, Kristi, Bryan, William, Jennifer, Dwane, Mike, Jessica, Jason S, Jason L, Joe, China and Charlie.

Thank you to the staff at NIU, Drury Lane, MCS and Chris Martin Public Relations for support and your hard work.

Thank you to our exhibitors and sponsors. You help make this amazing event possible. Please check out the list on our web site. Special thanks to our conference sponsor, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois. They have been unbelievable in their support in the last few years.

Thanks to the SHRM staff at ILSHRM. Martha and Kristine, you support us all year long so thank you for sharing two days with us, I know how busy you are. Kattie from HRCI, it was so great to meet in person and thanks to your team for sponsoring our first tweet up and the ILSHRM All Acess video recaps. Curtis, thanks. Without your interest last year, our social media reach would not be anything compared to what it is.

Thank you to all of our Illinois SHRM Board and volunteers. You made this years’ event run as smooth as glass due to all your effort and work. Special thanks go to our officers (Donna, Amy and Marianne), our District Directors (Karen, Lenore, Janeane, Melissa, Connie and especially Pattie), our technology team of Rachel and Dave. Thanks to all the chapter members and SHRM members who pitched into help. Extra special thanks to Sabrina Baker, our exhibitor and sponsor chair and Cathy Plouzek, my Co-Director. You all are super heroes in my book.

Last but not least, thanks to each and every attendee who came and participated. Your energy, enthusiasm and excitement made ILSHRM11 a huge success.

See you at the Drury Lane on August 6-7, 2012.
-John Jorgensen Conference Director ISC SHRM