SHRMStrat Day 1

The first day of the SHRM Strategy Conference went off without a hitch!  Several hundred HR pros gathered at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa to hear first from none other than the CHRO of SHRM, Jeff T. H. Pon, PhD who is referred to on Twitter as SHRMJeff.  He is our emcee for the week and I'm looking forward to hearing more from him as he tries to avoid suggestions from 260k members about how he should handle HR at SHRM (his comment not mine).  The board chair, Jose Berrios, followed with the state of the workforce before the highlight of the entire day to took the stage, Linda Rottenberg, CEO and co-founder of Endeavor.

My overall reaction to Linda's keynote is "she gets it"!  That is not because she praised the HR profession more than once, but because she explained many specific experiences of both her own and the entrepreneurs that her non-profit organization, Endeavor, works so hard to assist that demonstrated her thorough understanding of how HR has a huge impact on the bottom line of any organization.  The organization that started with inspiration that came from three cab rides.  It was her third cab ride where the driver shared that he had a PhD in Engineering but had taken the job because he couldn't find anything else due to the economy.  She thought to herself, whey doesn't he start his own company, and realized resources were limited for individuals who may have a desire when the economy doesn't support our working for others.  As an entrepreneur myself for 11 years now, I totally understand the cab drivers predicament and was inspired by Linda's drive and determination to make a difference.

Aside from the details of running a worldwide organization and sharing all the HR and general business related experiences and challenges, we learned she was very human and not just super woman.  She shared a personal story about having to tell her staff about her commitment to her husband and family values when he was initially diagnosed with cancer.  The staff let her know that they appreciated her humanness after years of seeing her go nonstop and had gained a new found respect for her as a person.  The lesson she learned from that experience was invaluable.  She ended with a powerful statement about how we get a chance to make a difference in our profession for a short part of our lifetime but she is a mom forever.  Family values are extremely important and work flexibility is not just a generational issue it is a workplace issue and we all need to do what we can to make it ok for people to take care of what matters most.

I had a chance to interview, Vince Caldwell, who shared the book store highlights related to Strategic HRM which you can watch here:

There where four afternoon sessions to chose from and I chose a table at the front of the Using Social Media to Increase Collaboration, Productivity and Engagement session which was unfortunately a disappointment because it was simply too basic.  However,  I didn't feel comfortable enough to leave having been right up front.  I was not the only one as I discovered during the presidential debates later in the evening.  The reason I felt this way which is really a message to all conference speakers was because she didn't know her audience or perhaps she assumed from the low online participation up to and during the conference that everyone in the room was needing the basics.  For me I was looking at the title and description thought we would get into some case studies about how companies were actually using it to collaborate and engage employees.  We heard from Linda Rottinger earlier that her company uses Chatter.com internally to increase productivity, collaboration, and engagement and that was not even her topic.  I was expecting more examples and software ideas.  However, after reviewing the description there was one word that answered my misunderstanding of expectations (LEAP).  It says "by taking the leap and introducing social media into your organization".  She focused on that one word by "selling" all the reasons for using social media in the organization.

Getting back to knowing your audience.  I get that this group is on the trailing end of actually using social media which is evident online and by what one of the participants stood up and mentioned about how more of the attendees should have been there.  They should have been in there indeed to hear the basic message she had but for those of us who already get it and was in the room I believe we were looking for more.  The lady sitting next to me was using a program similar to chatter to engage all 800 employees all over the country.  I be the group would have liked to hear more about here experience implementing, etc.  With all this said she absolutely was engaging and well spoken.

Finally, the evening could not have ended any better than seeing how important the social issues in this country are to the HR professionals in attendance by the turnout for the big screen debate showing and cash bar with appetizers that each participant paid for themselves.  Personal commitment to staying informed as a voter was evident by e approximately 100 person turnout between both rooms.

by Donna Rogers, SPHR, ILSHRM Director

Two Tips for HR Conference Planners

In the last two months I have attended more then my fair share of Human Resources Conferences. For this I am thankful, although the HRCI credits are worthless, as I have way too many already and my certification doesn't run out until February of 2013.  At every event I have attended, I was treated exceedingly well, at so it pains me to make what may be perceived as some negative remarks.

For the record I am not the first, nor will I be the last to re-state this issue. Point number one is this - If you are going to have a Human Resources Conference especially where you are trying to get people to interact YOU MUST PROVIDE FREE and OPEN WIRELESS INTERNET SERVICE.   Sorry - I feel there are no ifs, ands or buts about this.   I have been involved in quite a bit of conference planning and here is what I know.  Providing internet service is damned expensive, but it is also damned essential. In fact it can run into the thousands of dollars, and if it does you had better build it into your budget, it's essential.

The next point is directed at conference planners who are trying to promote social media.  We can not continue to give a forum to lawyers who want cap and control social media in the workplace.  I understand that we as employers do need to have rules, and have a plan to deal with social media and all of the issues that it can bring about in the workplace.  However, we need to do this in a realistic fashion.  Most workplaces have rules against people bringing guns to work and shooting their co-workers.  Yet the shootings still continue,  do we need more effective policies to prevent this?  In my opinion no policy can stop this.  I see the social media issue in a similar vein.

Dealing with social media is a problem that is going to require employee interaction, discussion and dialogue  Further, in my opinion, to continue  to write policies that are going to change because of technology or an NLRB ruling, and be passe or outmoded upon their publication is ludicrous.  I am consistently drawn back to a policy stated by my friend William Tincup.  Regarding workplace use of social media, William says the policy is this, "Use Common Sense."

Now in fairness to the legal profession, not all of them share the view that social media is something that can dealt with completely through the implementation of Company policy. So let find these folks and share our forum with them.

I very much enjoy the conference scene and everyone involved with all of them, so this is my way of trying to make the overall experience a better one.

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Vince Caldwell Another SHRM Leadership Story

Vince Caldwell

Those of us who have been to a number of SHRM events notice there is a constant at many of these events.  The constant that I am talking about is the SHRM Bookstore.  You can find them at SHRM National, at SHRM Leadership, at the SHRM Legislative Conference and at  many SHRM State Conferences - and now you can even find the SHRM Bookstore attending NON SHRM events. I know this because I stopped to visit with Vince Caldwell at the Leadership Conference.

Now I have little experience working with Vince as I have helped him set up the bookstore more than once at the Illinois SHRM State Conference and understand that it can be a lengthy and tedious task. Vince along with   Andy Cale are the faces that SHRM members see when we see the SHRM Store.  They bring all of the fine offerings to the shows. I chatted with Vince to learn a little bit more about him and the bookstore.

Vince's official title is SHRM Store Coordinator. He has been with SHRM for 13 years.  The SHRM Store often attends 20 events per year. At every event, most of their merchandise is shipped in from a central distribution point and then returned there after the show/conference.    They had quite a display at the Leadership Conference this year.



As I looked at their display in the Crystal Gateway Marriott ,  I wondered how long it took to set-up.  Vince said this effort was a 10 hour set-up, but it was easy because it was near home - not on the road.  I was curious as to how they decided what materials to bring to each of the various events.  Vince explained to me that that is part of the body of knowledge he has attained over the years. He said different events call for a different flavor of the merchandise they bring to the event.  Vince said very succinctly, the audiences are different.   He did say sometimes it is a challenge and other times they hit the sweet spot on price and product don't have to return ship much of anything.

If you ever talk to Vince you will find that he is soft spoken knowledgeable guy.  He is passionate about his work, but I wanted to know a little more about him.  I asked him what is that people don't know about you?  He told me that he is an avid Toastmaster. He said that he has held every position in the district and competed at every level.  He said is planning to compete in the world competition for public speaking.  He said it is an exciting thought to be competing on the world stage.  Now - there's something I  bet you didn't know about Vince from the SHRM Store.

I wanted to thank Vince for taking the time to speak with me, and wish him luck in any and all upcoming Toastmaster competitions.

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Just the right amount of FANTASTIC!

Today we have a guest post from China Gorman. China was a recent keynote speaker at our state conference.  These are her comments...

China Gorman speaking in the Drury Lane Theater at ILSHRM11

A new casino/hotel recently opened in Las Vegas.  Their marketing campaign was “Just the right amount of wrong.”  Clearly I wasn’t in their target demographic, because, as a consumer, no amount of wrong is right with me.

I feel the same way about conferences.  Especially HR conferences.  And I just attended one that was just the right amount of Fantastic! 

I was honored to have been asked to be the final keynote speaker at the recent 12^th Annual Illinois HR Conference.  With more than 800 attendees – from as far away as India! – this SHRM-affiliated conference really set the bar for excellence in every category! 

What makes this so noteworthy to me is that the conference was organized entirely by volunteers!  SHRM puts on 5 commercial conferences a year.  Only one SHRM event, the big annual conference, is bigger than the Illinois HR Conference.  And SHRM has a full-time staff of more than 9 meeting planning and marketing professionals organizing their conferences – including the 4 events that are much smaller than the Annual Illinois HR Conference!  This just puts into perspective the incredible achievement of the organizing team led by Conference Co-Directors, John Jorgensen and Cathy Plouzek.

From the other keynote speakers (Ryan Estis and Talent Anarchy, Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen), to the pre-conference Social Media Bootcamp led by Jessica Miller Merrill, to the incredible lineup of concurrent session speakers, to the venue, the food, the social media engagement and coverage – truly, everything about this conference was just the right amount of fantastic!

From someone who knows conferences – especially HR conferences – I offer my congratulations to the full conference planning team.  And I highly recommend that other SHRM state conference organizers contact John and Cathy for tips and lessons learned.  These folks are doing it right!