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

BNHRC -These Guys Are Good

ILSHRM's Tech Team Angel Rachel & Dave Ryan at ILSHRM11
performing as room monitors and designated tweeters at a session.

Wednesday September 26th, 2012 is not too far away.  I am looking forward to this day... why?  I have a bunch of reasons.  The first and foremost reason is I have been invited to be a guest at The Bloomington-Normal Human Resources program Social Media Strategies for Human Resources.  You too can come - just click here.

I have been involved with SHRM at many levels for a long time. In that time, I have met a lot of great SHRM folks.  Angela Rachel and I have become good friends because of SHRM and social media.  Last year at SHRM Leadership I met Casey Radliff too.  And now, Angela has invited me at attend and be part of an upcoming event with her chapter. I am humbled.

The 2012 BNHRC Board

So in preparing to attend, I, of course took a look at BNHRC website. After I perused the site, it was apparent to me that here is a chapter in Central Illinois that is doing a whole bunch of things right.  On the website I very prominately see the three legs (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) of an effective social social media strategy for a SHRM chapter.  As the Director of Social Media for the Illinois State Council I say kudos BNHRC!  You are walking the walk and talking the talk - AND you are hosting a program dedicated to Social Media and HR.  This is so enlightened to me. There are chapters (who shall remain nameless) that could do a seminar called Social Media for HR - Coming out of the Closet Soon. You guys have chosen to embrace it.  I think that is spectacular. I think BNHRC is very progressive and should be recognized for their work; because it is a lot of work to stay on top of things. Casey you have a great team I hope you tell them that.

Jennifer McClure on the big stage, sharing her passion and longevity
to the field of what we now call HR at SHRM12 ATL.

Now, a few words about the meeting itself. Jennifer McClure is going to be the Keynote Speaker.  Honestly that is worth the price of admission. I have known Jennifer for a while now - and yes we met first through social media.  I have seen her speak at least five times (maybe more) and she is always fabulous.  Most recently I saw her present at SHRM National in Atlanta, where she filled a room of  500-700 at 7 AM the first day of the conference. Jennifer has advised me too, on how to use social media in hiring - and it worked. I will be there tweeting away.

Regarding the break out sessions that follow, I can't speak to them too much as I do not know the presenters - but I will after the program. Judging by the titles The Employer Brand in a Social World and Social Networking and the Law either program would provide some great dialogue.

During the lunch hour, there is going to be a panel discussion about Finding the Right People Through Social Networks.  Angela has graciously asked me to be part of the panel.  BNHRC has also asked Nathan Gildrow, Emilie Shoop, Autumn McReynolds and Lew Steinbach to participate on the panel as well. The discussion will be moderated by Ms. McClure.  Hopefully this topic will give each of the attendees some takeaways that they can implement immediately.

And then BNHRC will wrap this up and have you out of the meeting at 1:30 pm, packing 4 hours of HRCI credit.  Sounds like a good day to me, the only question for me is do I head back to the office, or just hang around Bloomington  and kill the rest of the day at one of the local golf courses.  Decisions, decisions, at least I have a few day before I must make up my mind.  Hope to meet you there!

--Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHMR

I Don’t Want to Know What You Had For Dinner!

For 99% of those people that have never really used social media that I have spoken to have said something related to, “I Don’t Want to Know What You Had for Dinner”!  I have learned to accept this type of comment because it’s obviously a function of a well-known stereotype about social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and lack of knowledge about what social media really is and does. 

Yes social media is power, but so is learning…

Education, education and more education is so important to organizational success.  We all know this—it’s a no-brainer!  The point I will make here is that social media is 100% learnable, and anyone can use it, regardless of age, role in organization, income, background, etc… with this being said, those attending #ILSHRM12 this year will have the opportunity to take part in the Social Media Lab, which is all about learning and education. 

What is Social Media Lab?

The Lab will run throughout the conference, and will be accessible by any attendee.  There are two parts to the Lab.  The first part is the drop-in component, which allows any attendee at any time to drop into the Lab and speak one-on-one with a social media expert.  You can ask any question about social media; how it works, specific platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIN, or strategy questions about how the organizations you work for can integrate social media into the workplace, and into HR.  Take note, no question is a bad question, ever!

The second part is organized workshops that will take place during the conference breaks.  The topics that will be discussed are Twitter 101 and LinkedIN 101.  These short sessions will be facilitated by a social media expert, and the advantages of taking part in these organized sessions are the ability to learn from not only the facilitator but your peers. 

Make sure you take a look at the conference agenda at http://ilshrm12.sched.org/.  Note that this URL is mobile accessible for those using Android, iPhone and Blackberry mobile devices. 

Why should you drop into the Social Media Lab, or even care about social media?

Think of social media as just another communications channel (albeit a VERY powerful one) that can be included as one of many organizational channels that are used to promote, sell, advocate, share and engage with target audiences.

Remember when email first arrived on the scene in business.  Initially most people resisted email because… well… it represented a change that forced people out of their comfort zones.  Fast forward 10+ years and we all can say that email drastically changed the nature of business.  Imagine if over the past 10 years you did not use email.  I’m not sure you would have been as effective, productive and invaluable to your organizations.  The same thing is happening with social media.  As soon as you create a Facebook page you have automatically joined the 1 billion users in a community that is 1/8 of the world’s population.  How can you afford not to be tapped into this massive community?  Using the example of Facebook, you now have instant access to a global network that you would NEVER have had access to if you were not strategically using Facebook as a business practice. 

Social media can be so impactful for employer brand awareness, talent attraction, employee engagement, productivity, internal employee communications, team-building, teamwork, performance management, employee retention and more. 

Case in Point!

I was a relatively early adopter to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.  Early on I thought Facebook and Twitter were a waste of my time so I either deleted or cancelled my profiles, but then returned to them later on.  My network has grown exponentially in the past 5 years, and I attribute this growth primarily to social media.  I would never have had the opportunity to co-organize the Social Media Lab at ILSHRM if it were not for social media.  My current business, SocialHR would never have happened because I met my business partner, Geoff Webb on Twitter.  Simply put, social media has allowed me to connect with and cultivate amazing business relationships with people all over the world that I share mutual interests with.  This would NEVER have been possible if it were not for social media.  

I have worked with organizations to help them leverage social media in the workplace.  I have seen first-hand the impact that social media has had on their business results—results that surpassed anyone’s wildest dreams, and in places never imagined.  It’s been fantastic to see.

Meet the Volunteers

We have assembled an absolutely fantastic group of volunteers that will be working with you during the course of the conference.  They not only love teaching and educating, they love learning.  Each one of these speakers have worked within the human resources sector, and are leaders in social HR.

1.        Jeff Waldman—@JeffWaldmanHR

2.        Geoff Webb—@SocialHRGuy

3.        Susan Avello—@SusanAvello

4.        Dwane Lay—@DwaneLay

5.        Autumn McReynolds—@AutumnMcRey

6.        Jennifer McClure—@JenniferMcClure

7.        Salima Nathoo—@SocialSalima

8.        Kevin Grossman—@KevinWGrossman

9.        William Tincup—@WilliamTincup

I wish you all a fantastic #ILSHRM12 conference, and make every effort to drop by the Social Media Lab to talk social media.  We promise, we won’t be asking you what you had for dinner! 

About the Author:

Jeff Waldman is Founder SocialHRCamp, COO SocialHR

Jeff is an entrepreneur, ideator, social HR strategist and HR practitioner who has worked with a variety of organizations from start-ups to large multi-national corporations.  He currently works with organizations and their HR teams to strategically leverage social media to create and drive unparalleled business value.  

Jeff recently founded SocialHRCamp, the first-ever global HR UnConference, which provides HR practitioners around the world with an incredible experiential learning platform to kick into high gear their social HR journeys.  He is an avid blogger, speaker and advisor on topics relating to diversity, social HR, career management, personal branding and leadership.  

You Made The Big Show….Now What..? #ILSHRM, #SocialHR, #SHRM, #Sourcers’Apprentice, #DTHR

Come meet these guys at Illinois SHRM 12 

Geoff Webb @SocialHRGuy and geoff@socialhr.biz Jeff Waldman @jeffwaldmanhr and jeff@socialhr.biz

Guest Post by Geoff Webb

It’s summer, it’s late June and you have a rather giddy feeling growing inside you. This is the year you get to join members of your company at one of THE major shows of the year. Its not just any show either, Its a fairly BIG deal, one which you know could be good for your networking, or you could bomb by showing how green you really are. Actually it’s quite a feat, less than a month in the industry, and already you are starting to make “A Name” for yourself within the circles. However as you face the first intense, completely-pressure-filled-because-someone-might-see-you-sneeze moment; you pause and check that everything is in line.

The first suggestion I can make is Original Business Cards. At a gathering of this magnitude, you want to set yourself apart from the pact, when they head home, you want to be in the rolodex/IPad and not at the bottom of some swag-bag. Plan ahead, and at least a couple months prior to the event, I suggest visiting Meetmeme (www.meet-meme.com) and order some really unique cards that reflect you. Tell Anna or Brew that @SocialHRBiz sent you over. They will take good care of you, and as an added plus with the cards, you get a pretty neat landing page where you can set up all the other networks that you participate on. The QR code is pretty sweet too, Scan and Go- you are now on the contact list of that important person you want to do business with. Cards are a small price for the big package- You being branded (personally) as the unique go-getter that you are.

These shows can be a trifle overwhelming, while your friends are renewing connections and introducing you to all the ‘In-Crowd’; bear in mind that during this baptism of fire, YOU NEED TO BE NOTICED. These shows come around once a year; and as much as you are a delegate of your employer, You are also the delegate for your own personal brand; and you have to remember that sometimes those two things are synonymous and should be treated as such.

Now about Social Media? Did someone let you in on the secret to success? Set up the accounts, create a unified profile over the profiles and express your desire to get to know and network with others in your industry. Simple as that- But- it will require time and effort, so the sooner before the show you begin, the better. After all, wouldn’t you like to have people come up to you with “Hi, Geoff-What’s new in your corner of cyberspace?” over “Oh yeah, you’re the new guy….Hi New Guy”

If you are on Twitter (www.twitter.com) you have 140 characters to express what is going on in your mind at this moment (great for the mindful thinker) and it allows you to be part of a greater conversation going on World-Wide. Take suggestions, or search for people who share interests with you and just follow them. The worst that could happen is they don’t follow back at this time. That is okay, establish your rep and try again (#personal #branding). You will find more than enough people interested in your progress as time goes on.

Facebook is the second point in what I call “The Social Media Trinity” Probably by now you have one to document your personal life; Did you know that in a lot of cases to come-Personal life/ Business Balance will pretty much be one and the same. Even the best of us who feel we can separate work from home, see some of each bleeding into the other existence (work/home; home/work).  Keep that in mind when updating your account, that there is a possibility of things being seen that are better kept hidden. Check the security settings and make the extra effort to maintain the diligence that this deserves. What you may consider is setting up a “Fan Page” for your business endeavors, and add a link to your business site, blog, other social media accounts of merit. This takes very little time, and you can receive a vanity url after getting 25 followers- to go with your ‘secret’ Facebook e-mail account.

Remember that in Social Media, as in the working world, you represent your company, hopefully the company holds you in equally high-esteem….Place your Personal Brand on the forefront. What this means is that no one will ever represent you better than YOU! And with that in mind, every action you take in the company name, reflects back twice as brightly on you. The same can be said on ‘errors in judgement’. The object is to get your name out there as a professional and hopefully as an expert of your vocation. It’s taking me multiple years just to appear on some important peoples radar, the last thing I need is to make a careless error and have to try and salvage a hard earned relationship. Your brand is as important as the company brand, treat it as such.

Finally comes the final point of the Trinity: LinkedIn. This is one program either you have it right or you don’t. There are only 5 important steps to a good profile; hit these out of the park and you will be working on a great profile, and finding people to network with will be that much easier.

• FILL OUT THE PROFILE COMPLETELY. And this includes a nice professional photo of your wonderful self; Along with some sort of E-Mail address or Contact phone number. Nothing is more frustrating than finding someone you would like to offer a network opportunity, and there is NOTHING to the profile….Take your time and fill it out right, the first time. Did you know that Linkedin determines your position in search based on % completed.
• Include your work history from the current position back roughly 10 years. This way you demonstrate your versatility and possibly open yourself to some new offers or opportunities (or a chance to share advice on what you know and what you need to know). Recruiters and Sourcers like to swap information with verifiable contacts. Be one of those.
• See Step 1, include a snazzy picture. People like to see who they are dealing with, and again when the big show rolls around; you would rather be noticed by name than noticed by question mark. Again, its about the Validation- who you are and what you know.
• Go through the Skills section of the profile and add all the skills you are adept in. Again, people want advice from others who can walk the walk they say they can; Not someone who is floundering or is consistent at confirming they need more seasoning before being introduced to the network crowd.
• Leave them with a very memorable URL to your site. Rather than use the LinkedIn URL they gave me, matching my name with a gazillion other Smiths, I customized mine to something both to the point and memorable: www.ca.linkedin.com/in/geoffjwebb Full marks to those who know that LinkedIn has sub-divided itself around the world, and that is reflected in the URL.

These are three key areas that you need to have a firm grip on before networking season begins. I hope you have found this useful, please feel free to reach out to me for more information; or just to join my network. I can always use more people who share my interests and thirst for information.

Enjoy the Conference!

Illinois SHRM State Conference

Last week our friends in Louisiana held their state conference.  Judging from the tweet stream it looked like an awesome event. Of course, the BIG SHOW - SHRM National is coming up in Atlanta June 24 - 27.


Well here in the Land of Lincoln a group of about 40 people having been working real hard to put together a fantastic SHRM state conference. No doubt, we here at the ILSHRM blog site are completely biased and have zero objectivity, so let me just throw down some things that we have planned for August 5 through August 8th extravaganza.


The conference is a full two-day event with a pre-conference session on Sunday. 


Details...


On Sunday August 5 we kick it off with A TNL Recruiting Conference. This will be lead by Criag Fisher a.k.a. fishdogs who will also be bringing along  Crystal Miller (TheOneCrystal) to help him out at this session, and probably a couple more folks from his posse.


Then on Monday we are going to go full tilt.  We are proud to have our own home town boy Charlie Judy (HRFishbowl) as the emcee for the event. Over the course of the two days we will have four keynote/general session presentations from ...

• Simon T Bailey
• Talent Anarchy - Joe Gerstandt & Jason Lauritsen
• Cy Wakeman
• Libby Sartain

For our break out sessions there are five sessions each day, with six choices for each time slot. Check out this schedule.

We have also put together a Social Media Team, these are folks, who will be at the event and helping us support the event via numerous social media channels.

• Mike Vandervort The Human Race Horses
• Matt Stollack True Faith HR
• Chris Fields The Cost of Work
• Victorio Milian The Victorio Milan Blog
• Buzz Rooney  The Buzz On HR
• Kevin Grossman The HR Marketer
• Meghan Biro Talent Culture

We have the principals from #TChat (Kevin and Meghan) with us for the conference; and on Monday evening after our sessions are over we are planning a Live #TChat event on-site at the Drury Lane Theater, and then transitioning into our Monday evening tweet-up.

Illinois SHRM has also partnered with Job Search Television Network JSTN. With their help  we will attempt to stream the TChat with LIVE Video on the internet.

These are people we have not yet mentioned who will be presenting breakout sessions, and will no doubt contribute more than just their presentations.

Benjamin McCall

Tim Sackett

Curtis Midkiff

Daniel Crosby

Paul Hebert

Paul Smith

Stephanie Thomas

Trish McFarlane

Steve Boese

Sarah White

Jennifer McClure

William Tincup (100K+ followers on twitter)

Also, we will have Geoff Webb and Jeff Waldman in attendance sharing their expertise with our attendees.  The two will be helping interested attendees to develop their social media understanding.  You can see more about the two in Susan Avello's interview.

We are building some additional resources for the conference as we speak.  We have a You Tube Channel for the conference.  We have made a twitter list of attendees (please let us know if you would like to be included).

You can also visit our Facebook Page and don't forget to sign up as an attendee at our Linkedin Event.

In addition to the aforementioned folks, this next group is what I will call "unconfirmed rumor of attendance." 

Dwane Lay | Steve Browne | Charee Klimek | Brad Galin |

Understand that this is still a work in progress, and we have a few surprises we have not even touched on yet.  So here is the hook - if you haven't signed up yet - click here ! 

Hope to see you in Oak Brook in August!

-Dave Ryan ISC SHRM Director of Social Media

JSTN and TNL Pairing Up for Chicago

This is another call to action for those of you out there who are still sitting on the fence about an upcoming event in the Chicago area.  TNLive is coming to the Chicago area. Please click the link then you can see a video about the upcoming event.  The video is the product of Job Search Television Network (JSTN). This is the actual location where the event will be taking place as well; JSTN Hdqrs. 2880 Vision Court Auroa, IL 60134.

Those of us in IL SHRM met the folks from JSTN last summer as they were in attendance at the 2011 State Conference.  You may having seen them working closely with Curtis Midkiff, while at the event. They were shooting video of the event and interviewing folks.

Now my question when I read about the location was this; so what's the connection TNL and JSTN.  A reasonable question, which I put forward to Lindsey Stanton Chief Client Officer with JSTN.  She responded that the two organization are both at the forefront of social media, technology, recruiting and building talent communities.   Mike France, Director of Sales for JSTN had hooked up with Geoff Webb (aka the Radical Recruit) at an unconference in Madison, WI , where Geoff in turn introduced Mike to Craig Fisher, who runs and is TNLLive. And viola, there it is - got all that?

Back to the event, where JSTN will be showcasing their unique video capabilities with a LIVE PRODUCTION shoot during the conference. Take advantage of special pricing offered to attendees who produce videos in conjunction with the event. Click here to learn more . . .

Hopefully you clicked the learn more link above and got an idea of how powerful of tool JSTN is offering up. They have an impressive client list, like Mc Donalds, Liberty Mutual, Verizon Wireless, Lowe's, U.S.Air and Macy's to name a few.  Not only have they figured out how to do video and do it well, they can also teach you and help you get your video in front of the people you want to view it.  When that is done they will report back to you - yes analytics!  They can tell you where your video traffic is coming from, even if it is mobile with some very sophisticated mechanism. 

So this would be a good chance to learn about JSTN because they won't be taking the show on the road for a while.  Lindsey tells me the next show they are doing is not until February where they will be attending an HR Conference in Sarasota, FL.  

Oh so let's not forget, while you will get to meet, greet and video with the JSTN gang the purpose in attending the even is to participate in the TNLLive Event, so you can register here.  I promise you this, TNLLive will be one of the best events you will attend in 2012 and without a doubt will be the cheapest.  Hope to see you there!

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Social Media, SHRM and Shoes

This post is a welcome to the newest Director of Social Media to a SHRM State Council.  Please join us at ILSHRM in wecloming Kristi Jones as the Director of Social Media  for the State of Missouri.  Now here is where it gets interesting.  Kristi is alleged to be somewhat of a fashion diva. I am basing this on the fact that she brought a lot of shoes with her to the Illinois State Conference this year for a three day stay.

We were quite happy to have Kristi join us.  She brought a certain let's call it cache with her. She is a charming young lady as well.  Now just as I was thinking about Kristi, in her new role, I was reading my SHRM weekly newsletter and I read a blurb about SHRM collecting shoes at the Leadership Conference.  Then I make the connection; this is ....ummmm  strange.  I will see Kristi again, in about a week at the SHRM Leadership Conference, and again the focus will be on footwear.

I am not sure how this all fits in but it seems to be the convergence of Kristi and shoes where ever she goes.

Good Luck in your new role as Director of Social Media for the Missouri State Council of SHRM!

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

#SHRMChat Goes Live

Last night was an exciting evening at least for about 24 people that I know from twitter.  Now I have met many of these folks face to face, but not all of them.  The reason last night was exciting is because it was the first night of #SHRMChat.   This was and will be an on-line chat on twitter.  This is the brain child of our good friend Joan Ginsberg.

SHRMChat Brain Child Joan Ginsberg

Joan wanted to do something to bring together some of the most active and enthusiastic social media users who are at the forefront of using social media on behalf of their SHRM organization, be it a state council or chapter.  Well she did it.  Joan pushed it and got it out of the gate; so kudos to her!  The plan is to do this chat monthly on the second Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m. Eastern.  The hashtag is #SHRMChat.

I could not get a good tweet count, as it appears that tweet cloud has gone inactive.  Looking at the tweet reach stats we see we had 24 participants on the hashtag.

There were some interesting ideas thrown out during the chat.  Perhaps we could take action on some of these and move the ball forward.   If you are involved in any SHRM organization and you are trying to move the organization forward with social media then you should plan to participate in the next chat on December 13th at 8 p.m. EST.  

Those of us at the SHRM Leadership Conference will talk this up, but we need more support so please join in next month.

One last thing - THANKS JOAN!

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

ILSHRM Represented at SHRM Strategy Conference

As the State Director of the Illinois State Council of The Society for Human Resources Management (ILSHRM), I am honored to be writing for the SHRM Press/Social Media. My first time but not so for some of my peers here such as Charlie Judy @HRFishbowl, Susan Avello @SusanAvello, John Jorgensen @jkjhr and of course our fearless leaders Curtis Midkiff @SHRMsocialmediaguy and Kate Kennedy @SHRMPress.  Honored to be on the same team!  So what do I have to write about at the end of this first day. A hellofalot!

The speakers have been fabulous so far and after only one day I would recommend this conference to all SHRM members, chapter members and non members in this great state which if you look at IL BLS data that's about 66k. There are actually about 400 here from around the world.

Let me give you a few examples of why I would recommend this conference so early in the game. First, I started out with a concurrent session lead by the VP of HR for Linked In @SteveCadigan. I chose this session primarily because I have asked my HR students to open a profile to search how Recruiters are using the platform to source candidates (in connection with the two chapters in the text covering recruiting and selection). I also work with several clients who are either looking for talent or looking for a job. My initial objectives were complemented by three words in the session description "employer of choice". My students do a presentation on a chosen organization who have won an award for above. They have not chosen Linked In yet but have chosen employment competitor & neighbor of LI, Google.

The session covered the companies growing pains related to talent acquisition, policy development, competition as an employer of choice and more. So while they are a company who helps other companies with talent acquisition, they have the same problem because of growth. For example 60% of their employee have less than one year of tenure. They have almost 1800 employees now who all help others with services like Linked In Recruiter, Jobs Network, Talent Direct, Recruitment Ads, Career Pages. All of which I have never personally used because my trench HR experience is prior to the birth of this company.  I am looking forward to reading the case studies (Allstate, US Cellular, Kimball International, Kaiser Permanente, & Logitech) they provided in the handout.

The day ended with a 40 year HR veteran (and follow-up reception) who had a very straightforward message that all CHROs, CEOs, & CFOs should hear and incorporate in everything they do. Treat people like humans not numbers (aka remember the "Human" in Human Resources). The veteran was Bill Conaty, former GE HR Executive who worked closely with Jack Welch. He was promoting his book Talent Masters but he really got me interested, as you can see from my tweet stream, towards the end when he shared some of his observations of top HR pitfalls. That information is valuable to those who are working on strategic planning in their organizations.  Some of us were talking at dinner that this is the kind of keynote we need at SHRM national instead of former movie stars or other big names who have really not made a difference in the HR profession. #JustSayin

Looking forward to Day 2 starting with one of our ILSHRM keynotes @JasonLarquist whom I did not hear at our conference since I was "taking care of conference business" 99% of time in Oakbrook.


- Donna Rogers State Director 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

Drawing Women into Social Media

I am a minority – at least in SHRM. I am a guy.  I did not get the official statistics from the mothership at Duke Street, as they were closed as I undertook to commit this post to hard drive.  The reason that this is important is this. This post is being written expressly to appeal to women (although men you are welcome to read on).

As we prepare for our annual conference we here at Illinois SHRM are working hard to make the event rich with Social Media.  But what is social media – really?  It is different things to different people.  It has many applications, uses, purposes and so on. Those of us in the HR space are seeing it as a recruiting tool, a way to change our Company’s image or culture, it is a way to message all of our employees in one fell swoop.  There is no shortage of ideas on how we can take Social Media and attempt to use it to our advantage.  However, my friends there are other things that people do with Social Media –as hard as that may be to believe.

Yesterday I saw this in an email from oldest son.  A fraternity brother of his just got engaged.  To share this wonderful announcement he used  social media to send out a Youtube video.  Take a look…

It took Joel let's say "a little while" to getting around to asking Holly to marry her.  So just another use of social media.

I wonder if anyone will get a proposal at ILSHRM11? If they do... we'll post it!

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Don't be a Lurker

Is this your involvement with Social Media?

Ok, so you are intrigued by this stuff we call social media.  The blogging, the tweets, the Facebook stuff, Klout, Linkedin – you got the idea.  While you may be involved at some level, whether or not you are truly immersed, or are somewhat of a lurker, or creeper this stuff has got your attention.  Whatever your level of involvement, you are curious or intrigued. If this is you – then you must attend the Illinois SHRM State Conference in Oak Brook, IL.  Why?

This year, at the conference we have a whole cavalcade of social media luminaries attending this year’s conference.  And given that these folks are going to be at the event, this will be one of the best opportunities you may have to meet these folks In Real Life. 

I can tell you from many of my own person experiences, when you meet someone on-line and then have a lot of interactions with them – then you meet face to face, it is a wonderful experience.

Sadly, I guess I can’t get through this post without a little name dropping, so I must.  If, or when you get a chance to meet some of the cool kids, like say Jessica Miller-Merrell you will find out that she is a sweet, smart, unassuming young lady who is very down to earth like the rest of us.  If you go up to her and introduce yourself, I guarantee she will be genuinely pleased to meet you.  Jessica is a nice young lady – and a mom.

Should you cross paths with China Gorman and want to meet her, she will be as happy to meet you as you are to meet her.  China is well known and respected in the HR space, but she is a down to earth charming lady.  How about a guy like William Tincup?  If you get a chance to meet him by all means do so.  While William may be somewhat unconventional, he is another social media luminary you should meet, if you have the opportunity.

My point is this; all of speakers, bloggers, social media luminaries who are well known in the HR Social Media space are just regular people.  None of these folks have their own security entourage or staff that will be traveling with them.  So if you see any of these folks, talking to others, or just hanging out and you would like to meet them. Then all you need to do is go up to them and introduce yourself.  

This conference will be a fantastic opportunity to meet those who are involved in Social Media.  Push yourself to come out of your shell and connect with folks face to face.  That’s part of what conferences are about today.

We have been building a twitter list of attendees. You can find it here – let me know if you would like to be included.

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

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

Tracks at the 2011 Illinois State SHRM Conference

We are thrilled to make more announcements about the 12^th annual Illinois State SHRM Conference. In order to allow HR practitioners to keep up with the rapid growth in the use of social media in the workplace, we have added a special track of presentations on social median and how it can be used by HR. 

Presenters will include Jessica Miller-Merrill (author of Tweet This, Twitter for Business) on the basics of social media, Michael VanDervort (director of labor relations for Publix Foods) on how unions are using social media, Jennifer McClure (president of Unbridled Talent) on how to use social media for recruiting, William Tincup (CEO of Tincup & Co.) on the strategic use of social media and Lisa Callaway (VP & General Consul of the Management Association of Illinois) on some of the pitfalls and traps for businesses in social media.

We will have five other tracks in addition to the social media offering.  The other tracks include: strategic HR, Talent Management, Legal/Employee Relations track, the HR Tools track and the Total Rewards track

Look for future announcements about other top quality speakers who will be addressing attendees on HR and related topics at this year’s ILSHRM conference.

SHRM Interview with Kris Dunn

Here is a relaively short interview with Kris Dunn.  In this piece Kris challenges SHRM, as well as all buisnesses regarding social Media.  Kudos to Kris for a great piece, and to Curtiss Midkiff for sharing this.


http://vimeo.com/15659877 from SHRMSocMedGuy on Vimeo.

Project Social

This is a tale of two men; two men with fiery passion. Let me introduce Ben Eubanks and Victorio Milian. These two men are going to change the world.

In the meantime, they want to make sure that anyone who wants to learn more about new media will have an opportunity to do so. Conversely, they want to make sure that anyone who wants to help enlighten the world about new media has a willing and receptive audience; Saturday October 9, 2010 was rollout day for their new endeavor called Project Social.

Have a look and see what the team of Ben and Victorio is up to. Get involved in this and help.

Giving Social Media the Business

For a time now I have been hanging out with the “cool kids” on the internet, on twitter and at some conferences I have been fortunate enough to attend. While, it has seemed to me that the whole world of Human Resources is involved in this scene, this has turned out to be is a very naive assumption of mine.  In fact if you look into the blogosphere   you can hear our peers lamenting the lack of involvement of HR professionals. 

From the tweet stream of the HR Technology Conference, I read that a very small percentage (3% - 5%) of social media users were content generators. So by default 95% of the users are only consumers of content. Given that statistic we have a lot of work in front of us, to grow the contributors of social media. So I have wondered how the “cool kids” can do this.

One thing that I have contemplated doing at my work is creating a single-purpose blog site that is directed to our customers and our industry.  This got me to wondering about the cool kids of HR, as business partners.  Are we living in a vacuum?  The question is this; are you taking your social media skills and abilities and applying them in your industry or discipline.

While there seems to be a number of HR bloggers and social media gurus who are coming from the staffing and consulting areas of HR, there are folks who come from not-for-profits, medicine, government, academia as well as other sectors of the economy.

In an effort to create somewhat of a dialogue, I ask the question, do you take your social media skills to your core business?  Are you an advocate for social media use and tools outside the HR arena?  If you are not doing this you should. This is one thing we can collectively do to help advance our cause and use of social media as a business tool.

Please leave a comment or a link that showcases some of your social media prowess outside the HR area.  Hopefully this will be a catalyst to spur others to do the same.

-Dave Ryan IL SHRM Director of Socail Media

SHRM Leadership Conference 2010

As we move into the fall that means November is just around the corner. For anyone who has been active in SHRM they know that means the SHRM Leadership Conference. This year is no different with another return engagement at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, VA.  The conference is largely directed toward new volunteer leaders.  These are local chapter and state council leaders and their staffs. In the years that I have attended the conference usually has 1000 to 1300 attendees.

If you are a new SHRM volunteer no doubt you would find it most beneficial to attend this conference.  Throughout the event you are immersed in what SHRM is all about and who they are as an organization.  You get to meet and hear from many of the key players within the organization.  You can see that people like Pam Green don’t take themselves all that seriously in this video clip 

 

And if you really want to get a long winded view of the conference you can read this story I wrote in The CIC-SHRM Jan/Feb 2008 newsletter,  a couple of years ago. Follow the link and scroll to page 5.

Now having talked a little bit about the conference, you may wonder why I would want to go back.  This year I am going with a mission.  Myself and several other folks who are advocates for Social Media/New Media are attending in hopes that SHRM will give us our due this year.  Many of the state councils as well as local chapters are using Social Media tools.  We want to show SHRM our support for these tools and SHRM’s need for continued support.

So if you are going to be there, and are a social media enthusiast, leave me a comment or find me on twitter or LinkedIn and we will look for you out there. Also be sure to add your name to the list of attendees on linkedin.l

-Dave Ryan IL SHRM Director of Socail Media

How to use Social Media tools for HR - no really HOW TO

On of the purposes of creating this blog site, was to get more Human Resources Professionals involved in the use of new/social media. My fear is that if you are reading this, you already have a pretty good idea of what is going on with twitter, facebook, youtube, flicker, Linkedin and so on.

So this post is designed for you to pass things along. This post is promoting a series of on-line how to use new media videos from Geoff Webb who is known on twitter as @radicalrecruit. Geoff has started producing a series of you tube videos on how to use new media. Pass this blog along to your friends in HR who have not yet committed to the use of new media. Geoff has a Youtube channel that where you will be able to find all of his videos. The link is to his channel is www.youtube.com/user/mgiwebb1.In this piece, Jeff talks about the TNL and HR Florida conferences and closes byoutlining the need for a primer in this TNL/HR FL video. You can click here to view it or click on the embedded video below.  Check back on his Youtube channel, as Geoff has promised to do more of these.

Here is a link to Jeff's first tutorial on How to use Twitter. Please share this!