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!

HR Florida 2010 - If You Can't Go - Follow the Conference via On line Resources

The SHRM State conferences continue and the HR Florida extravaganza is looming on the horizon, beginning on August 30. While everyone is welcome to read this post, consider this for all of the non-Florida residents, and those that are relatively new to the social media scene. If you have an HR Twitter friend who is new to social media, twitter, blogs, ect. send them a link to this post.

With the leadership of John Jorgensen  the Illinois State Council brought social media to the forefront, of state conferences this year, coming on the heels of the SHRM National Conference in San Diego. While Illinois did a great job, the upcoming Florida event is something I would encourage all of you to follow, this year and even consider attending next year (that is this blogger’s plan). They will be using the Hashtag #HRFL10 to catalogue tweets. So if you search for that hashtag (#) you will be able to see most of the tweets coming from the event.

There are many reasons that you should look at this event. First, they have more than 1200 attendees already signed up (the number is probably greater before it is all said and done). According to Florida State Council’s Social media director Steve MG Harrison he has said that they have several hundred active twitter users, which means there will be a lot of tweeting coming from the event.

Florida is home to blogger Mike VanDervort . Mike will be in attendance and giving his insight into the events. Mike was in attendance at the Illinois State Council’s state conference (and did an excellent job covering the event). He recently told me that he has made nearly 1000 blog posts to his site.

Our home state blogger Trish McFarlane  will be attendance too and will be tweeting and blogging. Trish too was in attendance at the Illinois State Council’s state conference (and did an excellent job covering the event).

Florida will be hosting a MONSTER tweet up on Monday evening. Monster’s main man Eric Winegardner  will be there and coordinating the tweet up. – Sorry I am missing this event and the tweet stream should be “interesting.”

SHRM National’s Social Media director Curtiss Midkiff  will be in Florida helping to promote and cover the event. Curtiss was at ILSHRM and provided us with some great assistance and entertainment.

The Recently launched Voice of HR  a new business venture of Mark Stelzner and Laurie Ruettimann  will be on-site and helping to promote the event via social media. This will be their inaugural event under this banner, and it should be most interesting.

China Miner Gorman  former COO of SHRM will be in attendance and one of the Keynote presenters at the event. No doubt she will be tweeting and blogging  about the event as well. China was NOT at ILSHRM10, but we will soon get her committed to attend in 2011.

Another one of this sites blogger favorites is Jessica Miller-Merrell. She is the author of http://www.blogggin4jobs.com/. She will be at HR Florida. Jessica will be presenting at the event. Her program is entitled HR is the new PR.  I am sure Jessica will generate some great blog posts and a multitude of tweets, just like she did at SHRM National this year.

Host of HRHappy Hour  and internet radio sensation Steve Boese will be at HR Florida and I believe I heard him say there will be two live broadcast coming from the event. Check the HR Happy Hour site to confirm live broadcast dates and times.

If you follow the HR stream on twitter there is another name you might recognize – Bill Boorman  – the founder of TruEvents. Bill is from the U,K, and he too will be in attendance at HR Florida and probably posting on his blog.

UPDATE 8/23 Now add to your blogger roster... Jennifer Mc Clure http://twitter.com/CincyRecruiter/. Jennifer is in the people business and blogs at another one of ILSHRM blog favorites Unbridled Talent.

It is not my intention to slight anyone, I am sure I have left out others who will be at HRFL10, so I will apologize here. There are going to be a lot of the leaders in social media there, lots of tweeting and blogging going on so if you are not going to get to go, you can still participate actively via cyberspace. I would encourage all of you to check in this event. It will be a behemoth

Enjoy and good luck to all of our SHRM Friends in Florida!

It's Over... Next Up HR Florida

The 2010 Illinois SHRM State Conference is in the books.  While this blog may be somewhat biased the event was a success, with some fabulous keynotes and great break out session. Having a great conference was the objective. Mission accomplished!

Another objective for the year was to interject a substantial level of social media into the conference. We did that too, and quite well I think.  Along the way we did have one session that seemed to garner a lot of attention out on the tweet stream.  If you are reading this there is a good chance that you have already looked at this but the complete tweet transcript is located here.

I don’t want to expound upon who was right, or who was wrong. Here is what happened in my opinion. As technology and communication are evolving those of us who use these tools have to change to keep up with those change.  Sometimes these changes come so quickly, we as the users aren’t sure of the best way to use the tools. 

Mark Stelzner commented on the matter saying that it is just like a bad play review, only quicker.

More discussion has taken place on a blog post from Lance on Rehaul.  Again, these are just opinions here.

What does it all mean?  Times are and continue to keep changing.  The lines are going to continue to blur.

Sometimes things don’t work out exactly like you plan. 

In the end, it was all good.  No animals were harmed!