ILSHRM Chapter by Chapter

This year we at Illinois SHRM would like to showcase each of our chapters.  That is to say talk with them and write a blog post about the group and what they are doing. Our local chapters are at the heart of SHRM so we want to let you know about your fellow SHRM members around the state.

Our first effort at this is with the Central Illinois Chapter of SHRM, also know as CIC-SHRM #223. So to find out more about the chapter I went right to the top to Chapter President Mary Curl.  Like so many of the volunteers at the local level Mary has served here local board for a long time.  She is heading into her 9th year on the board and is in the first of her two year presidency.

Mary is very proud of her 107 member chapter.  As part of SHRM's Shape Program The CIC-SHRM chapter was recognized as a Platinum Chapter for 2012.  Mary is pleased with the work of her board  for attaining this award.  Her chapter is the only one in Illinois to receive the top award from SHRM National.

Mary says one of the hardest things to do as a chapter is to retain current members, while recruiting new ones.  Membership is at the core of the chapter's on-going activities. Mary says, she has had so many people tell her that their employer will pay for a local SHRM membership, or for a National SHRM membership - but not both.  Mary says this is often an obstacle when it comes to recruiting members. Mary says she has been lucky thought, the chapter has always had top quality volunteers as the membership chairperson, which has help keep membership levels around 100 members.

Despite the challenges of recruiting members, Mary said that chapter meetings usually have 80 + members in attendance at it's bi-monthly meetings.  The chapter has lunch meetings, and meets on the campus of the University of Illinois at the Springfield Campus.  Mary says the members continue to enjoy the content that is provided and find the presentation relevant to their work and timely as to what the current HR hot buttons are.

After 9 years on the board you might think that Mary could be growing weary of her volunteerism.  But she explains that away by saying that her employer is most supportive of her volunteer work. In fact,, as part of a membership organization herself, Mary has become the go to person for her association when it comes to HR issues.

Mary looks for the Springfield chapter to continue to grow steadily and put forth new efforts. Mary says they have established a mentoring program and continue to support a local program called Dress for Success.

Asked what she gets our of her volunteer efforts, Mary says that she love the networking and getting to meet new people, people that she would not have met had she not be an active volunteer SHRM Leader.


-Dave Ryan Director of  Social Media ISC SHRM

ILSHRM Conference and SlideKlowd Partner to Help You Experience True Engagement!

The annual state conference prides itself on bringing emerging trends to its attendees. We have been a leader amongst other state conferences in ensuring that our topics and workshops are on the forefront of what is happening in the world of human resources. This year will be no different.

In an effort to allow our presenters to not only share content, but have actual conversations with attendees we are excited to announce a partnership with SlideKlowd.

SlideKlowd is an application that allows presenters and attendees to better engage with one another in real time.  Using any smartphone, tablet or laptop running the vapp, presenters can push content to a user's device. This could be the actual presentation, questions or polls or other content such as YouTube videos. At the same time, attendees can interact with the presenter by reacting to a poll, answering a question or raising their hand. It also allows for saving of a presentation to use for reference material later.

The most exciting thing about SlideKlowd for me is the measurement tool. One of the most stressful parts about putting together a conference is choosing speakers. I want to make sure that every speaker who graces our stage or concurrent sessions leaves you thinking. It is my goal that you learn and grow from every session you attend. With so many speaker submissions, it is not always easy to know who is going to be able to do this effectively. With SlideKlowd, the attendee, just by interacting (or not) is going to be able to give both the speaker and the conference committee real feedback about the session, topic and presenter. Just by using the app, the 2013 attendees of ILSHRM are going to be able to help us make the 2014 conference even better.

So bring your laptop or mobile device, download the SlideKlowd app and get ready for an extra level of engagement.

If you have not registered for the 2013 ILSHRM conference do so today! Early bird registration ends July 1, 2013. To register, click here.

Sabrina Baker, PHR  - ILSHRM Conference Chair

HR Helping HR

The theme of this year's ILSHRM conference is HR Helping HR and we have plans to do just that. In this post I highlighted the keynote speakers who will be taking the stage to impart their wisdom with us. If you haven't read it yet, go check it out. Go ahead, I will wait.

Now that you are pumped about that I wanted to share another exciting event happening just before the actual conference begins. On Sunday, August 18, 2013 from 2-6pm at the Hilton Suites (located right next door to the Drury Lane), we will be hosting an event targeted at both social recruiters and social job seekers. Before I explain the event, let me give you a little background.

Over the past few years, ILSHRM has been a leader in highlighting emerging trends in HR. One of those emerging trends has and continues to be, social media. We have offered workshops, concurrent sessions and a cool Social Media Lab (which will make its appearance again this year) all focused on helping attendees gain a better understanding of social media usage in the workplace. Over and over we hear how attendees want more information targeted towards social recruiting.

At the same time we realize that as a profession, HR has been hit hard by the economy. Many human resource professionals have found themselves on the other side of the unemployment line for the first time in many years. Going from hiring manager to job seeker is no easy task, especially when the rules have completely changed. At last year's conference I was approached specifically by several individuals who asked if there was anything ILSHRM could do to help them in their job search.

In thinking about those two requests, this Sunday event is what I have come up with. We want to take social recruiting and pick it apart. We will talk about where, how and why. We will give you tools and resources to use and actionable items you can implement immediately. THEN we are going to reverse engineer that for the job search process.  We will highlight how job seekers can use a similar social media strategy on their side of the employment line. Oh and sometimes when recruiters and job seekers get into a room together, jobs happen. I'm just saying.

This event is for any HR pro currently looking for work and any HR pro looking to learn how to incorporate social recruiting into your current or future candidate strategy. The event will be led by both HR practitioners and social media aficionados so attendees get the best balance of information.

The cost of the event is $50 and is considered separate from the actual conference.  To register for the event or overall conference, click here.

We are very excited to be able to offer this special event and hope you will join us for this and the rest of the conference in August.

Sabrina Baker, PHR  - ILSHRM Conference Chair