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!

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

ILSHRM11's Social Media Press Corps

THIS JUST IN

We are pleased to announce one addition to the ILSHRM Social Media Press Corps.  Trish McFarlane (@TrishMcFarlane on Twitter) aka The HR Ringleader will be joining the social media group covering the Conference, giving her unique view on what to look for, what is being said there and her analysis after the event.  She was one of our original social media participants last year and we are thrilled to have Trish back this year.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Last year at the Illinois State SHRM Conference, we experimented with using social media by inviting some well known HR bloggers and social media personalities to attend and report on the Conference. It allowed letting those who couldn’t attend follow the excitement and what was happening at the Conference. It also allowed conference goers an opportunity to “hear” what was happening in other sessions that they couldn’t attend. We were one of the first state conferences to test out using social media as a tool and based on reports and comments it was a success.

This year, we are expanding our use of social media as far as numbers involved and hopefully in creating pre and post conference excitement as well as a method to document what happens at the Conference. Many of our speakers have a powerful presence in social media and we are taking advantage of that to create our Social Media Press Corps, while adding a few other social media reporters to the mix. In addition to the written blogs and tweets, we have several noted social media pros coming to video what goes on at the conference as well as interview speakers and attendees alike. Finally, the only daily internet talk radio show dealing with HR practitioners, Drive Thru HR, will be working from our Conference.

We have added a social media track to the conference to teach HR practitioners how to use these new tools and in order to help HR professionals understand social media and how to use it, the Illinois State Council of SHRM is sponsoring a Social Media Boot Camp, being held on Sunday, August 21 (the day before our Annual Conference) at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakbrook Terrace, the same location as the Conference. This how-to program was a highly requested item that came from our first presentations on social media at last year’s conference.

Below is the roster of our Social Media Press Corps, along with their blog/web site and Twitter handles:

Bloggers

Blogger                         Blog Site                                    Twitter Handle

Robin Schooling           The HR Schoolhouse                 @RobinSchooling

Jessica Miller-Merrill     Blogging 4 Jobs                          @blogging4jobs

Jennifer McClure           Unbridled Talent                         @cincyrecruiter

Joe Gerstandt                Joe Gerstandt                             @joegerstandt

                                    Also Talent Anarchy

China Gorman              China Gorman                            @chinagorman

Dwane Lay                  Lean HR                                       @dwanelay

Mike VanderVort        Human Race Horses                     @mikevandervort

Jason Seiden              Jason Seiden                                @seiden

Ryan Estis                  Passion on Purpose                      @ryanestis

William Tincup           Drive Thru HR                               @williamtincup

Charlie Judy              The HR Fishbowl                           @HRFishbowl

Video

Maren Hogan          Marenated                                    @marenhogan

Geoff Webb            Radical Events                                @radicalrecruit

Internet Radio

Bryan Wempen       Drive Thru HR                             @bryanwempen

William Tincup        Drive Thru HR                             @williamtincup

In addition, follow our "house" crew of social media folks of Dave Ryan (@DaveTheHRCzar), Donna Rogers (@DonnaRogersHR), John Jorgensen (@jkjhr), Cathy Plouzek (@smiling26.2), Jeff Williams (@_JeffWilliams) and Sabrina Baker (@Sabrina_PHR) among others who will be using the #ILSHRM11 hashtag.

For the Press Corps members pre-conference thoughts, on-site posts and post-conference wrap ups, follow their blogs and to follow what is happening at the Conference if you are on Twitter, follow our hashtag of #ILSHRM11.

- John Jorgensen SPHR Conference Director ISC SHRM

Illinois SHRM 2011 Conference - Details from the Lead Planner

The 2010 Illinois SHRM Conference at the Drury Lane, Oak Brook, IL.

It is the coldest time of the year and it is snowing out…but I am at the end of August in my mind.  Several of us at ISC-SHRM have got August 22-23 planted in our brain as that is our 12^th Annual State SHRM Conference at the Drury Lane Theater and Conference Center in Oakbrook Terrace.  Plans are well underway for what we know will be our biggest and best one yet.  Last year, we topped 600 attendees (biggest to date) but with the lineup of speakers and exhibitors we have scheduled, we should surpass that number.

Leading off as our opening keynote is Ryan Estis , speaking on Passion on Purpose:  Winning with a Passion Culture.  Ryan is a regular speaker at national SHRM events and will be keynoting the SHRM Staffing Conference this year.  He is a business performance expert helping companies, managers, leaders and sellers more effectively connect to their two most important audiences: employees and customers.  Those of you who have seen Ryan can attest to his ability to deliver a powerful message while entertaining the audience.

Our next keynote (or should I say keynoters) is a couple of guys who write and speak under the label of Talent Anarchy.  They will be speaking on Strategic Relationship Management: The Breakthrough HR Competency.  The duo consists of Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt.  Jason is a trench HR guy, a VP of HR for a major bank in Nebraska.  He is walks the walk and talks the talk on a daily basis.  His background also includes sales, business owner and corn detassler .Joe is a consultant but not your average consultant.  He’s a middle-aged white guy who is a national thought-leader on issues of diversity and inclusion–need we say more?  He is also an ex-Marine who has experience in sales, education and community building.  As his bio states, he is one part professor, one part philosopher, and one part “not quite right.”

Finally, we are proud to have China Gorman as our final keynote speaker who will address the issue of “HR Wake Up Call.”  Many of you may recognize China as the former COO and Chief Global Membership Officer of SHRM.  Prior to joining SHRM in 2007 as COO, China was President of DBM North America, and President of Lee Hecht Harrison, the $250 million global consulting division of Adecco, which became the performance leader in its industry under her leadership.   China is an engaging speaker whose passion for HR knows no limit.  Once you meet China, you will know and understand what a great champion she is for our profession.

Something else new this year (among several things) is that we will be joined by the folks at Drive Thru HR.  Drive Thru HR is a daily internet radio show that addresses the profession of HR from the perspective of the practicing HR person.  The show is hosted by the team of Bryan Wempen and William Tincup.  They both are seasoned pros who have a great insight on the field.  They will be broadcasting live from the conference and will add a certain flair to the event

We will be making more announcements in the near future about the Conference, speaker line ups, sponsors and other things.  Keep your eyes open for more great news on ILSHRM 2011.

-John Jorgensen - Illinois SHRM Immediate Past State Director

Second Keynote Added for 2011 Illinois State Conference

China Gorman

The Illinois State Council of SHRM is thrilled to announce that China Miner Gorman has agreed to be a keynote speaker at our 2011 12th Annual State Conference. The Conference will be held on August 22-23, 2011 at Drury Lane Theater in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.
For more than 25 years, China has held strategic leadership roles in the human capital management industry. Her expertise in business strategy, market-share growth and new business development together with her people and results oriented leadership style have enabled her to successfully lead global organizations through turnarounds and rapid growth cycles, as well as through business slowdowns, with exceptional results.

China is the former Chief Operating Officer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The Society represents nearly 250,000 individual members in over 140 countries, and has a network of more than 1,000 affiliated chapters in the U.S., as well as operations in India and China.

Prior to joining SHRM in 2007 as COO, China was President of DBM North America, and President of Lee Hecht Harrison, the $250 million global consulting division of Adecco, which became the performance leader in its industry under her leadership.

China has traveled extensively—throughout the United States and abroad—addressing business, professional, corporate and academic groups on topics related to the strategic value of HR, culture, career management and implementing effective people management strategies. She currently serves on the boards of the Chicago-based Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG).

A native Midwesterner, China earned a bachelor’s degree from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois and has completed significant post-graduate work in Organizational Development.

- John Jorgensen - Director ISC-SHRM