A Visit to the Illinois Valley SHRM Chapter

IV-SHRM Pres, Debbie Claussen, John Munoz and Jeff Williams

On February 15, 2011 I had the pleasure of attending the monthly meeting of the Illinois Valley SHRM Chapter in LaSalle, IL at the Uptown Grill. The purpose in my attending was to represent our state council in front of local chapters, and help grow and solidify the relationship between this chapter (and the other 19 chapters) and the state council.

I would like to thank my friend Jeff Williams and IV-SHRM Chapter President Debbie Claussen for welcoming me and giving an opportunity to speak to their members.  In talking to the group I was extolling the virtues of Social Media, and how it was being used on the world stage to change society in Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain.  I then asked for a show of hands for those that were: Facebook users – a few hands went up; Linkedin users – some but less, and then a show of hands of twitter users in the room of about 45, and sadly the twitter users could be counted on one hand

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Oh well, I guess this is job security for the Director of Social Media.  I provided a couple of war stories as to how I had hired folks after finding them on Linkedin.  I talked about my Company’s job listing on Facebook and did not feel like I was dealing with an engaged audience, but that could just be my read.

On a brighter not the Chapter is doing some great things.  This is a 100% chapter, and the folks up at the mothership on Duke Street would like to see all chapters moving in that direction.  The chapter meets monthly. They periodically have “after hours” meeting a local watering hole. This was the best though, in December they do not have a meeting, but rather meet at United Way and help with Christmas Gift. That’s pretty cool in this bloggers eye!

The meeting content was great; the Speaker John Munoz is a trainer for a local bank and spoke on Emotional Intelligence.  He presented the “Marsh mellow Video” and did a great group exercise with hats.   There are some pictures of the event here.

Again I would like to thank the chapter for their hospitality and sharing some of their valuable time with me.

- Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC-SHRM

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.

New Initiative - New Publication for ISC SHRM

First, let me say that I am so excited to be joining this distinguished team of guest bloggers. Dave Ryan has done an outstanding job of assembling a top notch group of contributors. Hats off to you, Dave!

As the Marketing/Communications Director for ISC-SHRM, I am looking forward to digging into a wide range of projects this year to better brand and position our group. From solidifying our mission, vision and core values to spreading the word about our 12th annual conference, there are several truly exciting things on the horizon.

One major initiative that we are exploring for 2011 is a new partnership with a media firm that has the ability to, among many other things, provide us with a high-quality ISC-SHRM magazine produced in both digital and traditional form. Many of our fellow state councils have already headed down this path and have turned out some very impressive pieces.

Since ISC-SHRM is really all about you, my fellow HR gurus, forward motion on this initiative will be contingent on two factors: interest in reading the publication and interest in contributing to the publication.

I understand that you may be wondering what the benefits of a magazine would be to our Council. First, it should be noted that the magazine and all associated expenses are paid in full through advertisements. So, this professional piece is completely FREE to our Council! With the instant gratification of social media and other modes of rapid communication, we look to this publication as a way to complement our existing efforts by focusing on less time-sensitive, more in-depth HR commentary and research. In addition to the core group of HR professionals we serve, the magazine will attempt to reach other business professionals and educators to further build the ISC brand. We also envision the magazine to be a springboard for a host of other future media endeavors.

Like so many initiatives, volunteerism is key to the success of this project. So, State and Chapter leaders (and anyone else out their willing to roll up their sleeves), we are interested in hearing from you! In order to make this idea a reality, we will need a strong team of volunteers willing to commit to one quality semi-annual submission (one-time guest columnists also welcome!).

If you have interest, please let me know ASAP. I will also be sending an email this week to State and Chapter leaders. This is an awesome opportunity for any aspiring columnists or for anyone with an interesting HR story or perspective.

Until next time…..

Heather Hammitt - Marketing/Communications Director for ISC-SHRM