Tag Archives: SHRM

November 26, 2012 · 10:02 am

#NextChat: Change Management

Join me Wednesday, November 28 at 3:00 pm EST for SHRM’s #NextChat!  Follow @WeKnowNext, me — @ChinaGorman — and hundreds of HR professionals and SHRM members for an interactive Tweet Chat.  Our topic is Change Management.  Follow the hashtag #nextchat and join in the conversation!

Here’s the deal:

You’re introducing a new software solution for…performance management, rewards and recognition, time and attendance management…your choice.  The solution will impact every employee.  You’re heading up the change management project.  What’s next?  Check out this post before you join us on the next #NextChat.

Change management model?  What’s your favorite?

  • Kotter
  • Lewin
  • McKinsey Seven S
  • Bridges

You have the project timeline.

You have the budget.

You have the communication plan.

What are you missing?

Here are the questions we’ll be discussing.  Give them some thought and join us!

Q1:         What’s your favorite change management model and why?

Q2:         What one thing would you recommend to others as the “make or break” piece of your successful change management project?

Q3:         What member of senior management is the most critical to have out in front of a change management process?

Q4:         How much time and $ should a change management plan focus on training?

Q5:         How do you know if your change management plan was successful?

Never been part of a Tweet Chat?  Then just lurk in the background as you follow this hashtag on Twitter:  #NextChat.  You’ll have fun — and learn a lot as well.

See you on Wednesday on the interwebs!

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July 5, 2012 · 4:30 am

A Day in the Life…

One of many things that SHRM does well is to try to evaluate the services it provides to its members. So I wasn’t surprised that SHRM sent me an invitation to evaluate my experience at this year’s Annual Conference in Atlanta. And I tried to be honest. But really, how do you give feedback to an organization that executes its biggest event so well – year in and year out?

But I’ve been thinking about the question that asked what I would recommend for future Annual Conferences.  I gave a quick answer.  And I’ve been thinking about it more and I’d like to expand on my answer.

I suggest having a series of sessions called “A Day in the Life of…”  When I answered the question I was specific: engage one of the CHROs in the Fortune 100 to describe what their job and life are really like as an example for emerging HR leaders to see. We don’t see many CHROs on any stage at SHRM. I understand all the reasons why we don’t see them, but I think SHRM needs to try harder. Presenting a role model in the flesh would be high impact.

But as I’ve been thinking about it, why not also have sessions with CHROs from a privately held company with 5,000 employees, from a public company with 25,000 employees, from a large education institution, from a think tank, from a large national non-profit, and from a pre-IPO tech start-up? Not a panel discussion. A session by each of them, individually.

Not everyone in HR wants to be the CHRO of GE, but some do. Not everyone in HR wants to be the CHRO in a privately-held company, but some do. Show them what it’s like. Show them what it takes to get there – and stay there.

And then I thought, well, how about other functions? What’s it like to be the Chief Marketing Officer in the Fortune 100 – and what do they think about and want from HR?

How about a day in the life of the CFO of a global public retailer – and what they think about and want from HR?

How about the Chief Information Officer at a large privately-held technology company?

And how about the head of Total Rewards in a Fortune 250 company – how did they get there?

The head of Talent Acquisition in a Fortune 500 company – how did they get there?

The Chief Learning Officer in a global hospitality company – how did they get there?

You get my drift. A series of “A Day in Life of…” would put real leaders on the podium to share what works for them and what doesn’t work for them.  How they got there and what they’d do over again and what they would skip. And from everyone:  what advice for emerging or aspiring HR leaders.

Not only would this be interesting for intentional HR professionals, it would be helpful for those who got here by accident and aren’t sure where to go, whether or not to stay, and what is possible.  Holding successful HR (and other) leaders up for conference attendees to hear from and get coaching from might be the next big step in speaker impact that SHRM is looking for.

As with most good ideas, this came out of several conversations I had with HR leaders in Atlanta. Thanks. You know who you are.

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Filed under China Gorman, Conferences, HR, HR Conferences, SHRM, SHRM Annual Conference

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June 27, 2012 · 7:11 am

It’s a Wrap!

Well…another SHRM Conference is in the can. In Atlanta. In the Georgia World Congress Center. More than 13,000 attendees – with more than 1,000 from outside the U.S.

Here’s my assessment:  no one does HR conferences like SHRM. Period.

  • More than 200 concurrent sessions
  • High profile keynote speakers
  • World class entertainment
  • More than 800 exhibitors in the Expo Hall
  • Social media integrated throughout
  • Involvement of more than 700 local SHRM member volunteers
  • More than 350 SHRM employees

The SHRM Annual Conference is the single largest gathering of HR professionals anywhere in the world – year in and year out. And it’s motivating and exciting to be a part of that.

And while the mechanics are impeccable, the content engaging, and the crowds impressive, the real value of a gathering like this aren’t the mechanics, content and crowds. The real value of SHRM is the personal connections we make, the conversations we have, the meeting IRL of people we only know through social media, the meeting IRL of people we read about in HR Magazine, the private coaching from our mentors, the chance meetings of people who will be new personal and professional friends.

On second thought, it’s not actually a wrap, my friends. It’s a hug. It’s a hug from our profession. It’s a hug from our colleagues, our heroes, our game changers.  And who doesn’t need a hug from time to time?

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June 26, 2012 · 12:00 am

HR Talent Shortage

SHRM has just released a new report in its series on The Ongoing Impact of the Recession. The current release focuses on the Manufacturing Industry.  Previous reports have focused on the Federal Government, State and Local Government and the Finance Industry.

This report clearly shows the continued strong degree of difficulty in hiring professionals with STEM education backgrounds – as well as mangers and executives, the skilled trades, sales professionals, HR professionals and accounting/finance professionals. It should come as no surprise to any business leader or talent management professional that finding professionals in the U.S. with STEM backgrounds is difficult.  The U.S. education infrastructure is not producing enough graduates in these disciplines. See my posts here and here.

It is surprising to note, however, that in addition to reporting a high degree of difficulty in finding STEM professionals and skilled trade workers, manufacturing employers are also having a difficult time finding managerial and executive talent, and sales, HR and accounting/finance talent.

Hmmmm.  A shortage of HR talent. Is this good or bad news?

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Filed under Education Deficit, Hiring Difficulty, HR, SHRM, STEM, Talent pipeline

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June 24, 2012 · 10:17 am

What a Difference 3 Years Makes!

Three years ago in at its Annual Conference in New Orleans SHRM took a tiny, tentative baby step into the land of Social Media by fielding a concurrent session on HR Blogging.  It was called “HR Bloggers: who are they and why should I care?”  Four HR bloggers, 2 SHRM members and two (then) non-SHRM members) were featured in a panel discussion.  There was only one guideline:  no cussing.

The panelists, Kris Dunn (www.hrcapitalist.com), Lance Haun (www.lancehaun.com), Jessica Lee (www.fistfuloftalent.com) and Laurie Ruettimann (www.thecynicalgirl.com), spoke in language not recognized by most HR professionals about social media, tweeting and social community.  The most interesting part of the conversation to me was the discussion on whether or not bloggers should be held to commonly accepted journalistic ethical standards.

Also noteworthy about this session was the fact that it was live-streamed, a first-ever event at a SHRM conference.

And that was it. Well, if tentatively, received.  Tiny baby steps.

Flash forward 3 years and WOW!

A micro site on the SHRM website dedicated to the conference experience called The Buzz.

A social media lounge for bloggers – and there are lots of them.  The Hive – a 3,000 square foot social media hub/genius bar/meeting spot/training ground – prominently positioned and staffed by true HR social media experts to help attendees get started in social media or get more effective at social media.

Want to set up a Twitter account?  They’ll help you do it on the spot.  Want to change your FaceBook profile? They’ll help you do it on the spot.  Can’t figure out how to share a profile on LinkedIn?  They’ll help you do it on the spot.  Want to fill out your profile on SHRMConnect and get started?  They’ll help you do it on the spot.

Curtis Midkiff (@SHRMSocMedGuy), head of SHRM’s social media efforts has conceived and produced a brilliantly elegant approach to adding social media to the fabric of the conference experience.  If you’re a newbie, his team at The Hive will get you started.  If you’ve started but need help reaching the next level, his team at The Hive will get you there.  If you’re an expert, you’re welcome in the social media lounge – but beware. You will feel honor-bound to write a blog post and publish it immediately.  (Sort of like this one.)

Couple these efforts with free WiFi connectivity in the convention center and you have a benchmark, 21st century social media enabled conference.  Well done, Curtis and team.  Well done!

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May 22, 2012 · 2:00 am

Data Source Highlight: SHRM Foundation

From time-to-time we won’t discuss a particular data point, we’ll highlight a particular data source.  Due to the ubiquity of content on the web, it’s important to find trustworthy and relevant sources of data.  Today, I recommend the SHRM Foundation.

You don’t have to be a SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) member to avail yourself of the wealth of knowledge published for free by the SHRM Foundation, SHRM’s separate 501(c) (3) nonprofit affiliate.  The Foundation’s mission is to “advance global human capital knowledge and practice by providing thought leadership and educational support, and sponsoring, funding and driving the adoption of cutting-edge, actionable, evidence-based research.”

In addition to providing scholarships to SHRM members for degree completion and certification, the Foundation performs two very important functions for the Human Resources profession:

  • It is one of the leading funders of rigorous academic HR research
  • It creates educational resources for the profession, including EPGs (Effective Practice Guidelines) which makes research findings easily accessible.

I make this introduction to the Foundation because many in HR don’t know what the Foundation does for all HR professionals – SHRM members or not – and so don’t avail themselves of the research that is practical and relevant to the job of HR.

Of the most useful of the Foundation’s products, EPGs integrate current research findings on what works in real life with expert opinion on how to conduct HR effectively and have been published on a wide array of topics critical to talent and organization management success.  Recent EPGs have included:

  • Human Resource Strategy
  • Promoting Employee Well-Being
  • Recruiting and Attracting Talent
  • Retaining Talent
  • Developing Leadership Talent

Case in point:

HRM’s Role in Corporate Social and Environmental Sustainability, the newest in the series of Effective Practice Guidelines (EPGs) from the Foundation.

Want a readable, rigorous overview of how HR can integrate CSR and environmental sustainability into the culture of an organization?  Want to know what new competencies you need to develop to be a credible leader in this regard?  Want a roadmap to embed CSR and ER into an organization’s mission so that “its impacts on employees, communities and their stakeholders align with the sustainability vision” of the organization?

In 31 pages, noted CSR experts Elaine Cohen, Sully Taylor and Michael Muller-Camen provide an extraordinary review of what the research says, what effective practice looks like, the inclusion of several case studies and the introduction of successful organizational models – all written for easy consumption by HR practitioners.  It’s a goldmine of information.

For example, early in this EPG, a discussion of the different manifestations of CSR ends with this very useful diagram:

This visual, based on work by Archie Carroll, brings useful context to any business discussion about CSR – and would be a strong starting point for any business case an HR professional would bring forward.  The Foundation’s EPGs are full of these kinds of easy to understand and extremely useful data points.

If you aren’t familiar with the SHRM Foundation’s EPG series, I recommend that you visit their site and start browsing the titles.  I guarantee that after reading one you’ll not only feel smarter – you’ll actually  be smarter.

Full disclosure:  I served on the SHRM Foundation Board of Trustees from 2007 – 2010.

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May 15, 2012 · 1:00 am

Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism

We’re surrounded by all kinds of data points about the talent/skill shortage.  I wrote about it here and here.  Today we have two data points:  one comes from SHRM’s Q2 2012 Jobs Outlook Survey Report and the second comes from the BLS 2012 Occupational Outlook Handbook.

SHRM’s Jobs Outlook Survey has some interesting data from a small sample of its 250,000+ members.  (This particular survey was sent to 3,000 randomly selected SHRM members with 336 members responding, for an 11% response rate.)  These quarterly JOS surveys ask HR professionals interesting questions about optimism in job growth, planned changes in total staff levels, categories of workers companies will hire and categories of workers most difficult to hire in the previous quarter.

I was particularly interested in the responses to the question asking which categories of workers were most difficult to hire in the 1st Quarter of this year.  The sample is small (n=246), so the data are directional at best, but do line up with other data sources.

This data is congruent with BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) data relative to education level attainment and the corresponding unemployment rates in April.  The higher the unemployment rate, the lower the difficulty to hire:

  • Less than high school:                                   12.5%
  • High school no college:                                  7.9%
  • Some college or Associate degree:               7.6%
  • Bachelor’s degree or higher:                         4.0%

In other words, it’s more difficult to find skilled professionals and managers in this job market because there are fewer of them unemployed and there are fewer of them overall.  It’s easier to find service workers and unskilled manual workers because more of them are unemployed and there are more of them overall.

But still, as the SHRM report highlights, employers are having difficulty in hiring at all levels.  Which makes me wonder:  are we being unnecessarily restrictive in our job specifications?  Are we hiring people with college degrees when an associate degree would suffice?  Are we requiring associate degrees when a high school degree would be adequate?  I don’t know the answer, but considering the data is interesting.

The Occupation Outlook Handbook, published by the BLS, shows the projected job growth by education category in the 2010-2020 decade:

While the number of jobs created in this decade that will require a Bachelor’s degree or higher is predicted to be nearly 5 million, the number of jobs predicted to be created requiring some college/no degree or less is nearly 13 million.

So if the key to employment (and financial) security for the average worker is a Bachelor’s degree, but the greatest numbers of jobs being created in the next decade won’t require a Bachelor’s degree, how do we reconcile this as employers?

Do we hire college educated workers for jobs that only require a high school diploma?  Are we already doing that now?

Do we work to raise the general level of worker education because we believe it’s the key to global competitiveness?

Do we encourage students to enroll in career and technical education programs in and after high school rather than college because those are the skills needed in the economy?

The data around employers having difficulty finding the talent/skills they need isn’t as simple as it looks.  It’s actually quite challenging.  Under every layer of data is another layer of data.  Solving our talent attraction and acquisition needs won’t be solved with one tactic. But it’s a safe bet that solving our talent challenges will include strengthening relationships between employers and the education infrastructure to produce the skills our economy really needs.

As I look at the data, the optimist in me says we’re covered over in opportunity.  The realist in me says we’ve got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time in which to do it.

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Filed under Bureau of Labor Statistics, China Gorman, Demographics, Education Deficit, Employment Data, HR, Post-secondary education, SHRM, Talent Management, Talent pipeline, U.S. Department of Labor, Uncategorized, Unemployment, Unemployment Rate

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February 7, 2011 · 4:04 pm

What Comes First: Employees or Customers?

As a business leader, I’ve always believed that one of the most important aspects of my job is to create and lead a culture that motivates employees to come to work every day and do their very best work.  I’ve always known that in order to acquire, delight and retain customers my organizations (at the local, regional, national and global levels) needed to acquire, engage and retain the best talent.  I’ve always known that the link between customer and employee satisfaction is strong.

Over the last few months I’ve been able to take the time to read some great books, articles and research reports; to meet with thought leaders and executives; and to attend conferences and courses focused on these aspects of organization and leadership success.  Now I’ve got more than a “gut” instinct that the focus on creating a culture that puts customers first by recruiting, developing and retaining the right employees brings dividends that are more than repeat customers and happy employees.  Now I’ve got real data.

Where did I get the data?  I’ve read research reports from BlessingWhite, Gallup, SHRM, the U.S. Department of Labor and others.  I’ve read books by Chip Conley, Mark Sanborn, Geoff Colvin, Leigh Branham and Mark Hirschfeld, Tony Hsieh, Jim Collins, Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright and Jonathan Haidt among others.  I’ve had conversations with Tony Hsieh, Dave Ulrich, Doug and Kimberly Rath, Cathy Missildine-Martin, Paul Hebert, Joe Gerstandt, Jason Lauritsen, Chris Hoyt, Lars-Henrik Friis-Molin, John Sumser, William Tincup and many others.  Basically, I’ve been a sponge.

And the outcome?  Well now I see clearly that while having happy, committed employees is critical for organizational success, having the right happy, committed employees makes the difference between good customer service and exceptional customer service;  the difference between good organization performance and exceptional organization performance — by any measure you wish to use. 

The right happy employees are determined by what will exceed the customers’ expectations.  And that’s about culture and values. 

To create a culture that retains happy employees feels good on many levels.  What leader doesn’t want to walk around and see smiling faces on their employees?  But to create a culture that retains employees happy to make your customers ecstatic is the secret sauce of organization success. 

The reason for an organization’s existence is not to create a “happy” environment for employees.  The reason for an organization’s existence is to create value for its stakeholders by serving its customers.  You win in business by serving your customers better than anyone else.  And it’s clear to me now that the key to serving your customers better than anyone else lies squarely in creating a culture that attracts and retains the right employees.  I’m not sure many leaders see the difference here, but it seems huge to me.

In the hard work of creating a motivating culture almost every organization starts with their employees:  what makes them happy, what will engage them, what will motivate them to commit over the long haul.  I’ve come to believe that the hard work of creating a motivating culture needs to start at a different place:  conversations with customers and potential customers.  What is important to them in their interactions with your employees?  What values will motivate their engagement, their commitment over the long haul?  Once you have that input you can begin to translate it into organizational values, characteristics, behaviors and skills that become the basis for your culture work – and, ultimately, your talent acquisition, engagement, development and retention strategies.

It’s clear to me that both culture and organization success has to start with the customer.  Only then will you know what kind of talent acquisition, engagement and retention strategies will lead to the type of organizational success that will value your organization among the strongest financial performers and land you on the lists of best companies to work for. 

In other words, when creating and leading your organization’s culture look first to your customers and second  to your employees. 

Most do it the other way around.

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October 10, 2010 · 8:47 pm

Re-imagining the Conference Experience

 I speak at a lot of HR-related conferences.  I started this as part of my job responsibilities when I was Chief Operating Officer of SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management).  Supporting SHRM state conferences by being a keynote speaker was a great part of my job.  It got me (and by extension, SHRM) close to our members in a very personal way and was useful to create stronger relationships and to know what was on the minds of our members. 

 And through my SHRM experience where the very talented Meetings & Conferences department was part of my responsibility, I know a lot about the mechanics of putting on successful conferences for as few as 200 and as many as 20,000 attendees.  While the execution is extremely challenging, the formula for success has been pretty simple:

  1. Contract outstanding and well known keynote speakers that motivate people to attend.  (Typically these folks fly in to speak and fly out after their book signing.  They have almost no personal interaction with the participants.)
  2. Offer a wide range of breakout/concurrent sessions focused on knowledge development and skill building.  (These sessions are led by content experts and experienced practitioners who focus on practical applications in traditional classroom style.  PowerPoint presentations abound.)
  3. Engage a set of high profile corporate sponsors to underwrite the conference so attendee registration fees can be kept low and sponsors’ visibility is high.  (The sponsors are kept at arm’s length so the programmatic content isn’t “tainted” by the commercial nature of that relationship.)
  4. Create multiple networking activities so that people can connect in person and carry those relationships forward.
  5. Select an attractive and affordable city and conference/convention venue.  (The focus is on making the participants comfortable in the physical surroundings.)
  6. Execute a strong plan to market the conference to the universe of potential participants.  (Most conference organizers use traditional marketing methods.  Some have stuck a toe into the social media marketing world; most haven’t figured out how to do that yet.)

 I had the privilege of participating in last week’s RecruitFest! in Boston organized by RecruitingBlogs.com and Monster.  And it’s clear that the effectiveness of this conference has the potential to change how conferences are conceptualized and experienced going forward.  In fact, I might go so far as to say if other conference organizers in the HR space aren’t paying attention to what these folks accomplished, they may well be selling buggy whips next year when they go to market. 

 I have to hand it to Eric Winegardner at Monster and Jason Davis, Miles Jennings and Ashley Saddul at RecruitingBlogs.com for having a startlingly new vision and risking it all to try something substantially different in the world of conferences.  These folks went way beyond “thinking outside the box” and “pushing the edge of the envelope.”  They re-imagined the experience from top to bottom.  Let me give you some examples.

  • There were no keynote presentations or concurrent sessions.  It was a series of important conversations between thought leaders.  Unrehearsed, substantive, sometimes controversial, sometimes argumentative, and always informed and thoughtful, these discussions between two, three, four and five experts explored issues and practices that matter to business leaders and talent management professionals.
  • The thought leaders were asked to participate in the entire day – in fact the day started with each of the 12 of us giving a brief overview of the reasons we were participating and our particular point of view; the day ended with each of the 12 of us sharing what was the most impactful learning we experienced during the conference.  Additionally, each of us participated in one or two of the live discussions and asked questions of our colleagues in the other discussions.  We also were part of the studio audience so we were seated side by side with the live audience throughout the day.
  • There were almost no PowerPoint slides.  Really.  The focus was on having real discussions and exploring different points of view.
  • Participants were encouraged to weigh in and agree/disagree or ask questions.  The comments came from the studio audience where a microphone was available as well as from the remote participants via telephone, Twitter and a chat box on the RecruitFest! Live web site.
  • The focus on the “participant experience” covered both the live attendees and the remote attendees – with an emphasis on the experience of the 3,800+ remote attendees.  The technology employed to ensure a rich remote experience included a 3-camera video team, a web site that offered the live stream, a chat box and question box, and the call in telephone number.
  • The sponsors were all involved in creating the experience.  They suggested speakers, they participated in crafting the discussion agenda, they were in the audience and participated in the Twitter stream and through their blogs.
  • The marketing was almost exclusively conducted through social media:  Twitter, blog posts, FaceBook pages and LinkedIn updates.  In a matter of 2 weeks the number of registered attendees grew from just over 100 to the nearly 3,900 participants (from 38 countries).
  • The venue was more TV studio than conference classroom venue.  The newly re-constructed Paramount Theatre (part of Emerson College) and stage gave the conference a look and feel that felt contemporary and useful and made the live streaming feel natural. 
  • The entire day was recorded and will be shared with anyone who would like to experience this next step in the evolution of conferences.  (Click here to enter your email address so you may receive the url.)

 Although it was a tremendous and exciting experience, it wasn’t a perfect experience.  Clearly the financial model needs some more thought.  And the studio audience could have been engaged even more.  But I have to tell you, after managing conferences, attending conferences, and being a keynote speaker at conferences, this was more fun, more engaging, more interesting, more exciting and more impactful from a learning perspective than any other conference in which I’ve played a part.  And I’ve been involved in a lot of conferences. 

 So again.  Kudos to the Monster and RecruitingBlogs.com organizations for stepping off the precipice into the future.  They’ve created something remarkable.  I can’t wait till the next RecruitFest!

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Filed under China Gorman, Conferences, HR Conferences, Social Media, Uncategorized

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August 20, 2010 · 1:49 pm

Covered Over by Conferences!

I’m looking for a job.  So I’m networking.  A lot!  People in my network and in the networks of my network are so generous with their time and their referrals.  I’m very grateful. 

Most of the people I’m talking to are in or around the world of HR.  They’re either HR pros themselves, or they sell to HR pros, or they support HR pros in some manner.   They’re steeped in HR.  And many of them ask me a variable of the same questions:

“There are so many conferences aimed at HR people.  Which ones should I attend/sponsor/support?”

And you know what?   They’re right.  There are tons of conferences aimed at HR pros.  Let’s just start with SHRM.  There are 5 national/global conferences (not counting the leadership conference just for volunteer leaders).  Then there are the state conferences.  Some states put on conferences every other year; most put on conferences every year.  Let’s call that 40 state conferences a year. 

Then ASTD has a big national conference and 3 regional conferences.  WorldatWork has a big conference in the U.S. and at least one other big conference in Europe or Asia Pacific.  ERE has a bunch – 8 or 9 this year.  I have to mention RecruitFest! put on by RecruitingBlogs.com (more on that at the bottom of this post). 

But if you do cursory research you’ll find a list like this:

    AHRD International Research Conference in The Americas

    Benefits Forum & Expo

    CUPA-HR Annual Conference & Expo

    Engagement and Retention Conference

    Advanced Employment Issues Symposium

    Government Talent Management Summit

    HR Star Conference

    Jacob Fleming HR Conferences

    Learning and Development Conference

    National HR in Hospitality Conference & Expo

    Annual HR Technology Conference & Expo

    People Report Best Practice Conference

    IHRIM Conference and Technology Exposition

    Onrec Online Recruitment Conference & Exhibition

    World Human Resources Congress

    Worldwide ERC’s Global Workforce Symposium

 And these don’t include the up and coming unconferences, like HREvolution, or the bigger for-profit organizations like AMA, The Conference Board, etc.

 So what’s a person to do?  How do you manage your professional development investments to achieve the most appropriate outcome for you and your organization?

 Here are a few questions you can ask yourself as you think through the complexity and variety of the offerings:

  1. Are HR Certification Institute recertification credits important to you?
  2. Is there a specific issue in your organization that, if you became more expert and returned with practical learning, you could improve or solve?
  3. Do you want a traditional conference experience or do you want a more participatory experience?
  4. Do you like smaller, more intimate learning environments or do you prefer the energy of hundreds of learners?
  5. Do you want a global orientation or a domestic orientation?
  6. Do you want theory or practical application?
  7. Do you want to be inspired and motivated or do you want to roll up your sleeves and learn new concepts and their applications?
  8. Do you want access to the speakers while you’re in attendance?
  9. Do you want to travel or stay closer to home?

Truly, there is something for everyone in the world of HR conferences.  Each conference organization has its own approach and style.  Most offer recert credits; some don’t.  Some conferences focus on one issue or area of learning; some cover the HR waterfront.  Most offer the traditional conference experience; some are experimenting and engaging their attendees in new ways.  Some will register as many as want to attend; some are beginning to limit the number of attendees.  Some have a global orientation from both content and speaker perspectives; many are domestically oriented by default.  Some feature academic presentations; others offer the practical application side of things from practitioners.  Some offer inspirational and motivational sessions to keep you mission-focused and energized; some are only focused on skill development and knowledge transfer. 

This may help you organize your thoughts as you sift through the ever growing number of choices you have.  Of course the big issue is your budget and the cost of attending.  More HR pros are having to chip in their own money to attend the conferences of their choice.  At the same time, it’s getting tougher and tougher for conference organizers to improve the conference content and experience without raising the price.  But trust me:  they’re all trying to do just that. 

So be discriminating.  Make sure the content meets your objectives, the learning style fits your personal preferences, the other attendees have something to offer, and that the total cost is within your budget.  Be thoughtful in your selection.  And be sure to provide honest and timely feedback to the conference organizers.  They desperately want your critical feedback!

Along the line of budget management and conference attendance, here’s a great deal!  If you’re considering attending RecruitFest! in Boston October 7-8, 2010, my readers can get a discount on the registration fee.   Early bird pricing ends on August 31, so now would be a good time to go to www.eventbrite.com/event/657023174 and register.  When you use my name – chinagorman – in the discount code box you’ll receive a 10% discount (including multi-ticket packages!).   Not a bad deal.  RecruitFest! is being sponsored by our good friends at Monster, so you know it’s going to be a great experience.   I look forward to seeing you there.  And if you attend one of my tracks, engage!  Be controversial!  Let’s get the conversation going!

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