IHRIM Conference Day 1

While my experience at conference started with the meeting of the Affinity Group leaders on Saturday, the first official Conference activity was the First Time Attendees Orientation on Sunday. We have over 200 First Time Attendees and their enthusiasm was contagious.

This was followed by the "Viente de Mayo" Get Connected Reception. The new picture on my blog is me with the IHRIM CFO Lamar Davis in our Fiesta attire. The reception was very well attended, food was terrific, the Mariachi band was fun and all in attendance were enjoying seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I saw many of the IHRIM Faithful like Karen Beaman, Jay Markunas, Freddye Silverman, Joe Schmidt and others too numerous to mention by name.

Monday morning started off with the Affinity Group networking breakfast. The room was a buzz as attendees gathered to start their day and reconnect with those who share a geographical or topical connection.

I have to say I was very nervous this morning as I was preparing to speak to the over 700 attendees at the opening general session. The theme of my my message was that IHRIM is not just a conference, it is a 24 x 7 ; 365 day a year experience.

Our Key note, Jim Carroll talked about how swiftly technology is changing how we work and live. One of the anecdotes he shared was about when his Son was with him when he was cleaning out his office. Jim came upon a 35mm film canister. He went on to explain to his son that this was used to take pictures. 26 pictures needed to be taken before you could see any of the pictures in the camera and that after taking the roll of film down to Walgreen's in as quick as 1 hour you could get your pictures printed! Jim shared with us that his Son thought the process was "stupid" and told his younger brother about how Dad showed him something from the "olden days".

This idea of rapid change in our lives was further illustrated with the session I attended about the Generation Y worker given by Michael George of Vurv. He brought to light the impact Generation Y workers will have in the workforce. Their aptitude for technology, their expectations for personal time and thier childhood experiences of being rewarded for every accomplishment, no matter the significance, by items such as a ribbon or trophy.

The vendor hall was buzzing with excitement as attendees talked to exhibitors about the latest offerings. With over 90 vendors in the expo hall, I have much more work to do tomorrow in order to visit all of the vendors on my list!

Perhaps my best experiences of the day happened as my day drew to a close. The last session of the day I attended was on reducing stress in the workplace. Susan Gayle gave tips on how to create a stress free workplace. More important, were the techniques she taught about how to remove stress from our daily lives. Through the application of self hypnotic exercises, I left the session feeling relaxed and focused with more energy than I had when I entered the session.

I ended my evening at a reception I hosted for our award winners and conference sponsors. This was my way to thank those who have contributed to IHRIM in a significant way. The intimate group got to know each other on a level not possible at our larger conference activities.


For me, day 1 was a successful day. I look forward to Day 2 and continuing my IHRIM experience.

I hope you had a good day as well, as would enjoy hearing from you about your conference experiences.