This day started with a few challenges for me. Each year at conference we thank our Volunteers at a special breakfast. While all conference attendees get fed Continental breakfast every day, this Volunteer breakfast is hot food with eggs, bacon, sausage and waffles! There was an issue at work that kept me on a conference call from 7am - 8:45am thus missing most of this breakfast.
However, the first session I attended was terrific! Jason Averbook talked about self service and portals. He introduced us to a term his firm uses "direct access". The premise is that self service denotes some sort of transaction, and there are more than just transactions on the portal. The term "direct access" refers to all content that employees have access to. He also gave us some statistics about use of the web and some tips on how to make the HR Portal a more relevant site.
Next on my agenda was a training class for IHRIM Volunteers and Staff. This class was led by the Leadership Effectiveness Committee. IHRIM believes in making training investment for it's Volunteers and Staff. This course was targeted managing though the transition process during change. Through the use of a Texas Hold em Poker game with special transition process cards, we learned about what is needed to successfully manage the transition portion if a change initiative.
After this, I spent time in the IHRIM Book Store, where I picked up 2 books on Financial Literacy for the non-finance professional. There was a selection of HR related titles and the complete set of IHRIM publications, however since I already have all of the IHRIM Publications, I did not need to purchase them at this time.
Before Lunch, I took another turn in the expo hall. To obtain more progress toward completing my check list of vendors to visit.
The Lunch was absolutely terrific! The food was very good and the speaker Meagan Johnson, was informative and entertaining. She talked about the generations in the work place and the difference between them and gave practical tips on engaging the Generation Y's who are quickly going to be come the second largest population in the workforce.
My afternoon consisted of an IHRIM Business meeting and more time in the vendor hall, where I completed my check list! We are always looking for partnerships and alliances to help bring more value to our members. This business meeting was with an organization who we feel may be a good alliance for IHRIM. It is too soon in the process to talk about it in any detail, so stay tuned as this unfolds.
The fun started at 6:00 at the IHRIM Western Saloon. The ballroom of the Hilton was transformed to a Western town. A mechanical calf roping device and picture opportunities on a Texas Longhorn kept attendees busy before the band started. The band played all types of music, the group two-stepped, line danced and generally shook it up on the dance floor to music from Country to classic 80's Rock. Outstanding dancers on the floor included Dave Binda from Winnipeg, MB CA;Jan Spak also from Winnipeg; Mike Gerthe from Houston; Joe Almodavar from Chicago, and Lisa Sinyard from Atlanta. Special mention for Myron Oakes from Altedana, CA , Penny Chase from Chevy Chase, MD and Sharon Reisenbuchler from the IHRIM Staff for joining the band on stage Additional Cudo's to Penny for roping the mechanical calf!
All were having a good time and I am sure new friendships were formed.
Tomorrow is the last day, I will be on an iStream panel and we are having HRXML join us for our closing lunch. I will be traveling home on Wed and will update this blog as soon as I can.
If you were at conference, please post a comment on your experience, I would really enjoy hearing from you.
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First off a big thank you to all of the IHRIM Staff and Volunteers (that includes you Jacqueline) that came together to pull off the conference. It is never an easy job and the shear amount of work is often under appreciated. Thank you all!
Thank you also to the vendors who exhibited on the expo floor. I appreciate being able to see the cutting edge technology available. As my company moves towards some larger initiatives, I appreciate the expo forum to be able to get a bird's-eye view of the HR Technology that is available.
It's unfortunate that some of the Time & Attendance vendors passed us up to go to APA, because I've got an initiative that's almost ready to launch in Time & Attendance (and I spoke to a couple others who wanted to see you guys there, too). So props to those Time & Attendance vendors who showed up (I'd include a list, but don't want to miss anybody who was there that I might have missed).
For those who have not been to the conference, you don't know what your missing. The collaboration of the practitioners, consultants, academics and sponsors/vendors that is inherent in this organization is amazing. Keep up the good work everybody and if you're not already, get involved in IHRIM!
Now I need to get some sleep . . .
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