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Written by Jennifer McClure

What Keeps Senior Level HR Professionals Away From Industry Conferences?

shrm13

This year, I’ll be attending my 5th SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition June 16 – 19, 2013, which will be held in the beautiful windy city of Chicago.

It’s the BIG show. Picture 10,000 – 15,000+ HR and industry professionals all gathered in one place to get their learn on, to network and to shop till they drop in the Expo Hall for free squeezy balls, pens and drawings for iPads – and maybe a new product or vendor while they’re at it.

I find the conference, the people and the content incredibly valuable each year. But if it’s such a great event, why do senior level professionals make up such a small percentage of attendees at the annual conference – or equivalent industry events?

Check out the attendee breakdown from the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference below. Only 12% of attendees were from the top of the profession. Go to a local SHRM chapter meeting and this group is even less likely to be in attendance.

I’m glad to see that HR professionals at all levels attend the conference and keep coming back year after year.

So why don’t the senior level pros consider it a “must attend” event? What’s missing for them?

I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts in the Comments section.

Let’s talk about how we can connect with the upper levels of HR in a meaningful way!

SHRM13 Attendees

I’ll be speaking at the 2013 SHRM Annual Conference this year for the second year in a row – twice! I consider a huge honor!

If you’ll be there (register here), I’d love for you to join me!

MEGA SESSION: The Future of HR: Four Keys For Creating Competitive Advantage Through Innovative People Strategies (1.25 Strategic HRCI credits)

MEGA SESSION: Talent Shortages & Skills Gaps: Equip Your Organization For New Battlefronts In The War For Talent (1.25 General HRCI credits)

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Unbridled Talent LLC is a consulting and advisory firm providing services to clients in the areas of recruiting & human resources strategy, employment branding and leadership/career development. We offer keynotes, workshops and training that inspire and teach business leaders to be more effective in their careers and as leaders of their organization’s most valuable resource – people. Contact us to schedule an event or to discuss our strategic consulting and advisory services.

Categories: Blog, Human Resources
Posted on March 27, 2013

Written by Jennifer McClure

Why Personal Branding Is Important for Career Development in HR – #NextChat

Personal Branding. The phrase that doesn’t want to die.

Personal Branding and Human Resources. Not like peanut butter and chocolate. Or is it?.

We can blame Tom Peters for starting the whole personal branding thing way back in 1997 with his article – “The Brand Called You” in Fast Company Magazine – , but the phrase really came into its own in the latter part of the last decade as technology and social media provided everyone from underdogs to big dogs the opportunity to better manage their careers, get noticed and reach a global audience if desired.

One of the first talks that I gave as a “professional” Speaker way back in 2007 was at a women’s professional networking group on the topic of “Personal Branding For Career Success” – and I’ll be delivering a 1/2 day workshop on the same topic this weekend for MBA students at Xavier University. The concept of defining and developing your Personal Brand remains an important topic for career management. And if you’re working in Human Resources, that goes for you and your professional counterparts too! Even if you don’t want to think so.

To understand more about how the concepts of Personal Branding can help you as an HR Pro, I’d like to invite you to join me and the good folks from SHRM | We Know Next today, September 12th, at 3pm ET for a “Twitter chat” about Personal Branding and why it’s important for HR pros. You can participate in, or follow the “chat” on Twitter  via the hashtag – #Nextchat. (New to Twitter chats? Learn more here – How to Participate in a Twitter Chat.)

Have questions? We’ll attempt to answer them. Have input or expertise? I’d love to hear from you. Think this Personal Branding thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread – or a bunch of hooey? I definitely want you to share your thoughts!

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For more details on tomorrow’s #Nextchat, check out the SHRM – We Know Next blog – Nextchat: “Why Personal Branding Is Important for Career Development in HR” – September 12, 2012 @ 3pm ET

If someone were to ask you to write down what you believe your “personal brand” is today, what would you write?  Are you excited about it?  Does it really describe your character, personality and passions?

In today’s competitive labor market, building a personal brand with a strong online presence is critical to your career, so it’s important to prioritize and identify ways to get noticed inside and outside of the office. There is tremendous value in personal branding and in the concepts of understanding who you are and being able to communicate your value, as well as to articulate what differentiates you from others in your field.

Whether you know it or not, people have a perception of you — and you need to take control of that.

Join us at 3 p.m on 9/12 for #Nextchat with Jennifer McClure of Unbridled Talent.  We’ll discuss the ways a busy HR pro can accomplish building their Personal Brand.

Q1. Why is personal branding so important for career development in HR?

Q2. How can HR pros use social media to help create and promote their personal brand?

Q3. Is face to face networking still important to creating a personal brand? Why?/why not?

Q4. What are the best ways that busy HR pros can develop a personal brand with limited time and on a limited budget?

Q5. How can developing a personal brand aid your career as an HR pro?

Categories: Blog, Human Resources, Personal Branding
Posted on September 12, 2012

Written by Jennifer McClure

2011 Fall Conference Speaking Tour: Illinois SHRM Conference August 21 – 23, 2011

It’s finally Fall Conference season!

Hopefully, you’ll have an opportunity to attend a few events to network, meet with a few vendors in an exhibit hall and learn from the keynote and concurrent sessions speakers.

First up for me this Fall is the 2011 Illinois SHRM Conference, which will be held August 21 – 23, 2011 in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. The #ILSHRM11 organizers have really embraced social media to communicate prior to, during and after the conference and also to educate their attendees. They’re got a great blog covering ILSHRM happenings year-around and have scheduled a pre-conference Social Media Bootcamp on Sunday with Jessica Miller-Merrell, as well as an entire track of speakers covering social media from a variety of perspectives. I’m excited about being a part of the Social Media Track, where I’ll be speaking about “Using Social Media In HR to Attract, Recruit & Retain Talent”!

Below is a brief video describing some of the speakers and events I’m excited about attending as part of the Illinois SHRM Conference (Email subscribers will need to click through to view the video.)

If you’ll be attending, please be sure to connect and let’s meet in person!

Click HERE for a complete copy of the 2011 Illinois SHRM Conference brochure and HERE for a detailed listing of their concurrent sessions.

Categories: Blog, Human Resources
Posted on August 8, 2011

Written by Jennifer McClure

The 2011 SHRM Annual Conference Through My Eyes

I just returned from the 2011 Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference in Las Vegas, that was held June 25 – 30, 2011 and this year, I tried to capture some of what the experience is like to share with you via the video below. (Email subscribers – click the link to view the video.)

This year, the Conference was attended by a record 14,000+ HR and industry professionals who descended upon Las Vegas to learn, network and maybe even have a little fun.

Conference highlights included the announcement of Hank Jackson as the new SHRM CEO, daily keynotes by Sir Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Tony Hsieh and Michael J. Fox and an Expo Hall teaming with vendors, food, drinks, games and an endless amounts of tchotchkes that were never meant to fit in suitcases for the return trip home.

The annual SHRM Conference has become one of my favorite industry events and I’d highly recommend putting the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on your list of must-attend events. Now. Before Joe in Accounting cuts your T&E budget for 2012.

I’ll follow up later this week with a post announcing the Annual SHRMmy Awards and thanking many of the folks who made this such an informative and enjoyable event for me.

Until then, if you attended the 2011 SHRM Conference (or followed via the #shrm11 hashtag on Twitter), what was your favorite part of the event? Who would you nominate for achievements (good or bad)? I’d love your feedback as the SHRMmy nominations are tabulated!

 

Categories: Blog, Human Resources
Posted on July 12, 2011

Written by Jennifer McClure

The SHRMmys – My 2010 SHRM Annual Conference Awards

The 2010 SHRM Annual Conference is officially in the bag and after making my way back across the country, I’ve taken some time to reflect on the conference, the experience and what I took away from it all. There will be more information to share in the coming days, but as someone who attends quite a few conferences, I can safely say that this was one of the best that I’ve been to!

To share some of the highlights of my experience, I thought I’d give out some Awards – all voted on and selected by a committee comprised of yours truly. So without further adieu, I present to you, the first annual (assuming I get to go back) SHRMmys!

Category: General Session/Keynote Speakers

Best Keynote Speaker – Marcus Buckingham. If you’re a fan of the strengths-based movement, have read any of Buckingham’s books or have seen or heard him speak before, Marcus didn’t share anything new. What he did do was focus his talk on the audience (HR pros) in an entertaining and engaging way. It doesn’t hurt that he’s pretty handsome, speaks with an English accent and used lots of humor. The ladies weren’t the only ones who noticed. There were quite a few Marcus #fanboys in attendance as well.

Most Surprising Speaker – Al Gore. The former “next President of the United States” skipped the Power Point for his keynote on the second day and won over the audience with a talk that was about 75% focused on challenges and issues that businesses and HR pros are facing  today. He lost a little momentum when he moved into sustainability and global warming, but that was brief and not unexpected for a guy who won a Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar for his work in that area.

Rising Star – Ray Jefferson. In his brief moment before the keynote by Steve Forbes, Mr. Jefferson was well-spoken and inspiring, speaking directly to the audience and calling for HR to make a difference by hiring our nation’s Heroes. “In this time where it’s critical to do more with less, it’s more important than ever to hire great talent.” More than a few attendees suggested that Mr. Jackson would have been a better choice for the opening session speaker.

Best Speaker at Some Other Conference – Steve Forbes. Someone forgot to tell Steve that this was the largest HR conference in the world, not a stop on his 1996 or 2000 Presidential bid tours. We definitely need to understand business/economic issues in HR, but an inspirational/actionable keynote this was not.

Category: Exposition Hall

Best Booth – Since I was a part of the #monsterlive Social Media Street Team, I’ll recuse myself here, but let’s just say the Monster booth was pretty awesome. Check out my Behind the Scenes Tour of the Monster.com SHRM10 booth before the Expo Hall opened and I’ll let you be the judge.

Most Intriguing Booth – Corporate Lactation Services, Inc. With a tag line like “Professional Excellence in Corporate Lactation”, what’s not to love about this entry? In my book, they deserve an Award just for that.

Best Swag – iPads dominated the giveaways and drawings, but branded USB’s, hand sanitizer and carryalls useful to haul tons of swag that can be repurposed as “green” grocery bags ranked high on my list.

Most Coveted Swag – The focused swag grabbers quickly headed for the headgear (Dr. Suess style hats, toboggans, crowns, etc.), Hawaiian leis and Monster Trump dolls. Where this stuff ends up is anyone’s guess, but on Sunday night, they were “must-have” items.

Lamest Swag – Nothing says “we’re in the low budget section” like having a booth full of pens, key chains and refrigerator magnets. My recommendation? Spend less money next year and buy one i__ (insert name of hot Apple product) and do a drawing for a giveaway. You get names for lead generation and up your cool factor exponentially.

Category: Event Coverage

Best Official Event Coverage – SHRM. From the official Conference Daily’s waiting outside hotel room doors in the morning to General Session opening videos (including 3 attendee’s journeys to the event, the opening session Flash Mob and Undercover Boss with SHRM CEO Lon O’Neil and Board Chair Robb Van Cleave) – everything was top-notch. SHRM also embraced social media coverage this year with the implementation of the first “official SHRM Blog Squad”, the first tweet from the SHRM CEO and SHRM10TV “On the Couch” interviews with Manager of PR & Social Media Relations Curtis Midkiff in the Social Media Lounge.

Best Video Coverage – The SmartBrief.com/Monster.com Interview series. SmartBrief Senior Editor on Workforce Mary Ellen Slayter and the MonsterThinking crew teamed up to offer a high-quality, informative and well-done video interview series with HR thought leaders, authors and bloggers like Libby Sartain, Gerry Crispin, Dave Ulrich, Nicole Williams and more. Extremely well done and a great resource archive!

Best Social Media Coverage – Monster.com went all out this year to provide coverage for SHRM10 from an attendee’s point of view through blogging, vlogging and tweeting. Ben Eubanks and I were fortunate to be a part of the #monsterlive Social Media Street team and were encouraged to tweet, blog, video and comment on the conference activities in our own voices and as practitioners to provide a sense of what it was like to be there for those unable to attend. I was super impressed with the planning and effort that went into the Street Team coverage, as well as the participation of the Monster crew – SVP of Global Communications & Social Media Janet Swaysland, VP of Client Adoption Eric Winegardner, Director of Social Media Relations Kathy O’Reilly, Social Media Relations Manager Matt Charney and Manager, Client Training Lisa Watson – and therefore can’t take them out of the running for the top prize in this category just because I was involved. Well done!

Rising Stars – Laurie Ruettimann and Jennifer McClure. (Yay!) While trolling the Expo Hall on the first night doing video interviews with attendees, Laurie and I happened upon SHRM Board Chairman Robb Van Cleave and snagged an exclusive interview with him, where we “broke news” about the next day’s General Session speaker. I’m sure he’ll never forget us and will always cherish the sombrero that Laurie gifted him with at the end. As budding serious journalists, we’re now looking for Agents to handle all of the requests for live event coverage…

Best Blog Coverage – Charlie Judy of HR Fishbowl and John Hollon of TLNT.com. A fixture in the Press Lounge with headphones and game face, Charlie was on fire covering the event with speedy and insightful commentary and observations. John Hollon brings a seasoned journalist slant to his coverage of the conference each year ripping Steve Forbes, praising Al Gore and summing up his thoughts in straightforward posts.

Most Tweets – For sheer volume, it was a close race between Jessica Miller-Merrell of Blogging4Jobs.com and myself. Hopefully, our followers and those keeping up with the #shrm10 hashtag found some value in the volumes of information and observations that we shared.

Best Twitter Coverage – Eric Winegardner and Mark Stelzner. It’s always a pleasure to follow Eric and Mark at any event that they attend. Both are able to provide useful, informative, critical and often hilarious insights in 140 characters or less. Favorite tweets include Eric’s observation following SHRM CEO Lon O’Neil’s Tweetup announcement and Mark heading off the rails during a “social media is evil” session.

Funniest Tweets – Laurie Ruettimann. Laurie’s Twitter stream is a riot most any day, but at conferences, she can be particularly fun to follow. She does a great job of sharing her cynical and educated views in few words and hilarious photos on Twitter.

Category: Social/Networking Events

Best Party – The SHRM / Monster Social Tweetup & Afterparty. This was the first year for SHRM to hold a Tweetup and they teamed with the Tweetup experts – Monster.com. From the bacon chocolate cupcakes, drinks with glowing neon ice cubes, swag bags for attendees and lively networking, this event was first class in every way. Check out photos from the evening and see for yourself.

Best Entertainment – Hall & Oates. For all of the pre-conference bashing that the Hall & Oates choice received, there were plenty of attendees who were jazzed about showing up to hear the duo sing classics such as Private Eyes, Maneater and Rich Girl. While I didn’t personally care to relive the 80’s by attending, those who did all had a great time.

So there you have it, my picks for the 2010 SHRM Annual Conference. If you’re a winner, we’re reducing our carbon footprint and going “green” this year, so consider this a virtual high five for your efforts.

Overall, it was a well-organized event in a fantastic location. I’m already looking forward to SHRM 2011 in Las Vegas!

What Awards did I miss? Award some of your own in the Comments!

Categories: Blog, Human Resources, Just For Fun
Posted on July 2, 2010

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