Two weeks from today, I will head to San Diego, for the SHRM 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition. Beyond the usual conference fanfare, I have attended the conference for a variety of reasons (serving on SHRM volunteer committees, serving as a judge for as well as having teams compete and win the SHRM HRGames national championship in 2003, winning a national award). This year, I have the honor of serving as one of the inaugural members of the SHRM Blog Squad, or as I like to call it, the "Blog Force Five." To paraphrase Tarantino..."Blog...as in we're a bunch of bloggers. Force, as we're a force to be reckoned with. Five, as in there's one...two..three...four...five of us."

The 2010 Blog Squad is:

1) David Bowles, Ph.D., co-author of Employee Morale: Driving Performance in Challenging Times and blogger at Morale at Work.

2) Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR, HR professional, television host of “Job Search Secrets,” author of Tweet This! Twitter for Business, and blogger at Blogging4Jobs.

3) Rachel Salley, SPHR, an HR consultant and blogger with Musings From the Career Anarchist.

4) Matthew Stollak, Ph.D., SPHR, assistant professor of business administration at St. Norbert College and blogger at True Faith HR.

5) April Dowling, SPHR, HR Generalist, active member of the Birmingham SHRM Chapter and blogger at PseudoHR.

In the spirit of Spinal Tap's noted auteur, Marty DiBergi, we hope to capture...the sights, the sounds...the smells....of the 2010 Annual SHRM Conference. We hope to get that...and a lot more. But, hey, enough of my yakkin'....

So, what do you all want to read about from the conference? What stories do you want to hear about? Here are some of the initial blog ideas I hope to bring you (and secure before my fellow blog squad members take them):

1. Behind the scenes of the student conference - Every Saturday, SHRM Student Programs puts on a mini-conference for students and student chapter advisors. Guest speakers include Alan Collins and Laurie Ruettimann. What went on behind the scenes? What does the Future of HR look like?
   
2. Attending the SHRM Annual Conference as a student. What does a student expect to capture from his or her attendance? What did he or she think about the experience? What did he or she think about the exhibit hall? Was he or she treated well by fellow HR professionals? Exhibitors?
   
3. The Exhibit Hall - what were the best and worst displays? What were the best and worst freebies? Will Monster.com once again bring the biggest menace to the exhibit hall experience...the rollerbag!?!?
4. Does any one really win at the exhibit hall? By now, many are receiving conference pamphlets from vendors requesting that they stop by a vendor's booth for a chance to win an iPod, Garmin, TomTom, iPad, gift card, etc. This will be my 10th SHRM Annual Conference, and int he previous 9 years I've won bupkus. Do people really win the prizes advertised?
5. The Monday night party scene - Monday night at SHRM Annual is usually the big vendor party night. Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Jobing, and others throw a big bash for attendees. I will try to give you the behind the scenes scoop and gossip from at least two of the events - The SHRM10 TweetUp and the Badger Bash (sponsored by the WISHRM state council).

6. The San Diego scene. I hope to go to the San Diego Zoo for the Panda Watch as well as Tino's to drink three fingers of Glenlivet with a little bit of pepper and some cheese, and catch Ron Burgundy on the yazz flute.

7. Hall & Oates...Really? As the three readers of my blog know, I was not a fan of this option and blogged about it here. I hope to interview those perpetrators responsible and find out how SHRM actually chooses the Tuesday night entertainment, and what can be done to bring an artist that is actually relevant in the 21st century.

What do you want to read about?