The first of the four and a half day SHRM 2011 Annual Conference is in the books.

Most of the day was spent with the Student Conference.  The consistent theme running through out the day was generational differences.  From Aaron Kesher's opening session to Joshua's Fredenburg's keynote address to the social media session to close the day, generational differences were on everyone's mind.

Highlights include:
*The social media session moderated by SHRM's Social Media Guru, Curtis Midkiff, featuring panelists John Nykolaiszyn, Robin Schooling, Matt Charney, and Laurie Ruettimann, certainly delivered the goods.  They focused on how to network, the importance of a MBA, how to develop a backbone in HR, how you get into HR, and a few HR horror stories were thrown in for good measure.  More importantly, the students were engaged and drew a lot of good knowledge from the panel.

*Continued support of student programs and the future HR leaders of tomorrow.  An excellent colleague, Dr. Jeff Walls, was selected as the 2011 Advisor of the Year.   He is a shining example of the great work advisors do to help students pursue careers in HR, and is a sterling choice to be recognized.  Similarly, there were nearly 300 students, advisors, and guests attending today's conference, and it is wonderful to see strong passion for human resources at a young age.

*The volunteers.  Kudos to the nearly 700 volunteers who assisted everyone today as they helped register, hand out bags, and direct people to the proper location.  Without their assistance, the conference would fall into chaos.

*The networking.  Its great to catch up with people in real life who you may only chat with on Twitter and Facebook.  Over dinner at Fiamma, the conversation was strong as we talked HR and other matters, reflected on who unfortunately could not attend, and laughed.  Special, special thanks to Matt Charney and Monster.com for supporting the dinner.

On to day two.