Showing posts with label #SHRM17. Show all posts
I'm back from another whirlwind SHRM Annual Conference in New Orleans. I've attended for seventeen (17) straight years, so what did I notice in particular about this one?
1. As always, the volunteers and SHRM staff once again did an exemplary job in putting together a worthwhile conference. Planning a conference is an enormous undertaking, especially of this magnitude, and is reliant upon a number of people working hard in addition to their full-time jobs. That it exists at all is a minor miracle.
2. People are never going to be pleased. The complaints have to be taken with a grain of salt, and expectations have to be managed appropriately. The typical litany of complaints I overheard are familiar from previous years:
- Not enough actionable content. Schedule yourself better. The program comes out early. The presentations are available for download ahead of time. There are not a lot of surprises. The SHRM blog squad put out 150+ posts during the conference. The SMART stage and the #Take10 sessions provided a ton of great content. The twitter stream was a blur. There were 900+ exhibitors ready to answer your specific questions. You had 18,000 peers that you could have approached and bounced ideas off of. If you couldn't find actionable content, you were not looking hard enough. Further, the RFP for the 2018 conference is due July 15. If you think you can do better, prove it.
- Lines were super long for the bathroom. Yes, they were. Yet, many of the men's bathrooms were annexed and became women's bathrooms. Do you have a better solution? Should they cap attendance?
- Events started at 7:00 am, and I was tired from the night before. Go to bed earlier. They've had 7:00 sessions every year I've attended since 2001. The game is the game.
- There were not snacks at mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Are you pre-schoolers? Is it the responsibility of SHRM to feed you 24/7? Pack some snacks to take with you.
- Lunch was mediocre. You were warned.
- I had to wait in line for the buses. The schedule is posted well in advance. If you want to be closer to the convention center, book your room now (or when housing opens again in November).
- Long walk to get to sessions/sessions were full. Yep. Leave earlier. Do you have a better solution?
- SHRM board members get prime seats at sessions. Yes they do. Perk of the job. Want better seats? Get to the general session earlier. Should SHRM start selling prime seats as add-ons to the conference registration?
- Wi-fi sucked. Yes, it did. It was frustrating. You survived.
3. Why do I continue to attend the SHRM Annual Conference? HR is continually changing, and what I need to do in my job needs to reflect it. My tribe is there every year to commiserate, share their trials and tribulations, laugh, and learn. I still get something new out of it each year, and that continually makes it worthwhile for me to attend.
- 2 comments • Category: #SHRM17, conferences., takeaways
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You're Likely Not Going to be Happy about the Box Lunches at #SHRM17. Don't Complain About It.
by Matthew Stollak on Monday, June 12, 2017
It's less than a week to the SHRM Annual Conference in New Orleans, and I'm busy reviewing sessions and finalizing trip details, so this will be a short, but important, post. Here it is:
Don't complain about the box lunch at SHRM.
This will be my 17th time attending the event, and I've been on the planning committee for the Wisconsin SHRM State Conference on and off for 10 years. Do you want to know what's difficult to do? Planning a lunch for hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Have you ever had a fantastic, memorable, blow-your-mind box lunch at a conference? Unlikely. Add in dietary restrictions, allergies, etc., and, for conference planners, it is a monumental undertaking, particularly when there will be over 12,000 in attendance this year. I know you may have spent a lot of money to attend, but the box lunch won't make or break the conference.
Guess what? You're going to be in one of the great food cities in the world. If you're not happy with the choice, take a break from the convention center, and explore the many great food options that New Orleans has to offer.
The box lunch is not going to be earth-shattering. Its nothing personal.
It is hard not to read several articles a day bemoaning the performance appraisal process, and how it should be abolished. There have been a lot of reasons given for wanting its demise. However, I have discovered the real reason. Much like lawyers make the worst clients, and doctors make the worst patients, HR professionals make the worst appraisers.
How do I know this?
I have attended the SHRM Annual Conference for 16 straight years and spoken to hundreds of speakers. I have served on the Green Bay Area SHRM Chapter Board and read the reviews of every session. I have had the privilege of being on the WI SHRM State Conference Planning Committee for eight of the last ten years and have read the attendee reviews of over 500 speakers. It is embarrassing that individuals who should know how to do performance appraisal appropriately, provide such poor and inadequate feedback.
Take a gander at some of these "gems" left by attendees and imagine yourself in the shoes of the speaker(s) receiving them:
- "I hate 6:30 am classes." "Not to mention 6:30 is quite early." "Maybe have earlier in the day...I was tired and may not have retained all the material." I understand that you are trying to maximize your recertification credits, but no one is forcing you to attend the conference, let alone an early morning or late afternoon session. Further, how does this in any way help the speaker?
- "Room is too hot." "Room was freezing." I'm sorry that the room temperature did not meet your needs, but, again, how does that help the speaker? How will it help him or her improve the content? Save it for another area of the attendee survey.
- "Horrible Speakers." The session was a bit dull and boring." As a professor who gets student reviews every semester, I can get 29 out of 30 positive ratings, but the negative one is going to be the one I mull over and remember. Unfortunately, there is nothing provided as to how and why the session was horrible. Where is the information that could help the speaker do better? Would you like to receive this comment about you and your performance?
- He wore a suit and was quite formal (for a session by an attorney on labor law)." "Her shoes were ugly." Again, how does this help the speaker? Your taste may be different than theirs. Further, if this is where you choose to focus on in your appraisal, maybe there are other underlying areas that might be more appropriate. Unless there is something outrageously wrong with the outfit, it might help NOT to focus on attire at all in your feedback.
- "Didn't realize the keynote and the breakout session were the same speaker." The program was available four months in advance, and you didn't bother to read it before attending?
- Two people evaluated and gave a 100% very satisfied rating.....to a speaker who canceled at the last minute. C'mon, man. Really?!?!?
I know many of you have prepped for and passed the certification exam with SHRM and/or HRCI. You certainly spent some time understanding the performance management process. You certainly know that you should focus on behaviors that employees (or speakers) have the greatest control over. And, this is the kind of nonsense that speakers are receiving?!?!?
Hence, the number one thing you should NOT do at the SHRM Annual Conference is to give speakers bad feedback. Praise when warranted. Be critical, but be constructive. Help them understand what they did poorly, and how they could improve.
If you can't even do that well, given your training, please get out of the profession. You are making the rest of us look bad.
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With the news that hotel reservations are now being accepted for the 2017 SHRM Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA, I bring you my 8th annual look at SHRM hotel costs.
After the most expensive SHRM Conference hotel cost in 16 years in Washington, DC (though inflation has made it 3rd most expensive, relatively speaking, has there been a return to "normalcy" in the price of hotels?
To examine this question, I look at selected SHRM conference brochures (i.e., the ones that I still possessed) over the past 17 years to see what it would cost a person to book a single room on a per night average. Clearly, prices in 2001 will be different than in 2017, so I use an inflation calculator to adjust costs to today's dollars. So, how does the 2017 Conference in New Orleans compare to years past?
Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night: 6/18-6/21; 1 room, 2 beds)Chicago (2008): $271.81 (sd of $31.29)
San Francisco (2001): $270.67 (standard deviation of $59.67)
Washington DC (2016): $269.59 (standard deviation of $31.85)
San Diego (2010): $259.67 (sd of $44.69) Chicago (2013): 255.94 (sd of $21.20)
Washington DC (2006): $244.45(sd of $42.00)
Philadelphia (2002): $229.88 (sd of $61.46)
New Orleans (2017): $221.39 (sd of $35.56)
San Diego (2005): $215.58 (sd of $52.58)
Atlanta (2012): $208.28 (sd of $23.24)
Las Vegas (2007): $176.21 (sd of $33.96) Orlando(2014): $163.69 (sd of $36.43) Las Vegas (2015): $144.22 (sd of $23.08)
Las Vegas (2011): $136.35 (sd of $18.91)
SHRM 2017 looks to be around the middle of the pack compared to other years. Rooms, on average, will cost approximately $46 (+ tax) less per night than DC. over the course of the conference, that'll be enough to cover a good meal at Emeril's or Commander's Palace.
Fortunately, with so many hotels to choose from (n=69), there are plenty of options available. The median hotel cost is $223.50. Twenty-four (24) hotels have a price below $200 + tax (compared to only two(2) below 209 + tax the year before), and the middle 50% cost between $193.50 and $259.
Given the above, it seems that New Orleans will be one of the more reasonably priced SHRM Annual Conferences to attend.
See you in June.
- 4 comments • Category: #SHRM17, hotel costs, Hotels, New Orleans
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