Showing posts with label #SHRM18. Show all posts
While the SHRM Annual Conference just ended, the SHRM Housing Office gave attendees a sneak peek into the prices for the 2019 Conference being held in Las Vegas, June 23-26. You, too, can make your early reservation for next year's conference (only good until 6/22...otherwise you'll have to wait until November) by clicking here.
So, how expensive will hotels cost and how does it relate to previous years? To examine this question, I look at selected SHRM conference brochures (i.e., the ones that I still possessed) over the past 18 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 2018, so I use an inflation calculator to adjust costs to today's dollars. I do not include taxes and fees (and Las Vegas hotels vary in their resort fees)
What do the results tell us?
Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night: 6/23-6/26; 1 room, 2 persons)
San Francisco (2001): $282.47 (standard deviation of $62.35)
Chicago (2008): $281.43 (standard deviation of $32.40)
Washington DC (2016): $280.37 (sd of $32.49)
Chicago (2018): $272.47 (sd of $17.47)
San Diego (2010): $269.11 (sd of $46.32)
Chicago (2013): $265.88 (sd of $22.02)
Washington DC (2006): $254.64 (sd of $43.75)
Philadelphia (2002): $240.17 (sd of $64.21)
New Orleans (2017): $225.82 (sd of $36.27)
San Diego (2005): $226.01 (sd of $55.11)
Atlanta (2012): $216.21 (sd of $24.12)
Las Vegas (2007): $183.74 (sd of $35.41)
Orlando(2014): $171.79 (sd of $38.23)
Las Vegas (2019): $164.15 (sd of $37.93)
Las Vegas (2015): $149.93 (sd of $24.00)
Las Vegas (2011): $141.1 (sd of $19.62)
SHRM 2019 looks to one of the cheaper options compared to previous years. Rooms, on average, will cost approximately $108 (+ tax) LESS per night than this year's conference in Chicago. This will be the 3rd lowest average hotel cost in the last 18 years. Even with the resort fees, you're likely to be able to stay an extra night for the same price that you paid for 2018.
There is a bit more variation in hotel prices from the two previous years in Las Vegas. The five number summary also bears this out:
Maximum: $229 (plus tax)
3rd Quartile: $195
Median: $157
1st Quartile: $139
Minimum: $99
Fifty (50) percent of the options are less than $157 per night.
What does this mean? You'll be able to stay at 5-hotels at a lower rate than most of the options in Chicago this year. To me, the place to stay is the Vdara. $125 per night is a very good price for this 5-star hotel (even with the $32/night resort fee). It is in a very good location on the Las Vegas strip, and, for those who dislike casinos, it is casino-free. Even better, SHRM hotel costs in Las Vegas are usually competitive even against such sites as Hotwire and Priceline.
See you in June 2019.
- 6 comments • Category: #SHRM18, #SHRM19, hotel costs, Las Vegas
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Last year on the SHRM blog, I bemoaned the sorry state of affairs of speaker evaluations by those HR professionals who are supposedly experienced in the art of giving feedback. Too often, the comments given to speakers are rarely helpful, or, frankly, downright rude.
Once again, I served as the Programming Co-Chair for the 2017 Wisconsin State SHRM Conference, and had the opportunity to review the evaluations and comments given to speakers. All responses (in italics below) are from real HR professionals who took the time to actually make these statements.
"Ok." Fine." "Disappointed." - One word answers are the bane of performance evaluations. Does anyone want to hear any of these words? Is there any context or explanation as to why or how the audience member reached that conclusion? Even "fine" has turned into a negative. Give the speaker more constructive information to help him or her understand how the session or material could be improved.
"Pretty basic information." "Basic knowledge, no new information." - As above, does this help the speaker become better? What does the speaker do with this feedback? Further, what's basic to you, might not be basic to someone else.
"Had a horrible coughing fit and had to leave"
"Overslept" (for an early bird session)
"Wrong room."
"Room was way too hot"
"Room was freezing"
"Was not aware of the room change for the session I planned on attending." - Imagine being a speaker; You've spent hours preparing for your session, and traveled a significant distance to serve the HR community. You open up the results, and these are the kind of comments left as feedback. Surely, there are other places on the evaluation sheet to provide this kind of lucid commentary.
"EXACT same session and material as the year prior." - so why did you attend? There are a number of sessions being offered simultaneously that you could've attended instead. With over 1,200 attendees in WI (and over 12,000 at SHRM Annual), offering repeat speakers and sessions provides an opportunity for others who might have missed a quality speaker the first time around.
"Not what I thought it would be." "The session was not what I was expecting." - This is my new favorite evaluation phrase. Once again, there is no context for the speaker to react to and adjust. What exactly were you expecting?
"The presenter did a good job, but it wasn't what I was expecting and was not at all applicable to my organization. In other words, it was more my fault." - an improvement, and actual acknowledgement of blame.
So, as your get ready to attend the SHRM Annual Conference, keep the following guidelines in mind:
1. Not all sessions are going to be winners. SHRM did its best to select the speakers, and those speakers are certainly not there to make you feel bad.
2. If you are not enjoying the session you are in, leave. The speaker will not be insulted.
3. Be cognizant of what you are saying about someone else. If you felt the session missed the mark, provide constructive information that would be useful in making it better.
- 33 comments • Category: #Evaluations, #SHRM18, #speakers
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While the SHRM Annual Conference just ended, the SHRM Housing Office gave attendees a sneak peek into the prices for the 2018 Conference being held in Chicago, IL, June 17-20. You, too, can make your early reservation for next year's conference (only good until 6/23...otherwise you'll have to wait until November) by clicking here.
So, how expensive will hotels cost and how does it relate to previous years? 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 2018, so I use an inflation calculator to adjust costs to today's dollars.
What do the results tell us?
Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night: 6/17-6/20; 1 room, 2 persons)
San Francisco (2001): $276.64 (standard deviation of $60.99)
Chicago (2008): $276.62 (standard deviation of $31.85)
Washington DC (2016): $274.99 (standard deviation of $32.49)
Chicago (2018): $272.47 (sd of $17.47)
San Diego (2010): $264.39 (sd of $45.41)
Chicago (2013): $260.91 (sd of $21.61)
Washington DC (2006): $250.57 (sd of $43.05)
Philadelphia (2002): $235.02 (sd of $62.84)
New Orleans (2017): $221.39 (sd of $35.56)
San Diego (2005): $220.80 (sd of $53.84)
Atlanta (2012): $212.25 (sd of $23.68)
Las Vegas (2007): $180.73 (sd of $34.83)
Orlando(2014): $168.55 (sd of $37.51)
Las Vegas (2015): $147.07 (sd of $23.54)
Las Vegas (2011): $138.8 (sd of $19.26)
SHRM 2018 looks to one of the more expensive options compared to previous years. Rooms, on average, will cost approximately $51 (+ tax) MORE per night than this year's conference in New Orleans. Add in the expensive hotel tax rate, and that's about the cost of two large Deep Dish pizzas at Gino's East per night you could have had as an alternative.
Complicating matters is the very low standard deviation (out of 53 hotel options). This means there is not a lot of variation in hotel prices from that average, regardless of hotel quality. There are not bargains to be had currently (there could be more hotels added in November). The five number summary also bears this out:
Maximum: $305 (plus tax)
3rd Quartile: $285
Median: $274
1st Quartile: $264.75
Minimum: $235
Seventy-five (75) percent of the options are more that $264.75.
What does this mean? Start saving your pennies. The silver lining? SHRM is in Las Vegas in 2019, and as the list above demonstrates, three of the four cheapest hotel options are located there. You'll be able to stay at 5-hotels at a lower rate than most of the options in Chicago next year.
See you in June 2019.
- 4 comments • Category: #SHRM18, Chicago, hotel costs, Hotels
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