This is the 13th SHRM Annual Conference I have attended.  The routine is pretty much the same from year to year.  So what, if anything, has stood out?

The Speakers

• Hillary Clinton - didn't get to see her.  Closed to press.
• Blake Mycoskie - Nice inspirational message.  Hard to screw up a talk about shoes at a HR conference.  Definitely fit category 1 of Tim Sackett's 3 categories of HR speakers
• Jennifer McClure - Talked on the Future of HR and knocked it out of the park.  Definitely book her for your future HR conference.
• Steve Boese - Excellent presentation on harnessing social tools.  

The Exhibit Hall

• I probably have spent less time there then in any previous conference.  As a professor, I'm not likely to be a customer of whatever product is being hawked.  My name is not going to be drawn for a booth prize.  And, I learned long ago that SWAG remorse is never a good thing.  
• I felt bad for the booths in the 3500-4300 range.  It seemed like they were the discount casinos in "Vegas Vacation" where games such as "Pick a Number Between 1 and 10" and "Flip a Coin" were being played 
• I was disappointed to hear from students, yet again, that some booths treated their visit with disdain.  These are your future customers.  Treat them that way.

Travel

• It is still a heavily dominated female crowd.  On three of the four shuttles I've taken, I was the lone male among 30 or 40 females.

 

I would love to attend the 2011 Illinois HR Conference on August 22-24 and/or the 2011 Ohio SHRM State Conference on September 21-23.   John Jorgensen (Illinois) and Steve Browne (Ohio) have put together a really stellar program for each of these states.

Check out the agenda for Illinois here
Check out the agenda for Ohio here

The quality of line-ups alone justifies attending.  Add the networking, entertainment, and food, and it a must-see event.

So, why am I not going?  I'm conferenced out.

One of my best friends says I am one of the luckiest people in the world.  My job gives me a really flexible schedule, I get to teach 18-22 year olds, and I get to do a lot of traveling.  Looking over the past 12 months, I have attended the following conferences:

August 5-6, 2010 - WI SHRM State Leadership Conference in Sturgeon Bay
September 23-26, 2010 - AABRI Conference in Orlando, FL
October 6-8, 2010 - WI SHRM State Conference in Appleton, WI
November 18-20, 2010 - SHRM Leadership Conference in Arlington, VA
February 24-27, 2011 - ASBBS Conference in Las Vegas, NV
March 4-5, 2011 - WI SHRM Student Conference and HR Games in Fond du Lac, WI
April 8-10, 2011 - SHRM North Central Region Student Conference in Romeoville, IL
April 29-May 1, 2011 - HREvolution in Atlanta, GA
June 24-29, 2011 - SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV

Intermingled with the above is travel for family, weddings, sporting events (Brewers baseball, NFC Championship, Super Bowl, Final Four) as well as other work and volunteer related functions.

Looking ahead, I already have the following conferences scheduled:
August 4-5, 2011 - WI SHRM State Leadership Conference in Green Lake, WI
August 12-16, 2011 - Academy of Management Meetings in San Antonio, CA
September 30 - October 5, 2011 - HREvolution/HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas, NV
October 12-14, 2011 - WI SHRM State Conference in Madison, WI
November 17-20, 2011 - SHRM Leadership Conference in Arlington, VA
January 5-7, 2012 - AABRI Conference in Orlando, FL
March 2-3, 2012 - WI SHRM Student Conference and HR Games in Platteville, WI
June 22-27, 2012 - SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA

and....who knows, there might be another conference or two in that time frame.

So, yes, I am lucky.  I get to do a lot of traveling and attend a lot of conferences.  However, while I would love to be in Illinois and Ohio over the next two months, I am not sure I have the time, energy, or resources to make it there.

However, on behalf of John and Steve, I highly encourage you to go to those great events.  And, if you can't, come join us in Madison, WI, on October 12-14.  Check out the Learning Sessions here and early bird registration ends July 15.

One of my favorite television shows over the last few years has been "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The "protagonist," Larry David, always finds himself in socially awkward positions, where he usually exacerbates the situation to comic effect. There is even a Facebook page titled "What Would Larry David Do?"

I found myself in a Larry David-esque situation my self traveling back from the SHRM Annual Conference (shameless self promotion - read the blog here) in San Diego. Like many of the travelers returning home, I was flying solo. As a bit of background, I tend to have mild claustrophobia when I fly. Window seats make me feel trapped, and middle seats are the worst. Similarly, I prefer to sit closer to the front, so I can exit off the plane as quickly as possible. I tend to buy my airline tickets early to ensure that I will have an aisle seat close to the front. In this instance, I purchased my tickets for the June trip in February.

So, I boarded my short, 45 minute flight from Minneapolis to Green Bay and sat in my reserved seat, 7C. Five minutes later, the person, a fifty-ish year old woman, occupying the seat next me in the window seat asked if I would switch seats with her husband. I replied by asking if he had an aisle seat, and learned, unfortunately, it was several rows back, and a window seat. I declined, explained that window seats made me claustrophobic and they split apart. Five minutes later, the woman started weeping, and proceeded to do so for the next 20 minutes. Awkward.

In the midst of the flight, after the drinks and snacks had been passed out, she turned to me, as if I were Satan incarnate, and shrieked "Don't you have a wife or mother? Where's your compassion!?!?!? How dare you not let my husband and I sit together??!?!? I hope the next time you travel with your wife, a person doesn't show you the lack of compassion you showed us!" Good times.

So, experienced travelers, here is my question: When should a person traveling solo on a seat he or she reserved give it up for a couple traveling together?

• Does the extent of the couple's relationship make a difference? If it was a parent traveling with a young child, I would say I would give it up 100% of the time. But, what if it is co-workers? Friends? A couple that is dating? A married couple? Where's the dividing line?
• Does the length of the flight matter? On a short flight such as this one, should I have simply sucked it up and suffered so that the husband and wife could sit together? What if the flight is 2 hours? 3? 8? What's the cutoff?
• Does the seat location matter? If it is a trade for a similar seat (an aisle for an aisle), I would have made the trade, even though it was further back. However, a window for an aisle, further back?

What are your thoughts?