Live from SHRM 09 – Day 2
After a warm welcome to New Orleans on Sunday, it was time to get some work done. Monday was filled with lots of education and conversations about the latest and greatest in HR. Tons of things to see and do…but here are my takeaways from the day.
Session Soundbite
I’m speaking today on strategic planning so I spent a little of my time yesterday reviewing related topics to tie into my presentation. I checked out another strategic planning session where the speaker said it’s not important to know where you currently are in order to figure out where you want to be.
Hmmm…interesting thought. I can see where you don’t need to know the current status to figure out the ultimate goal. BUT, if you want to achieve the goal…then at some point ya gotta know where to start!
Swag of the Day
Today must have been hygiene day in the expo. I say that because I collected piles of eyeglass wipes, first aid kits, chapstick, hand sanitizer, mints and toothpaste. But the coolest thing I found was at the Visibility Software booth. It was one of those litecubes for your drinks. Totally HR Bartender – they get my two-thumbs up for the day.
Foodie Spotlight
I’m not really a box lunch person so I ventured out to Café Adelaide in the Loews Hotel. They offer 25-cent martinis (bringing a whole new meaning to the term power lunch). The tomato and blue crab soup was superb and the beef bourguignon po-boy sandwich was fabulous.
You Made My Day Award
I’m giving my shout out to Cordell Clinger and the folks at O.C. Tanner. I’ve had the pleasure of working with these guys for years on the HR Florida conference and they are such a class act. The Carrot Principle is super cool…so check it out.
Duh! Moment
I attended a session today that was standing room only (also known as SRO.) It was cramped and you could overhear people fussing about the close quarters. When I left the session, I overheard the room volunteer telling someone that they opened up the room next door and you could hear the session in the next room.
I walked over there to see attendees sitting in an empty room. Staring at the airwall. Listening to the speaker. Now that takes imagination.
As the day closed, we were hit with a major rainstorm. Lucky for me, I was safely back at my hotel by then. But rumor has it a few folks got stuck walking through Harrah’s casino. (Tough break – let’s hope it was a profitable weather delay for them.)
I really look forward to my session today! Hope to see you there. If you can’t make it, I’ll fill you in on all the details tomorrow.
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