IHRIM 2012 HRMS Strategies Conference and Technology Expo- Chicago, IL

Back from my very first IHRIM HRMS Strategies Conference and Technology Expo, hosted in one of my favorite cities…Chicago! I have a few observations to share. But first, a side note…
the conference was held in the luxurious Hilton Chicago Hotel, a hotel that has housed EVERY President of the United States since its opening in 1927, making the conference even more of an unforgettable experience.

From the first night’s Get Connected Reception, to the All That Jazz Reception, the Closing Luncheon and all of the learning in between, IHRIM gave me every opportunity to meet an abundance of HRIS/HR Professionals and grow my knowledge base of HRIS Systems.

The opening general session with Oracle sponsored Jamie Notter and was a high point of the conference.  During his presentation, we all received a small synopsis from his book, Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World.  The general overview of the presentation was that social media is working because we tap into what we want as human beings.  In contrast, management is failing because we are strictly relying on old ‘mechanical models’ to do all of the work.  Notter’s keynote presentation hit home with me and as I later came to find out, it hit home with several other attendees as well.  Organizations need to change at all levels of management to better our future and shift from ‘machine thinking’ to ‘human principles.’   I realized that we definitely need to change but how we make that change is the real question.  I guess I will have to finish reading Notter’s book to find out! (part II blog- to be created)

Throughout the subsequent days, the IHRIM Conference offered over 50 Educational Sessions and Open Discussion Forums.  This gave attendees the option to choose which relevant courses they wanted to participate in.  One of the several sessions that I attended included Keeping Up with the Kids: Millennials and Workplace Technology, a presentation by Steve Boose from Oracle.  In this presentation, Steve expanded on how Millennials (born between 1982 and 2001) are becoming more influential in our organizations and how current technology must start adapting to the Millenials’ strengths and ideas that they are generating. The next session I attended was taught by IHRIM’s very own Chairman of the Board, Nov Omana.  The session was titled Developing a Social Media Strategy.  In this particular presentation, Nov explained how important social networks are becoming for our organizations and in order to be most effective, we must launch them correctly and with a strategy in mind.  Behavioral Benchmarking: A New Perspective on Cultural Fit for Employees, presented by Adrian Wood, gave me a unique perspective on how and why people are successful in their organizations.  Although two organizations may have the same position title, the success of the candidate may vary.  This may be due to the culture of the company and/or the distinct behavior of the candidate.  If we look at our prospects and our current employees’ behavior instead of focusing on their skills and personality, we may be able to bring long-term success to the candidate as well as their organization.

In addition to the educational sessions offered, the attendees had access to the Exhibit Hall, where 50+ companies displayed their products and HRIS systems and services.  I was familiar with many of the vendors (Willory’s consultants/professionals have vast knowledge in these systems and many of our clients use them).  They include Oracle (EBS, PeopleSoft, Fusion, Taleo), Workday, Towers Watson and Ultimate.  The few vendors that I wasn’t acquainted with yet included Enwisen, SilkRoad, Technomedia-Hodes IQ and NuviewHR.  It was nice to visit each booth and see a demo of the different HRIS systems that our consultants and professionals work with on an everyday basis and even see what new systems are being offered.

Overall, the 2012 IHRIM Conference was fantastic. I went from a basic understanding to an intermediate level of HRIS knowledge through the educational sessions.  I caught a glimpse of the existing and new HRIS systems that our network of HR professionals and clients are using today. Finally, I met new people from all over the world that I can now call my friends through the conference’s networking events.

Ps- I already asked my boss if I could sign up for the IHRIM 2013 HRMS Strategies Conference and Technology Expo.  After all, it is in Orlando, Florida!