Final HR Tech Rundown: Stars, Superstars and Supernovas...

Hey - final day at HR Tech, and I thought I'd give you a rundown of who emerged as the superstars of the show from my perspective.

BIG TIME DISCLAIMER: I'm not going to mention everyone in this post.  What makes HR Tech pretty unique is that there's no such thing as a weak presenter.  SHRM had over 200 presenters in New Orleans, whereas HR Tech had roughly about 45.  That means there's nowhere to hide people, and Bill Kutik does a good job finding what he wants.

So, if you spoke at HR Tech, I'm calling you a star (except for myself, since I was simply fortunate to be a part of this slate).  Who would I call a superstar based on my observations?  How about we start with this list:

Bill Kutik - He's the godfather of this thing, and he clearly knows what he's doing as the face and voice of the conference.  The mixture of dry humor, flow in his speaking style and timing is hard to beat.  Great to have him as the consistent face of the show... It's called command, my friends...

Knowledge Infusion - Could these people actually present and be involved in HR Tech more?  Jason A, Jason C and the rest of the crew are everywhere at this thing.  Hard working, engaged in all the conversations on talent issues, my take is they earn everything they get through the engagement and passion.  I also think they earn their place at the show by being involved in the same conversations throughout the year.

Salary.com- They won the Talent Management shootout (click here for an explanation) with a solution that surprised many regarding the level of functionality.  Strong, strong performance... They also did it with their presenter reading a script.  Dude - STOP READING FROM A SHEET OF PAPER and Kutik might have called the TKO after the first round.

Gerry Crispin - Gerry ran the recruiting panel, and you know what you are going to get from GC every time - the master facilitator on recruiting issues that's easy like Sunday morning.  Just dial me in to sit on GC's panels whenever I'm in the same town.

Michael McNeal from Intuit - All the panelists on Crispin's recruiting panel were strong, but McNeal was the strongest - great insights, nice mix of recruiting art, technology and street smarts.  He's got the 5 o'clock shadow as a part of his personal brand to boot, which reminded me of Vlade Divac.

Naomi Bloom- Tells it like it is.  I'd love to see her actually mad about something, because although she's pleasant enough, you can tell she doesn't tolerate fools well.  Like we do, right sparky?  The analyst side needs more spunk like this.

Starr Tincup and Sonar6- Neither had a booth, but both had a big presence and were able to connect with LOTS of folks.  Visibility and approachability = authenticity and likability.

Josh Bersin - Hard not to like. Bases analysis on self-deployed research. 

Social Media at HR Tech- The bloggers were invited to the show, and many tweets were launched as a result.  Good energy from the social media standpoint this year, and I hope the godfather (Mr. Kutik) liked it.  If he did, next step for next year is a plan to engage the other attendees with social media more systematically.

Bloggers who work- If you get into the show as a media member, you should work to provide some coverage, opinion, or a combination of the two.  Shoutout to Mark Stelzner of Inflexion Point, who always takes the time to write rundowns of what's going on at the conference.  I value those, and if you're a blogger who didn't do a post yet, take your cue from Mark the next show you go to and write something with some meat on it.

That's it for now.  Great show and thanks to Bill Kutik for making me a part of it.  Highly recommended by the HR Capitalist and FOT.

Comments

[Jason Corsello]

Kris - Thanks for the kind words. A great list that should also include yourself! "HR Tech" is my favorite event of the year. What people don't see is all of the behind the scenes work that Bill does throughout the year getting the best presenters, vendors, and even HR executives to make the show great. Already looking forward to it next year...just need a little sleep now.

[Mark Stelzner]

Thanks for the shout-out Kris. My view on it is that we're there because others can't be, so it's our responsibility to put out content that actually helps capture a sense (through our lens) of the good, the bad and the ugly. Sorry I missed you this trip and nice work on your posts.