See you at the HRevolution

Today I, along with about 50 smart, talented, and fantastic HR folks will descend on Louisville, KY for the first ever HRevolution.

The HRevolution is the original and only 'Unconference' for HR professionals focused on blogging, social media, technology, and a little topic called 'The Future of HR'.

The event is a classic and wonderful example of a community coming together to share, learn, and try and make ourselves and the HR profession better.

But communities have to have something to rally around, and they often need leaders that can motivate and inspire people.

And in the case of HRevolution those leaders are Trish McFarlane and Ben Eubanks. Trish and Ben have created a concept and an incredible community has rallied around their idea. They, along with Crystal Peterson whose tireless efforts in organizing the logistics of the event, have engineered what has really become a kind of phenomenon.

Creating an event, working it into what is already a crowded fall conference and event schedule, and having it connect and resonate with so many people is really a testament to the community, and to the Trish, Ben, and Crystal's efforts.  I have been honored to be a (small) part of the planning for this event.

For folks who can't make it down to the HRevolution, there will be a lively Twitter stream under the #HRevolution tag and special Episode of the HR Happy Hour Show, 'Live from the HRevolution' on Saturday, November 7 at Noon EST.

Special thanks also to HRevolution sponsors:

Sanera

Nobscot Corporation

Xceptional HR (Blogging4Jobs)

Fustion Frames & Award Frames

Monster.com

The Human Race Horses

They have been generous with not only financial support, but advice and ideas to help make the event really meaningful and special.

I can't wait to get to Louisville (even if it means a ridiculous 5:00 am drive to the airport).

HRevolution Sponsor Spotlight - Nobscot Corporation

There is significant energy and momentum in the Human Resources Technology marketplace towards integration. Traditional core HRIS and ERP vendors are trying to strengthen their offerings in areas like Talent Management and Business Intelligence.  Established talent management vendors are expanding their application footprints to encompass more and more functionality be it applicant tracking or learning management.

In many ways the trend towards integration can benefit customers, as it typically eliminates (or at least dramatically reduces) the need for complex, and often custom built integrations to pass HR information around the various systems.

But even as the big ERP providers get bigger, and the Talent Management vendors expand, there remain areas of the HR and talent landscape that neither will likely ever consume. Important technology supported functions like background checks, candidate assessments, or complex workforce scheduling.

These 'edge' products and the processes that they support are often vitally important to the success of an organization and can go a long way towards making the day-to-day lives of HR professionals much easier.

HRevolution sponsor Nobscot Corporation thrives on the edge. Their flagship product WebExit, that supports the process of Exit Interviews was created to address a gap and fulfill a need that the traditional HR Technology companies could not support.  Efficient capture, and subsequent analysis of exit interview data is to many organizations a key source of strategic information that can directly impact ongoing operations, planning, and overall profitability of the enterprise. If you really believe as an organization that human capital is the source of your competitive advantage, then understanding the flow of this capital from beginning (recruiting) to end (exit interview) is vital to your long term survival.

In addition to its market leading product for exit interviews, Nobscot also offers Mentor Scout, the only real enterprise solution for managing internal mentoring programs. Mentor Scout helps to manage all aspects of a corporate mentoring initiative, from matching mentors with mentees, to providing a secure environment for communication, to tracking the progress and success of the program.  For many employees in the organization making connections with experienced and respected colleagues is a necessary and even critical activity. Mentoring programs have been shown to be a powerful driver of increased engagement and forge important bonds in the make up of the company.

Being on the "edge," allows companies like Nobscot to respond quickly to HR's needs.  For example, based on feedback from clients Nobscot expanded its WebExit platform to handle new hire surveys and quality of hire metrics. The resulting program, called FirstDays helps organizations accurately measure the success of recruiting, onboarding, orientation and new hire socialization initiatives.  On the Mentor Scout side of the house, Nobscot expanded Mentor Scout with their Talent Networking Edition which adds peer-to-peer corporate social networking components to solve some common HR challenges such as knowledge sharing, breakdown of silos, recognition, and managing remote employees. 

 
I encourage you to check out Nobscot Corporation, they are a company committed to the long-term success of their customers, and passionate about improving organizational effectiveness and advancing the discipline of Human Resources.

Thanks very much to Nobscot, especially CEO Beth N. Carvin for their generous support of the HRevolution.

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Note : This post is part of the HRevolution Sponsor Spotlight series, the event organiizer's way of saying thanks to the fantastic sponsors of HRevolution, without their generous support the event would not be possible.

The HRevolution - November 6-7, 2009

Registration for the HRevolution, the first HR Blog/Social Media 'Unconference' is open and can be found here:

HREvolution Event page

The event will be held on November 6-7, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky at the beautiful Seelbach Hilton.

I have been honored to be a part of the planning for the event, and am really excited to attend. I highly recommend anyone currently involved in or considering jumping in to the HR blogging and social media space to consider coming to the HRevolution. I think you will learn more in one day at the HRevoluton than in many months trying to sort this stuff out on your own.

We'll talk blogging, social media for HR, technology, and (maybe) even barbecue. To learn more about the HRevolution and to contribute your ideas check out the HRevolution wiki.

Costs are being kept low and a special rate of $119/night has been arranged for attendees of the HRevolution, be sure to mention 'HRevolution' when calling the Seelbach.

I hope to see you in Louisville!