We all know the routine. You attend a networking event, professional conference, association meeting and collect a bucket load of 2 x 3 inch business cards from a collection of professionals, ranging from the gentleman who sat next to you at breakfast to an engaging mentor-worthy executive. Then the event ends and you transport the business cards from your suit pocket to your work bag and forget about them until you arrive to work the next morning.
Now what?
I had the opportunity this year to attend the SHRM National Conference for this first time this year. This year’s event brought nearly 16,000 HR professionals to Atlanta, GA for four days of learning and connecting, and I was honored and privileged to be among them. For our readers who were not able to attend (and even for those who were) I wanted to share my observations and take aways from the experience.
I quickly realized that at a conference as large as this one, it is simply not possible to do, see, and learn everything that you want to, so my strategy became focusing on finding a few gems of wisdom to bring back. Beyond the speakers, sessions, and nuggets of wisdom, the thing that struck me the most about being in attendance at SHRM was incredible feeling of being in the presence of so many fellow HR professionals with a passion for what we do.
The older someone gets, the harder it can be to make room in a life built just the way you like it for new people, new places, new ideas.
Reflecting back on the person you were when you were in school, are you where you thought you’d be now?