Can A Conference Change Your Life?

There are events that occur in everyone’s life that change how you think about your world. The frequent ones are birth and death of family members, moving your home, and working with a new employer. In my life, I can attest to having some of these events: the birth of my nephew, moving from the state of Washington to Indiana, meeting my current partner to name just a few. But these all fall under the category of obvious.

The less obvious events are to me the more interesting ones.  These events delve into the minutiae of our lives, affect us in different ways, and shape us as individuals. Buying my purple Cannondale bicycle, reading The Fountainhead, taking Critical Writing in college are all events that changed the way I viewed the world and how I acted in it. These events aren’t just affecting for weeks or for a few months.  These events resonate years later.

I attended the HR Technology Conference a year ago, this month, and I can say with the utmost confidence that you can add last year’s event to my list of life-changing events. When I attended, I was not seeking a life-changing event. I was researching HRIS. However, the exposure to real-time use of social media, hearing some of the smartest and influential people in the HR industry (Naomi Bloom, Libby Sartain, Gerry Crispin, etc. etc.) and viewing first hand the technology that is shaping the HR industry, created a surge in me. I wanted to be part of this. I had been sitting on the sidelines for a long time, going to my HR jobs, and being part of the norm. No more, I decided. I wanted to be part of the dialogue. I wanted to interact with a large number of HR professionals and get an opportunity to meet some of HR’s thought leaders. I wanted to stop being a silent face in the crowd.

When in Chicago at last year’s conference, I started using Twitter and began following names out of the HR Tech brochure. Some followed me back. I began following other HR professionals. Some followed me back. I began reading more HR blogs than ever before. I started leaving more comments on blogs than ever before. In November, this blog came to be. I started my own dialogues. People listened and spoke back. Some were our HR thought leaders. Most were smart, conscientious, and excited about the HR industry. It took only a couple of months, but I was no longer a silent face in the crowd.

Because I took the leap and began writing my thoughts, it has opened some interesting doors for me.  Substitute co-facilitating at HRevolution 2010, being asked to contribute to XpertHR.com and be a guest on HR Happy Hour have been some highlights. Being invited to national conferences as a blogger is another. Most importantly, I have met personally some of the smartest people in the HR industry. I am no longer sitting on the sidelines and the impetus was one single conference.

There is no guarantee that attending this year’s HR Technology conference, or any conference for that matter, is going to change your life. However, life is funny that way. I am still riding the purple bike that I bought fifteen years ago. I ride often and I cannot imagine my life without it. When I registered for last year’s conference, I had no idea it was the beginning of a new journey. Today I cannot imagine how my life would be if I had not.
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To register for this year's conference in Chicago Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 
click here.   
For more reasons to go, check out Sarah White's HR Carnival here.