SHRM11: Personal Recap

I've posted my thoughts on the sessions I attended...here (Day 1) ...here (Day 2) ...and here (Day 3).
Now let's get down to the nitty-gritty, and let me tell you what I really thought about #SHRM11.

Let's start with the Bad first:

• I hate Las Vegas.
• I hate the Las Vegas airport.
• My hotel looked cheap, was cheap, and the lobby smelled like grease. (I'm confessing the last part so it doesn't look like J. Lee is spreading rumors.)
• The air was so hot outside mixed with the pollution, it felt like my eyeballs were melting.
• No Mike Krupa, Dwane Lay, Shauna Moerke, April Dowling, Bryon Abramowitz, or Mike VanDervort.
• I hated having to walk to the Hilton Hotel for sessions. (I know this complaint is lame. But still.)
• The Expo Hall vendors acted like the extras at a haunted house. (They lunged at you unexpectedly. It was so annoying.)
• I hate Las Vegas. It's the cesspool of humanity disguised as a glitzy...woops, sorry, I already mentioned this.  It's just that I really, really hate Vegas.
• ...And I really, really hate the Vegas airport too.

OK, enough already, here's the Good stuff.

• HR Bloggers were treated like gold. I cannot thank Curtis Midkiff and Jennifer Hughes enough for their incredible hospitality. They kept me happy the entire time with food, coffee, water and spaces to....
• Park myself away from the maddening throng of how many--15,000, 17,000, 18 trillion HR folks. The space in the press room and the social media lounge were perfect. Plus, sitting with all of my blogging friends and colleagues while we wrote, read, listened and talked was intoxicating.
• The SHRM party at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. It creeped me out, but it was a good time. This morphed into...
• Riding in a Hummer Limo to Aria for the Monster Party and Natasha Bedingfield Concert.
• Spending quality time with Trish McFarlane, John Nykolaiszyn, Dawn Hrdlica, Gerry Crispin, Lance Haun, Jason Lauritsen, Charlie Judy, Jessica Miller-Merrell, Robin Schooling, Maren Hogan, and Matt Stollack.
• Finally meeting Michael and Kelly Long, Matt Charney, David Kovacovich, John Hollon and Mike Spinale.
• I went to nine sessions and only walked out of one. (I'm a session jumper if I'm unhappy/bored.)
• After David Rock's session, I made haste to the SHRM store, bought his book, and waited in line for him to sign it. I normally wouldn't do that kind of thing. But I was so taken with his presentation, I was an immediate groupie. (I know ... I'm an HR nerd.)

And last but not least, continuing my post-conference tradition of posting the songs that were in my head the entire time.
No reason, no rhyme...

1. The Antlers "I Don't Want Love"
2. Echo and The Bunnymen, "Never Stop"
3. Elvis Costello, "Pretty Words"
4. Level 42, "Something About You"
5. The Vogues, "5 O'Clock World"
6. Dead Kennedys, "Viva Las Vegas"