Overall the sessions that I participated in were as described, and interesting (I did hear from others that this was not universally true). The presenters were good, but few were great.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was the networking with the bloggers and twitterati. many of whom I have known for several years, some only “online” others at events like the CIPD conference, where tweeters and bloggers tend to “stand out” a little. Always good to hear what your peers are doing, as well as those “on stage”. Check out many of the links to other blogs at http://cipd.tumblr.com/
A few themes have crossed my mind as a direct result of the event:
In leadership, HR, L&D… in business, the difference that seems to make the difference is authenticity. Being true to yourself and your values. Not only was this mentioned explicitly by the keynote speakers on day one, but also throughout day two. As a fad, authenticity has been bubbling around for a while, but unlike many others, there is no “right” or “wrong” or “method” other than being true to yourself. This in a modern, open and internet age will become an increasing reality for many. Organisations that have been reluctant to allow authenticity amongst their people will see that it is a strategic advantage, and will allow the true benefits of diversity (in all of its meanings and definitions) to flourish.
Being true to ourselves is perhaps one of the greatest challenges we have,. it is easy to hide behind a job title, a role, an avi, a persona, but to truly look in the mirror and be authentic to your self and others is without doubt a major development step for many. One that I believe will raise itself even higher on the priority list of leaders and HR teams in organisations of all sizes. Fore many of the major entrepreneurs and successes over the years, Maverick!, Virgin etc, have not really been about processes or culture… but about authenticity. Belief and to a great extent transparency and consistency
Always an issue, esp for bloggers, but do presenters know this too? One slide I saw being used by one presenter still had the watermark of the clipart site they took the image from across it.. so it was not a purchased image, nor did they have the right to use it. Not particularly professional for a leading conference.
For me there were too many people from very recent years, some of them great, some not so great.. but what about fresh approaches? Personally I would not like to see the same speaker more than once every 3 years or so. variety is what drives innovation and change.
This year the show changed from a 3 day to a 2 day conference, and whilst there appeared to be more people both in the conference sessions, and on the exhibition floor, there was less time and opportunity for informal networking than usual. This is a shame, and should be an item to put on the agenda for future events, how can people connect more easily.
It has been said at the conference that 85% of employees are employed in smaller business, this also means that 85% of HR people are engaged in smaller businesses, so why not have a format on the exhibition floor that provides access to this audience, suppliers they believe are in their budget. Would this not make the exhibition more attractive to certain suppliers and attendees? Times are changing, but the format of the exhibition floor has not… time for change?
This year the CIPD launched their event app, the good news is that it works equally well on Android as IOS, on the whole a really useful app, please just make sure that for next year the app links to the event twitter hashtag….
A great event, it has sparked a lot of ideas in my mind, and I am sure in the minds of those that participated both there live at the event, and in those that followed the event on social media. For to the best of my knowledge the CIPD conferences have been one of the pioneers of using social to increase the reach of the experience for professionals conferences, certainly in the UK, and I am sure beyond. I do not have the statistics, but I am sure there were many 1000s of tweets and almost 50 blogs written about these two days.. a mega effort that I am sure will provide insight for weeks, if not months to some.
Some of the Blogs courtesy of cipd.tumblr.com and Doug Shaw (Thanks Doug, great Curation effort) on #cipd13 include:
ROI – Rapid Organizational Improvement It’s four in the afternoon on a Wednesday and you…
Trainers & Presenters mind your visuals As communicators, those of us that use visuals of…
It's not what is in front of you.. but what you see The amazing colour…
Organization Development (OD) is a complex strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, culture…
10 easy steps to grow your business (for freelance workers) With more and more people…
Using 360 assessments for selection in redundancy situations. We know that we are in increasingly…