Welcome to the HR Carnival-HRevolution style! I’ve prepared a short video to lead into this fun “occasion” and the text of the video is below if you’re the reading type (or if my mug isn’t something you enjoy staring at). Please set aside some time to seriously read through and absorb this stuff, because it’s the most comprehensive collection of information about the event to date.

(Subscribers may have to click through to view.)

If you’d like to get on the email list for the HRevolution email newsletter, just pop your email into the box below. Spam is for eating on grilled cheese sandwiches and not for your inbox, so don’t worry about that. I’ll be sharing tidbits as the year goes on so you can stay on top of any developments and secret plans.

Thanks for dropping by and thanks to everyone who took the time to write and submit something. I was surprised at the number of submissions. Last year when I did my first regular carnival, I had fewer than this time! Trish and I both appreciate everyone for their help in making this event what it is today.

Below you’ll find links to the posts about HRevolution. I didn’t censor anything, so you will find that some talk about what went wrong at HRev this year. That’s perfectly fine. I know it isn’t perfect, and one thing to remember is that HRev is in its infancy. The idea of the event is less than a year old, and there are still kinks to work out.

But hey, it’s a $100 ticket. If you can’t get at least that much value from the event, maybe it’s you?

Quick shout outs to Dee, Mervyn, and Mike—you guys carried some great sessions, and I appreciate you letting me tag along with y’all.

If I had time to go through and talk about everyone who submitted, you’d fall asleep anyway. So here’s a universal and heartfelt thanks to everyone for making this all possible.

Some HR bloggers get more than 20,000 hits per month. There is an interested audience out there. We had just over 100 people at HRev this time. That’s a lot of wiggle room, so make sure you share this post with anyone and everyone to make sure they know everything there is to know. If you weren’t able to attend, you can get a great feel for the event by reading through the posts gathered here. And if you are serious about trying to get the “HRevolution feeling,” then you definitely need to take the advice I wrote about here.

Now get to reading.

The Posts of HRevolution 2010

Let’s start at the top, shall we? Trish McFarlane has become such a wonderful friend to me since our first phone conversation last year. Her posts about HRevolution have been fun to read, and since she’s a co-creator, I just can’t keep her down to one post. Learn more in her posts about the pioneer spirit, who owns culture,and  innovation in a static world.

Next up we have Crystal Peterson, another wonderful friend and talented HR pro. She was a big piece of planning for this event and the original one. I really wanted to see the session that she participated in more than any other, because personal and employment branding are both big topics in my work right now. While I didn’t get to see the whole session, Crystal still gave a great recap in her post on personal brands.

Then Joan, a fantastic individual to know (and she talks a lot on the phone ), hopped in with her post on rants and raves.

Teresa Morris, who most of us know as @controllergirl on Twitter, was a welcome addition to this year’s event. Her comments are short and sweet.

Johnny Nyk… Nyk… Nykolaiszyn (whew, that’s tough to get out!) offers a great post-HRevolution challenge for us all to stay on top of the commitments we made that day.

Mark Stelzner passes along this piece on HRevolution discontent and gives us some thoughts for future events. Mark played a role on the planning committee this year and was much more positive and happy than he seemed to be last year (you had to be there when we all left the last session feeling lethargic and hopeless).

With one of the most creative titles, Jessica Miller Merrill shares her unconference eyebrow wax post and some thoughts on how it’s hard bringing about a revolution.

A great, short conversation on Saturday evening is my best memory of Paul Smith. We talked about one of my favorite topics (blogging) and I was pleasantly surprised by some of his comments. Make sure you check out his whole series on how he is evolving.

Lance Haun is a fun, down to earth kind of guy. I had the pleasure of sharing his company at dinner on Saturday, and while we didn’t speak together much, it was nice to be close to the guy who co-led the final session on becoming a credible activist for the HR profession.

Benjamin McCall is a lively guy and has some great thoughts to share. One of my favorite points was about how an unconference is a form of leadership development training.

Mervyn Dinnen, one of our UK participants, was a pleasure to meet. I love some accents, and he has a great one. I had the opportunity to participate with him and Dee Honner as facilitators for a last minute session on mobilizing HR, and it was fun to hear his thoughts on the issues. His main thought? Be yourself and spread the message.

Krista Francis is my informal mentor. I can talk with her about almost anything and I think she’s a superstar. She lets me act important by asking me questions on blogging, WordPress, and other fun web stuff, so it all balances out. She gives us five thoughts on HRevolution, and I won’t spoil her fun by giving them away here.

Steve Boese, yet another person who took time out of his busy schedule to help plan this event, talks about barnstorming and taking the HRev show on the road.

One guy who I’m really sad to have missed out on talking to was Victorio Milian. Why? His post on his HRev action plan is a great reason. His thoughts and ideas are amazingly insightful and he challenges me to be and do better.

Mike Vandervort is a great guy and I would have loved to have chatted more with him. He let me have a little bit of the floor during our blogging session and his post-event thoughts are interesting ones.

Shauna Moerke (she of the big laugh and the bigger smile) got my weekend going with a laugh. She takes things a little more seriously in her post about how social matters.

Tammy Colson talks about making personal changes in her post, and I think it’s something we all should challenge ourselves with as well.

Frank Zupan, funny man and the-man-without-a-blog, dropped this great tweet on me that I just had to share. My post from #HRevolution: I took more than I gave. That is all.

You have to check out Kevin Grossman’s post about things coming in threes even if only to see his pink shirt. He also recaps a few of the thoughts from various sessions in his own unique way.

A recent contact I’ve made is with Steve Browne. While he wasn’t able to attend the event, he put together a fantastic post on Jennifer McClure’s blog about the impact of the event on those unable to attend.

A surprisingly quiet guy that I can never get enough posts from is Matt Stollack. His (interesting) advice for those returning from the event? Join SHRM. Like I said, I really like Matt and I wish he’d post more. So give him some comment love and maybe he will.

Next up is a post by one of my blogging pals, Shennee Rutt. It was great to finally meet her and after she mugged (or hugged, the memory is fuzzy) me in the lobby of the hotel on day 1, I knew it would be fun to see how she reacted to the event.

One of the quietest (and sweetest) ladies at HRev was Debbie Brown. I was so thrilled to be able to carve out some time to work with her personally to answer her blogging and website questions. There’s just no substitute for a face-to-face chat! She uses interesting words in her post.

As I mentioned before, I was able to work with Dee on a session, and hearing some of her ideas was a great benefit to me as a relatively new HR pro. Plus we were able to see the hockey fan behind the camera, so all sides of her personality were uncovered.

As my wife and I have been working through an adoption, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with a guy who has had the pleasure of going through that process already. I was really excited to meet him (although meeting his cute kids would have been fun, too), and Bryon Abramowitz is a sharp, tech-lovin’ dude. His comments are fantastic, and I like that he stresses the fact that it’s only a $100 dollar investment for such a great event.

My very first Twitter pal to meet in real life, April Dowling is a great person and a wonderful resource to me as well. I remember when I hassled her all the time when I got started in HR. Now it’s just every few weeks. Seriously, though, she has a list of sixteen funny, interesting, and pertinent points about the event for your reading pleasure.

I was surprised when a random woman came up and got in my face. That’s because I’ve never seen Robin Schooling in person. I’ve adored her comments from afar over these past few months, and she even let me (girly squeal) host her guest post about her first unconference ever. It’s about your really cool uncle Andre.

Lois Melbourne is one smart cookie. While she doesn’t post on her blog often, I really enjoy reading what she has to say. Her post leads off with one of my favorite quotes from the event. “If you don’t add value, then you suck.”

Despite my snarky comment to JP Elliot before the event (he asked what we were going to do differently after the event was over, I said I would end up sleeping more ) he was a welcome addition to the event. His thoughts on what we could do differently next time around are solid, and I’ve already started making notes for next time around.

John Ingham (of the pink blog header) was unable to attend this year, but that doesn’t keep him from participating. His post on how to get outside the social media bubble is definitely worth a read.

Ben Madden shares his post on how he is evolving (hint: by reading a lot, being willing to risk and potentially fail, etc.) and how the event impacted him.

Sarah White is an interesting woman. I think we shared a handful of words during the entire event, but I would have really liked to speak with her more in person. She gave me some great tips a few weeks prior to the event and I was overjoyed at her willingness to assist. Her post on generations (and forgetting them) is a great continuation of the generational session at HRev.

Michael Carty (yet another Brit, bet he has a cool accent, too!) wasn’t able to attend the event. In his words he was “stuck over in England.” But he still made the time to write on the employer branding session and asks whether staff are the best brand ambassadors or not.

Bill Boorman is smart. And funny. And I’m glad we finally met. I may have offended him by trying to copy his awesome accent (can you tell I’m addicted to those things?), but he still had nice things to say by the end of the event, so it couldn’t have been that bad. Make sure you check his post on the war for other people’s talent.

Matt Charney and the rest of the Monster gang were on top of things this year with some fun giveaways and great toys, but my chats with Matt since the event finished have been worth more than all the cowbells and drumsticks in the world. Check out his post on breaking the silo and the bigger picture.

My travel buddy and all-around good friend Steve Harrison wrote a piece on networking at the big event. I love reading stories about the new connections!

Charlie Judy (who wore a Monster towel as a skirt for a significant portion of Friday’s festivities) made me think with his post. I have a feeling that he’s not the only one who feels this way.

Charee Klimek put together her very first video post as a tribute to the event, and she doesn’t do that bad of a job for her first run.

I was interested to see how Kristina Allen, a PR professional, would view HRevolution. It turns out that she enjoyed herself while at the same time she still has the same questions as many of us when it comes to social tools.

Maren Hogan gets wordy and passionate in her post about why it matters if you weren’t there.

Lisa Rosendahl, one of the people I look up to most (she’s way smart at leadership/HR stuff!), ponders the event now that it’s over.

Stephanie Thomas tells us her story about HRevolution from the view of an outsider.

Paul Hebert, one of the most brilliant people I follow online and a delightful dinner companion, tells us what motivation looks like in real life using HRev as an example.

Although he had to leave early, Bryan Wempen still shared some great thoughts about the event. He’s one of those people I wish I could have spoken with more!

And the Rypple crew kicks the last one through the goal posts by talking about speaking the language of your profession. Quick thanks to Rypple for letting me pilot one of their video cameras around for the day and for the rockin’ t-shirt.

Whew! I don’t know about you, but I’m worn out. I’ll share a few links and we’ll call it a day, okay?

HRevolution website

HRevolution Facebook page

HRevolution LinkedIn group

HRevolution Attendee LinkedIn List

HR Carnival-HRevolution Style is a post from: UpstartHR

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Whew! With all the serious stuff lately, I haven’t had time to catch up with what’s going on in my little world (like you all are just dying to know). A few things…

Adoption

Melanie and I are sitting on our butts with the adoption. We have finished all of our tasks, but now we’re looking/waiting for a baby. Why am I telling you? We just need one person. Yeah, it’s a little strange for most of you. To y’all, I’m just a guy writing about HR. Well, luckily there’s a place you can go to learn all about the hope for adoption that I share with my wife. Some of my great friends at HRev took the time to ask about how it was going, and I appreciate the sincerity and concern!

HR Carnival

Back when I did my first HR blog carnival, I prepared everyone with a post about how they need to share the stuff with people outside our little bubble. I think it’s pretty darn funny that Lance and Laurie finished off HRev with the same advice. Anyway, I am running the carnival again here this week, and the theme will be the event that I helped to create, so I’m really excited about bringing all that HRev goodness back to the home front. If you would like to contribute but don’t have a blog, I take email submissions!

Oh, the Irony

"Irony"

I just realized something. I wrote a post a while back about how I was so productive and I planned to teach you all a few ideas on how to do the same. Then I never even finished writing the series. Is that hilarious or what?

New eBook Project

I’ve been looking for my next eBook topic. I haven’t written one since Rock the PHR. Nothing has really sounded that appealing to me. But one day last week I had lunch with my web design partner and he mentioned a recent post as a great point of expansion. All that for a teaser, huh?

Getting Out of HR

Check out my Google Reader screenshot above. That’s how I read the blogs and keep up with everything that goes on in the blogging world. I’m cutting HR blogs and adding other subscriptions to my Google Reader (click here to learn how to use Google Reader). I love you guys. Really. But there are two constraints. First, I can’t keep up with everyone. After resigning myself to that fact, I moved on to the second reason. My life is more than just human resources, and I have been trimming my HR blogs and adding more on topics like marriage, relationships, communication, web design, graphic design, search engine optimization, marketing, and sales. Way off topic for the day job, but infinitely helpful in so many ways.

The Breakup

I alerted the people on the free Rock the PHR newsletter this week, but some of the rest of you may be interested. Ning, who has traditionally offered free social network building tools, is canceling their free service. That means I get to scramble for another option or just pay the fee. And due to their customer service flub I mentioned, I think there are better alternatives. Breaking up is hard to do… I’ve used them for almost half  a year to run a network that is a bonus benefit to those who purchase the RTPHR eBook, and now I’m on the hunt again for another option.

Blog Stuff

I had a great chat on blogging tools and tips last week with Charlie Judy of HR Fishbowl. When I had my super-secret Rock Your Blog group running a few months back, I wrote a few articles with ideas on Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Feedburner, and search engine optimization. That’s Greek to most of you, but it’s like heroin for us bloggers. Anyway, I’m putting them together into a guide and have made some videos showing how to do general stuff with WordPress. If anyone’s interested in learning how to get a blog off the ground, just let me know and I’ll hook you up. Or if you’re wondering if blogging is even a remote possibility for you, I can talk you through that, too. I’m always up for some email.

HRCI-You’re Doing it Wrong

I have to let it go. HRCI (the Human Resources Certification Institute) is stepping into social media and they are going about it all wrong. But instead of being purely negative and jumping down their collective throats, I want to offer some suggestions and positive points. I should have a post up on this by Friday. Stay tuned.

And that’s about all I have going at this exact second… What about you? Doing anything interesting? Don’t forget to stop back by on Wednesday for a great collection of HRevolution posts as I host the HR blog carnival!

Upcoming Attractions is a post from: UpstartHR

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Brand New Official HR Carnival Logo

I’m thrilled to be hosting my first HR carnival, and that’s for several reasons. First, I get to converse with a few great writers behind the scenes. Second, I get the opportunity to promote those writers all in one place. And third, I get to unveil the new HR Carnival logo, created by the illustrious Allen Robinson (or “LogoMan” according to Eric Winegardner). No longer will carnival hosts have to search for an image to use with their rendition of an HR carnival.

If you haven’t read my last post about how to make the HR carnival really matter , please hop over there and read it before continuing. I promise you’ll get more out if it if you do. Enough about me. Let’s showcase those great writers I was talking about!

Lorrie Lykins and Carol Morrison with i4cp ask the tough question. If we “get it” about talent management and its benefits, then why the heck aren’t we doing it?

Dan McCarthy with Great Leadership by Dan showcases 10 ways to get the most from 360 degree leadership assessment. I like number 8.

Susannah Cesar with Recruitment 2.0 wants to know if you’ll be ready to recruit when the recession ends. This is the fourth post of the series.

Melissa Prusher from The Devon Group gives us four reasons you need a formal social media policy. Good points to ponder for those contemplating a response to the social media craze.

Lisa Rosendahl from Simply Lisa just has to know who the leaders are as people. Everything in life affects who you are, and leaders need to embrace their life experiences.

Laura Schroeder of Working Girl admits that she wants to work for Diddy. I say that’s a good bit better than working for diddly.

Rana Hobbs with InfoHRM implores us to say “yes” to stategic alignment. I love the reference to the janitor that met President Kennedy.

Mark Bennett from TalentedApps tells us why you should improve your analytical intelligence. As a statistics geek, I’m all over some population analysis (and I wouldn’t kill the fish, either).

April Dowling at PseudoHR drops a heavy question of “why go into HR?” Some say it’s because the accounting classes were too tough, but April actually has a good reason.

Wally Bock from Three Star Leadership needs some help. Can you help him recognize a few dysfunctional managers? I recognize them, and not in a good way, either!

Jennifer Miller gives us some help determining the difference between mastery praise and social comparison. Interesting stuff for those in the business of motivating others.

The Benifys team wonders if your organization is losing steam. Hint: if people don’t know your organization’s mission, you’re in trouble.

Sharlyn Lauby, the infamous HR Bartender, brings us a story about the red purse. Okay, so I’m not a purse kind of guy, but I still got sucked into the narrative. Customer service at its finest.

Susan Heathfield with About.com gives us a hard look at how the economy is creating few jobs. It hurts to see the facts, but they have to be said!

Gautam Ghosh addresses the issue of knowledge work and collaboration. I don’t know about you, but I could always use a refresher on that subject.

Mary Jo Asmus with Aspire shows us that excuses for not coaching others are not really valid. If coaching is too hard, should you give up? No, not unless you want to shoot yourself in the foot.

The HR Store deals with the unexpected question after a recruiter mailed the offer letter to the wrong candidate. I’ll just step out there and say that I’m glad I’m not the recruiter who flubbed this one. Ouch.

Lance Haun with Rehaul gives us a great story from HRevolution. From a discussion of the revolution in 1776 to the future of HR, he hits some heavy stuff.

Steve Boese with Steve’s HR Tech is throwing a party. But it’s not BYOB, it’s BYOT (bring your own tech).

Christine Mitchell with the Precept Employee Benefits Blog gives us the bottom line on benefits (hint: knowledge is power). Educating your employees to be educated consumers instead of letting them exist as uninformed drones? I like it.

Mike VanDervort of The Human Race Horses solves an age old question (finally!). In case you didn’t get the memo, HR people are the smartest people in the room.

Allen Robinson kicks off his brand new Logic Writer blog by reminiscing about his love of HR and technology.

HRPufnStuf, the brilliant guy with a laughable name, sends in the smokin’ hot post about how failure is spelled “S-H-R-M.” If you don’t read the comments on this one, then you’re missing 75% of the greatness.

Mark Stelzner of Inflexion Advisors provides a detailed account of his experience as a speaker and attendee at HRevolution.  If you were there, read it. If you weren’t there, read it. That should cover the bases.

After I finished the first 25, I received an email from a friend who has been working on getting her very first blog post completed. Sarah at Talentary is wondering about work/life balance. The post includes research, Australia, and an interesting look at what it would mean to try to “balance” work and life. Give her first post a shot!

Takeaway

Please remember the HR Carnival challenge from my last post. Pick your favorite article(s), print it out, and hand deliver it to someone who could benefit from the information. I’d do the same for you (and I have for many of you, in fact!). Thanks for sticking around. See you guys next time!

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If you’re looking for the newest HR Blog Carnival post, you might like to check the home page for the event. But make sure you read this post so you know how to make the most of this fun and informative event!

I can still fondly remember reading my first HR blog carnival and ravenously devouring each of the great posts linked there. I often speak with HR professionals and advocate for them to seek out and read the HR blogs that they enjoy. Usually the conversation goes like this:

Me: Hey, what sort of news do you read on a daily/weekly basis that keeps you up-to-date on the HR world?

Random HR Guy/Gal: I’m usually too busy.

Me: What if you could get one or two short and sweet (and free) articles a week via email? I could recommend a few.

RHRG/G: Hmmm. Sounds interesting.

Me: Do you have a favorite topic? Training? Development? Leadership?

RHRG/G: (Delivering a beautiful pitch across the plate) Well, I like reading about leadership. I’m the HR director at my organization and it’s hard to find new and interesting ideas on how to lead and inspire my department.

Me: (Swinging for the fence) Excellent! Well, in that case, I recommend that you sign up for the free news feed for both Wally Bock and Dan McCarthy. Your leadership style will never be the same!

What’s the point?

In my next post, I’m bringing the HR blog carnival to you from right here at UpstartHR. I challenge you to find someone in your department or organization who could make use of the great articles there. Find your favorite, print it out, and leave it in a common area. (Heck, print mine and stick it on the toilet. People need to read there, too!) Sharing with these people who are “outside the bubble” is the only way to make a lasting change.

That’s how I got Allen Robinson into this thing, and you can do the same at your workplace.

I already know I’m going to get a visit from each person who submitted a post. They want to see their names in print. I do the same thing when my name is included. But why not direct someone else here? Your boss, coworker, or subordinate could probably stand to take a look as well. My work may not be intelligent enough to read on a daily basis (think “HR zombies”), but the others in the HR blog carnival are definitely worth a look.

Sure, you can ignore the challenge and keep on rolling along, but you’d be surprised to see what reaching out to people can do. Take five minutes to explain how you have benefited from your own reading and research, because it’s very easy to sell an idea when you have your own positive experience to share.

Remember, I’ll see you back here next time with the latest HR blog carnival!

Photo by cupcakes2.

HR Blog Carnival-Make it Matter is a post from: UpstartHR

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