TL;DR version: DisruptHR HSV is coming back to Huntsville! See links below for details. Early bird tickets available through March 31st.

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It all started with an event. A real, no-kidding live event. Back in 2009 I had just started blogging, and a friend and I set up a mini conference as a way to get people together, expand relationships, and learn together. Little did I know how far my career and life would come in ten short years. The point is that live events create special bonds and connections. They offer chances to learn and grow, sure, but they also create a space where likeminded people can connect with each other, support each other, and learn from each other. Every time one of those connections happens, I like to think that the profession that I know and love gets just a little bit better and brighter.

Fast forward to August 2018. Kristina Minyard, a different friend of 10+ years, cohosted an event with me in Huntsville, Alabama, called DisruptHR HSV. DisruptHR events happen all around the globe, and we wanted to bring the innovation to our own local community. We've done this in many ways—we both speak locally, we both volunteer with our local HR chapter, and we are both avid advocates for better HR practices. But we wanted to take it a step further with a dedicated event.

To be honest I didn't know what to expect. I hoped that we would sell 75 tickets and have a fun night to remember, but I didn't know if we would do it again. It's expensive. It's a lot of work.

Then it happened. And I was totally blown away.

We sold out of tickets several times, were moved to the biggest space in the event facility, and eventually topped out at around 150 people in attendance.

The speakers for this event really made it, though. Some of them were experts, some of them were newbies, but all of them got up there and delivered five minutes of thought-provoking content to help the audience think differently about themselves, their work, and their lives.

We had a handful of amazing sponsors to help us cover the costs, and we are forever thankful for their support.

Why the reminiscing? Well, because the event was such a success, Kristina and I have decided to host DisruptHR HSV 2.0 on Thursday, April 18^th, 2019. Tickets are on sale here, and because our shirts were so popular we are selling shirts at cost with your ticket purchase to help spread the message. Speaker submissions are open for a little while longer. Sponsors should reach out to me about our new packages to reach this influential audience–we have increased the branding and reach from last year to help our sponsor partners have even more value.

We even had attendees come from Atlanta and Birmingham last year, because this event is one that you can't find just anywhere else.

I hope to see you in April. Early bird tickets are available for a little while longer. Get them while you can!

Last week I did something here on the blog that I haven’t done in a LOOONG time. I didn’t post anything. But it wasn’t because I had nothing to say–it’s because I was neck deep in final preparations for DisruptHRHSV, which happened last Thursday night.

This event was a long time coming and we had participants from as far away as Houston and Atlanta come to join us for the event. With about 150 participants, including 14 speakers and a handful of amazing sponsors, there were plenty of balls to juggle leading up to the session!

Bottom line: it was pretty darn amazing. If you were there, I appreciate your support and your participation. If you weren’t, I hope you can join us next time (more to come on this)! We’ll be posting the videos of the event on the DisruptHR website after they come back from the videographer so you can see how it turned out, but for me it was like getting family together (the kind of family you like!) to talk about something that we’re all passionate about: HR, people, and business.

A quick shout out to our speakers that had the courage to stand up and share their stories/passions–well done!

Additionally, our sponsor partners were amazing and we are so thankful they worked with us to make this event special. I like ’em so much I put their names on the special DisruptHR shirts I had made last week. :-) Thanks again PeopleStrategy, ADP, PassionHR, and Paycor! 

This week I have a lot of great things in store for you. I’m doing some writing around compliance, investigations, and HR metrics that I am looking forward to sharing with you. Additionally, I did an interview with Collette Williamson from Southwest Airlines to uncover some of their expertise around building a great culture that I should be posting this week as well. Stay tuned for good stuff!

We officially sold out of our first block of 100 tickets late last week for the DisruptHR HSV event coming up on August 16th. However, thanks to a stroke of luck/providence our original space was leased out to someone else so we were bumped to a bigger room, allowing us to sell more tickets. If you’re within driving distance of Huntsville I would LOVE to see you there. We have people coming from Atlanta, Birmingham, etc. so it’s definitely worth the drive!

One of the questions I’ve received about the event is what kind of content they can expect. Well, we’re not going to give you a short list of the laws and regulations surrounding HR. We expect you to know those, and the format really isn’t conducive to that kind of approach. After all, speakers have just five minutes to make their point and get off the stage!

So, with that in mind, what kind of intriguing and thought-provoking content are we planning for this first edition of DisruptHR HSV? Here’s a taste…

• Recruiters often look just at someone’s qualifications and skills, but they often miss the critical culture fit aspect. Humans are bad at judging this in some cases, but a ton of research shows that culture is critical in hiring. This session will show you why and how to do it better.
• Innovation is a sought after buzzword in the business space. We need to create opportunities to help people generate new ideas in new environments. Coworking is a powerful way to do this, but some employers aren’t sure of the value or how to make it work. This session will show you how.
• We’re so used to relying on experience as a measure of employee value, but in an era of absurdly low unemployment rates (more open jobs than unemployed individuals!), many employers are considering dropping experience requirements for some roles. This session will give you insights into how to quantify other important elements like enthusiasm and passion.
• Have you ever thought about why people come to your city (or not)? We recruit for our companies, but cities also recruit talent and businesses with incentives, tax benefits, and local amenities. We can learn some valuable lessons from economic development professionals on how to better position our companies and regions when we’re pitching candidates to come to the local area.
• Performance management practices are great and all, but employees and managers hate them. HR often does, too. The approach companies take literally sucks the life from them like some sort of energy vampire. But there is a better, smarter way to do it, and we want to help you get on the right path.

See? Some of this is more “traditional” HR, but with a twist. Other parts are taking a step further and encouraging us to think differently and more holistically than we would otherwise. With a total of 14 speakers, you know we’re going to get into some really interesting territory.

If you’re curious about the event, it’s just $15 to attend. We have phenomenal sponsors lined up to help with the event and they are keeping costs manageable for you to come and enjoy some good food and networking.

A special thank you to PeopleStrategy for being our first top-level sponsor! Also we appreciate our friends at Paycor and PassionHR for supporting the event as well as sponsor partners. We have room for one or two more sponsors, in case anyone else is looking to connect with 100+ HR leaders at the event. For the full list of speakers and topics check out the list below. I hope to see you there!