Tag Archives: SHRM Chapter

How to Run Virtual HR Events, Find Sponsors, and More: A Guide for Volunteer Leaders

Note: today’s post is geared towards volunteer leaders at SHRM chapters, ATD groups, HR state councils, event planners, and other membership organizations and associations serving fthe HR/talent professional. If that’s not you, then feel free to:

Share with your own local chapter and/or
Go on your merry way and offer a kind word or compliment to the next three people you talk to. Enjoy!

If you are a president, certification director, or programs leader for a professional chapter, you have had a wild year. Live events are canceling or pushing off indefinitely, and for many local groups, even the thought of something virtual can feel like unprecedented territory.

As a speaker, event host, and event producer, I know the feeling! :-) Today I’ll share some ideas about what has worked for me if you have a more “do it yourself” approach. I’ll also offer an option if you’d like me to help with your event (note: I’ve programmed or planned over 100 live events in the last 10 years and probably that many virtual or digital sessions this year alone).

Bottom line: you got this! Let’s dive into some of the things that are changing.

The Do It Yourself Approach for Online HR Events

The biggest perceived hurdle when it comes to online events is the delivery. How do we get content that has traditionally been delivered on a stage to our audience? The answer is technology. 2020 will go down as the year that Zoom became a term that everyone over the age of five years old understands, but is Zoom right for your event?

Zoom can be used for smaller meetings, and you can pay for Zoom webinars (a better and more intuitive version of GoToWebinar and some of the other older solutions in that space), but today’s environment is driving attendees to want to be more engaged and participatory in events.

Livestreaming

Many events are now looking at livestreaming. You can easily livestream to a chapter Facebook page or a YouTube channel, for example, and you don’t have to pay extra if you have 10 viewers or 1,000 like you would with most webinar software. You also get the social aspect woven in: attendees can see who else is there, chat with each other, and more. I have found this to be very powerful for creating connections with the audience.

I use StreamYard for streaming and it has been very valuable as a tool. It’s inexpensive, and all of your sessions are archived after you finish broadcasting. You could even use Streamyard to host panel discussions if you prefer that style to a more traditional keynote. Note: the StreamYard link above will give you a $10 coupon if you sign up!

Virtual Event Platforms

Event apps like Whova are also becoming more important. A new event app just got millions of dollars in venture capital funding because it has seen the space explode in popularity recently. These types of apps allow event organizers to host virtual sessions, offer expo areas for sponsors, and allow attendees to register and engage with the other participants during the sessions. This is more expensive and may be better suited for a virtual conference rather than monthly or quarterly educational sessions. Note: the Whova link above will get you a $100 coupon if you sign up!

Archiving and Selling Your Content

If you want to archive the content and offer it for payment after the fact, an idea that is new to many HR chapters and may lead to long-term revenue for supporting chapter programming, community donations, and other needs, you need a system to hold the content after it’s been recorded.

Two of the leading players in that space are Thinkific and Podia. In about 10 minutes, you can add a recorded video, set up your pricing, and have a link available for people to purchase the recorded session. The best part? You don’t have toÂ touch it again!

Plus, in Thinkific, you can even set the content so people can’t fast forward through it, then have the certification codes from HRCI/SHRM at the end of the session for attendees to submit for credits. I have had some people try to cheat and skip the content, and this prevents that from happening.

Rethinking Content for Virtual HR Events

A few things on content when it comes to virtual events:

New research from Microsoft shows our attention span starts to dip at 40 minutes on a video call. If you can add a layer of interactivity, that can help to boost attention and interest.
More engaging/dynamic conversations, such as panel discussions, can help to add a layer of excitement that could be harder to get with a single speaker.
Individual speakers can get away with being a bit sluggishÂ in person, but it becomes almost painful in a virtual setting. Find someone that conveys emotion, excitement, and passion with their words and body language.

Sponsors, Payments, and Speaking Fees

Sponsors: sponsors STILL want to get in front of your audience. They still want to support your programs. But they need to know that it’s worth the investment. Coming up with some creative packages and approaches for sponsors to drive interest and engagement is critical here. There are a few key things sponsors want:

Leads and connections: they want to sell. Period.
Thought leadership and exposure: they want to be seen as experts for your audience.

Finding new and creative ways to give them those things, as I have done with many of the events I’ve planned this year, can lead to great outcomes for your events and for the sponsors helping to make them happen.

Speakers: you should expect to pay many professional speakers for their appearance on a virtual session as well. I have personally done about 20 free events this year as a way to give back while the community is hurting, but I also speak as a way to feed my family. Virtual events still require a great delivery (maybe even a better delivery, based on what I shared above), amazing content, and a deep connection with your audience. For events I am participating in, I’m seeing about 30-40% of normal speaker fees being paid for keynotes right now.

Silver lining: you might get a speakerÂ your chapter could never afford in person!

Pricing: on the pricing front, YES you can charge people for virtual events. The bigger/longer they are (conference, full day workshop) the more you can charge them. If it’s shorter, you may decide to offer some content for free or reduced prices.

And remember, if you’re recording all of the virtual events you are doing, you have the option of putting it up on a site likeÂ PodiaÂ and have the replay on sale indefinitely. Your audience can pay anywhere from $9 to $99 (or more) depending on the length, the number of credits, and the demand for the topic. I’ll repeat that: your audience will keep buying it as long as it continues to be relevant.

Most chapters only make money when they run a live event or host a membership drive, but this kind of ongoing revenue stream can be very valuable for smoothing out the feast or famine budgets of some chapters, allowing you to serve your community in better ways.

Getting Some Help for Your Virtual HR Events

If you have read this and you feel like your head may explode, don’t worry! I am working with a partner on several events across the United States from the planning to the content to the production and everything in between. If you’d like help with any of the following, just reach out:

Planning compelling, relevant content for your virtual HR event
Deciding how to get sponsors interested in your virtual event
Making a profit on a virtual event that rivals your profit on an in-person event (with much less risk!)

Bottom line, the world is a different place, at least for the time being. I hope this helps you think through some of the nuances of virtual events and gives you some ideas on how to make yours amazing. Keep serving the HR community–they need you!

SHRM-CP or PHR? Today’s HR Certification Decision

*UpdatedÂ with additional info from severalÂ anonymous sources I’m going to preface today’s discussion a bit. I have been a SHRM volunteer leader since 2009. I’ve been a long-time supporter of SHRM. I also have been a supporter of HRCI since 2009 when I became certified. I’ve watched the battle rage between these two organizations over the past two years and have refrained from commenting publicly. This is my opinion (as usual) and doesn’t mean I have stopped supporting either of these valuable organizations. My goal is to make HR better, and I think that each of these groups is trying to do the same in their own respective ways.Â Many of you may know me as the person who talks about HR certification more than anyone else on the Internet. Why do I do it? Because I believe in the value. No, not the value in the certification, but in the value of the commitment to long-term improvement.

SHRM vsÂ HRCI Certification

PHR SPHR SHRM-SCP SHRM-CP I just answered a few questions last week and I wanted to cover the topicÂ here because it’s a themeÂ that I am seeing more and more often.

I am considering certification because I think I would like to move somewhat more toward the HR field. I am wondering which certification is best (PHR or SHRM) and whether you think it would be beneficial to me in my quest toward a more focused HR career.

Also, this one:

I will be taking theÂ SPHR in June 2016 : please answer my below questions 1. What all material I need to buy 2. i am confused – how could we use SHRM Study Material for SPHR certification – aren’t these two different institutions

For those of you who have been under a rock, SHRM stopped supporting the HRCI credentials (SPHR and PHR) back in 2014. Here’s what I wrote on the topic back then:

HRCI isÂ not planning to discontinue providing PHR, SPHR, and GPHR exams to allow HR professionals to be certified. With SHRM moving away from those exams, it remains to be seen what the overall impact will be on the marketability over time for those of us with one of the â€œtraditionalâ€ HR certifications.

My predictions offline at the time were fairly simple. I believed that HRCI was going to win in the short term and SHRM would win in the long term for a few reasons.

HRCI has an existing list of more than 100,000 certified HR pros it can market to and try to keep them recertifying.
SHRM is trying to turn a cruise ship, and that doesn’t happen overnight. I am still hearing, two years later, SHRM representatives talking about their certification’s value in an attempt to drive interest.
My key prediction at the time: SHRM’s influence at the chapter level would eventually turn the tide due to recertification credits and its stranglehold on the requirements for chapter leaders (requiring SHRM-CP/SCP training, for instance).

For those of you that didn’t know, SHRM pays its chapters for any SHRM members and SHRM-CP/SCP certified individuals. Those dollars, more than any marketing that HRCI can put out, will turn the tide in SHRM’s favor over time.

The Ongoing Battle

I thinkÂ HRCI needs a bigger list to market to and must stop attacking SHRM at every opportunity. They also need to get their recertification people working harder/faster/smarter because from the feedback I’m hearing at different chapters around the country, SHRM is doing a better job at this. HRCI has recently piloted its aPHR, which is for early career pros as a way to get more of them into the fold (building that list, as I mentioned). This is a close approximation to SHRM’s Assurance of Learning Certificate which has been around for quite a while and is close to being a standard for colleges across the US.

What I think is very strange is that in the past, HRCI didn’t officially “endorse” SHRM as its only learning/prep tool for the exam, but they did a good job of highlighting it on their website. People often thought that SHRM’s Learning System was the official study tool for the PHR and SPHR exams, which is false. Now that the marriage between the two is broken up, HRCI has promoted other study tools, which means our tools have been selling like hotcakes.Â It feels like a race to the middle with each of them trying to outdo the other and the rest of us being caught in the middle, unsure of which direction to take. Don’t believe me? I’ve received a version of that question that started this post more than 30 times in the past year. Experience has shown me that if I receive a question a handful of times, there are more than 100 people interested in the same topic. This means there are thousands wondering the same thing.

What Does This Mean for HR Pros?

Last year SHRM used its “pathway” to allow those of us with current certifications to simply click a few buttons and get our SHRM certification. That was partly so SHRM could have some numbers to help it market its certification as the next big thing to HR pros and companies (update: SHRM announced early in December that it had 65,000 pathway participants, with more still completing the process in the final weeks). In a few years those of us with a SHRM cert will have to decide how we will continue. At the same time, we will have to do the same with our HRCI certifications and make the call if we continue or let it lapse.

For those of you making the decision toÂ get certified, consider what I’ve written here. For what it’s worth, here is what I’ve been telling people for the past year: For now I would continue to pursue the PHR/SPHR. It is recognized as a standard and could even net you more money.

SHRM’s certification doesn’t yet hold enough value in the workplace for companies and HR pros to put much stock in it. That may very well change but for now it is unproven and untested. I’ve passed both the PHR and SPHR and the knowledge gained helped me to be better at what I do. I took the SHRM pathway in half an hour and got my SHRM-SCP with about as much effort as you’d put forth pulling the prize from the cereal box. I received an anonymous comment from someone that is intimately familiar with the HR certification industry and the person had this to say:

One thing you might want to keep in mind regarding these two certifications, is that HRCI certifications are accredited and SHRM’s are not. From what I understand, SHRM is trying to get theirs accredited, but because they alsoÂ develop the prep materials for the exams, they may not qualify.

Just another piece of the puzzle to consider.

A Few SHRM Positives

One of my friends is a SHRM volunteer leader and explainedÂ a few key points to me:

The accreditation process isn’t an overnight thing. It can take several years to get the initial stamp of approval. That’s good to know.
In addition, he took the SHRM exam since he is an instructor and has to teach classes on exam content. He said that it was much more reflective of the HR role of today than what he recalled the HRCI exam being several years back.
He also said that his state, and many others, will continue to offer SHRM and HRCI credits simultaneously for programs. This is good news for those of us holding dual certifications.

I’d love to hear from some of you about how you see this shift affecting you and the rest of the HR community.Â

100 SHRM Chapter Seminar Program Ideas

It’s a new year, and many of you SHRM chapters and state councils out there will be looking for content to engage yourÂ members this year. I’m yet again volunteering on the board of NASHRM, my local chapter, so this is near and dear to my heart. I’ll be hosting a SHRM Chapter Volunteer Leader Series occasionally as a way to give content ideas (as I am today), offer advice on board leadership, and more. I’m working to republish the free Rock Your Chapter eBook, and these are updates I expect to include in the new version. And now, with no further delay, the content…

Note: I’m hooked on The 100. Great sci fi show, if you’re that kind of geek.

A consistent challenge I have observed for the last six years of working as a volunteer board member is finding good content for our members. The Programs team works hard, but they, like virtually all SHRM volunteers, have full time jobs, families, and other responsibilities. So I wanted to pull together 100 programming ideas to consider in the coming year. One of the great things about SHRM chapters is that you don’t always have to bring in world class speakers (but you can if you have the budget, of course). You can pull in a local subject matter expert to share about things they know and are passionate about, and your members will benefit. Keep that thought in mind as you read through these. If any of them strike you, try to think of people you know that could share on the topic. And these are just starter ideas–take them where you wish!

Also, if you’re a SHRM chapter/council volunteer and have requests for the series (or speaking opportunities), email me.

100 SHRM Chapter Seminar Ideas

No, really, please use the 401k: how to drive engagement in retirement plans
Get outta here: how to prepare your employees to retire
Nuke the paper: how to reduce clutter in your HR processes
You want what?!? The role of influence in HR
Small but mighty: how to run a great (small) HR department
YoursÂ is bigger, but mineÂ is better: how to succeed with a small team
Best practices for establishing efficient, yet lawful,Â HR processes
Just Hand Over the Handbook and Nobody Gets Hurt: moving from static to active HR
10 Things I Hate About Your Career Site
6 tips to “wow” employees withÂ HR communications
How to make succession management a success
Face the Fear: How to Demonstrate Positive HR Practices
20 small ways to revolutionize your leadership
First, Admit You Have a Problem: How to move to proactive HR
Bite me: how to handle aggressive employee behaviors
Open Up: what level of transparency makes sense for your business?
Way to go, Sherlock–How to investigate the workplace
Branding: What it is and Why you need it
Great HR is Invisible (hat tip to Frank Roche)
Oh no you didn’t–how to mediate employee conflict
Did you see what she’s wearing? How to create a common sense dress guideline
Yours, Mine, Ours: how to integrate after a merger or acquisition
Hello, Sweetheart: how to deal with workplace romance
Why does everyone look like me? How to develop a diverse workforce
3 key ways to recruit minority candidates
Top 5 laws that apply to recruiting and selection
Avoid the Noid: how to keep bad candidates from getting in the door
Hands off: supervisor training essentials
4 benefit trends to capitalize on
Oops: 7 ways to ruin your high potentials
In Case of Emergency: how to create crisis plans
The Walking Dead: how to identify and remove disengaged staff
Radio for backup: How to build a team you can depend on
The Lowdown on Leadership Development
10 things marketing can teach us about smarter HR practices
Say it like you mean it: how to deliver great presentations
A vs B: how to compare and contrast vendor options
How to keep people awake in training (without using coffee)
Email: Corporate Comms or Strategic Engagement Driver?
Whoops! How to handle workplace safety issues
Yo Mama! How to recruit a candidate’s family
Congratulations! Key ways to keep new parents engaged
Sigh. How to make your meetings engaging and powerful
13 insights you can get from HR metrics
The Next Generation: Moving from metrics to analytics
He Said What? Why you need to train your supervisors
8 ways to identify high potential employees
3 methods for cutting HR costs
12 points to consider in your change management planning
All together now! Developing strong collaboration practices
How to disengage your employees in 5 stupid ways
Flexibility: What it looks like and how it boosts your business
Agility: how an engineering term can help HR
Close the gap: Knitting together employees and leadership
Don’t motivate, inspire (hat tip to Chris Ferdinandi)
Creating a passionate, productiveÂ workforce
Show me the money: calculating the value of your talent practices
Back to the Future: HR practices in 2020
What would HR have looked like 300 years ago?
15 critical HR skills for today’s practitioners
Go Pro: how to become an HR pro in 3 easy steps
4 (not so easy) ways to make candidatesÂ love your brand
You Break It, You Buy It: how to handle careless employees
Ah, ah, achoo! Creating Sick Leave Policies that Work
4 Employee Perks that Won’t Cost a Dime
Why Voluntary Benefits are the Best Benefits
Get Well Soon! How to drive wellness initiatives
HR as a Conductor of the Organizational Orchestra
School’s Out for Summer! PTO, Vacation, and Employee Leave Best Practices
3 Reasons You Should Quit Relying on Talent Technology
Once Upon a Time: How storytelling makes your communications better
There’s a Monster In My Closet: dealing with irrational leadership
4 Things Your Assessment Provider Won’t Tell You
3 Questions to Ask Your Talent Acquisition Vendor
6 Ways to Know if An Employee is Lying
Personnel to Human Resources: How to be a strategic business asset
How to manage the email monster and get more done
3 easy ways to turn managers into leaders
Bert and Ernie: How to leverage friendships for engagement
Cookie Monster: How to drive healthy employee behaviors
Oscar the Grouch: How to manage negative employees
Big Bird: How to demonstrate executive presence
How to reward innovation without breaking the bank
7 tips for empowering employees
Culture Shock: Preparing expatriates for new assignments
Anylearning: How to encourage employees by offering non-work related training
Intermittent what? How to manage employees on FMLA leave
A Pile of Shift (Workers): Managing a 24-hour workforce
Make my day: How to negotiate like a pro
5 things HR can learn from finance
How to create a strategic partnership with your CFO
6 things HR does that drives employees crazy
Anything you can do I can do better: Ensuring gender equality in the workplace
8 ideas for revolutionizing your HR service, starting today
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: How to prepare employees for greatness
Say Hello to My Little Friend: Weapons at work, how to handle it, and what’s legal
I’ll Be Back: How to deal with boomerang employees
Life is like a box of chocolates: Predicting employee performance before they’re hired
Frankly My Dear, I… Want to know how to handle profanity at work
ET Phone Home: How to communicate based on employee preferences

I’d love to hear your thoughts on some of these. Which ones would you like to hear? Which ones would bore you to tears? :-) Anything you’d add to the list?

Need help with new eBook on SHRM chapters

So, if that incredibly illustrative title didn’t explain the purpose of this post, maybe I can make it clearer. :-) I’m working on my next eBook, and I’m hanging with my love of the verb “rock” for its powerful imagery (as in Rock the PHR) with the working title “Rock Your Chapter.” I want it to be a resource not only for those thousands of participants who struggle through yet another wasted chapter meeting, but also a resource for the leaders and volunteers who can make or break a chapter’s success.

Free stuff

I want to give a free advance copy to everyone who helps out with the survey. While I’m on the topic of help… Continue reading →

Get more out of your SHRM chapter membership

How can SHRM chapters and members get more out of membership? Read on for a few ideas. This post is a part of the SHRM Chapter Leadership Guide.

HR Barbie, AKA Tamara in Ohio, asks the following:

I am so glad I found your site.Â It is so important for the newly mintedÂ HR Professionals, like me.

It was extremely hard for me to transition into HR, and like you, I didÂ not find an HR position until I began attending CSHRM meetings (ClevelandÂ chapter).

My problem with SHRM in general, is that it is directed more towards theÂ management side.Â For professionals new to HR like myself, who onlyÂ implements policy and is not a policy maker, it can be very off puttingÂ or in some cases a waste of time to attend.

I really want to join / attend on a more regular basis.Â Perhaps in oneÂ of your next posts you can write about how we can make chapter SHRMsÂ benefit all levels of HR.

I’ve heard from others like my buddy Tamara here, and I know it isn’t a local problem for her. I don\’t know if these chapters are expecting the national chapter\’s offerings to make up for their lack of value or what, but it seems pretty silly to me.

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