Shauna Moerke is…

So it’s been a week now since HREvolution took place in Chicago and while in the past I would have put out a post right away, this time I wanted to think about the experience first. You know, spend some time absorbing all that awesomeness. Which is totally the truth and the delay was not at all due to being sleepy and busy… Anyway, moving on…

Now, I’ve attended 4 out of 5 HREvolutions and by this point, for me, the best part of attending is getting to see everyone, renewing friendships, and meeting people in real life I’ve been chatting with online. It’s like a family reunion and for that reason alone I love attending.

It was also great to get back to Chicago and have a little time to go exploring. I love Chicago and each time I visit I get to see something new.

Now, content. You can always tell when an event has brought together a great group of speakers when you can’t plan ahead on what to attend, you wait until the event before making a split decision in the moment. From the start, Bret Starr of The Starr Conspiracy kicked things off by encouraging us to be courageous. How you don’t create a great place to work, you defend it. And that it’s not enough for us to do good, we also need to find people doing good and enable them to do good too.

After that I got some great Linkedin tips from Craig Fisher and Jason Seiden and had an interesting group discussion in the Jennifer McClure experience that, strangely enough, had a lot to do with how awesome Dwane Lay is.

After lunch and some laugh inducing fun in the Aquire Photo Booth, we jumped right back in with the HR Improv session. Now, I’m sure when Steve Boese put this session together he did not anticipate the level of hilarity that would ensue. Though when you think about it, 5 Hr Pros free styling with 5 random slide share presentations it should have been. I was thrilled when they asked me to serve as one of the judges and I was crying I was laughing so hard. I hope they bring it back next time.

Finally, my last session of the day was Lance Haun and Laurie Reuttimann encouraging everyone to do, well, more. To think about what they want from their careers, where they want to go, if they need more education, and even if they need to do something completely different. I liked this session because I do feel like I am at the point in my career that I am asking, “What next?” I know where I’m want to be for the next 5 or so years but I have no idea what to do beyond it. Their session really helped spark a lot of things I need to think about.

We ended the day with singing and Birthday cakes for Trish McFarlane and Steve Boese. There were quite a few after parties that night but I may or may not have taken a “nap” that went on significantly longer than planned. Yay for sleep, but boo for spending less time with friends. That is something that I always want more of though, is more time to spend hanging out with everyone.

Lots of love to organizers Trish McFarlane, Ben Eubanks, Steve Boese, and Matt Stollak for all the hard work they put into bringing everything together. Once again, I loved getting to attend HREvolution and will always attend given the opportunity. If there happens to be an HREvolution #6, you should attend as well.