We are proud to have our entire team attending this year’s HR Florida State Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida.  We will be attending with over 30 fellow members of our local Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Chapter, Big Bend SHRM.

Like in past years, we are amazed at the work the conference team has done to put on this huge event that attracts over 1,000 HR professionals from across the state of Florida and even a few internationally.  It starts with a fantastic group of pre-conference sessions on Sunday and then opens on Monday with a keynote by Christine Dumas, a lifestyle, consumer health and fitness reporter, and author.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we will be listening intently as the Honorable Alexis Herman and Edward James Olmos present their keynote speeches.  The concurrent session schedule over the 3 day event provides ample opportunity for top notch training and continuing education credits from the HR Certification Institute.

A bunch of other great conference events will be taking place while we are in Orlando, including a TweetUp organized by Mike VanDervort from Human Race Horses.  For example, we are very excited to attend the HR blogger panel, “Blogging & HR:  Can the two peacefully coexist?” facilitated by Florida’s very own HR Bartender, Sharlyn Lauby.  The panel will include some of our favorite HR bloggers including Kris Dunn from The HR Capitalist, Jessica Lee from Fistful of Talent, Michael Long from The Red Recruiter, Laurie Ruettimann from Punkrock HR, and Mike VanDervort as previously mentioned.

Stay tuned as we hope to get some live blogging and tweets out as regularly as possible throughout the conference.  Just look for the #SHRMFL hashtag when on Twitter.  Off to get our learn on!

A funny thing happened a few weekends ago.  I was working away, putting the finishing touches on a social media presentation I will be giving at an upcoming conference.  And while I was busy, I also decided to try out a new recipe for Parmesan & Prosciutto Muffins.  The house smelled terrific.

So, I did what any Twitter geek would do.  I tweeted about it.

Within minutes I had a couple of requests for the recipe.  A few more wanted to come over and join the fun (jokingly of course).  And one person asked about the type of prosciutto.  Pretty amazing.  140 characters about muffins and all those responses.

It made me stop and consider the purpose and power of Twitter.  Imagine doing the same thing with a human resources related message.  Like “I have a job opening.”  Or “Does anyone have a copy of a step plan they can share?”  And, getting multiple responses.  Within minutes.  What a valuable resource.

We’ve all heard the stories about people tweeting during the State of the Union address.  And, you might have seen Jon Stewart’s rant about Twitter on The Daily Show.  Or even laughed at Roland Hedley, a news reporter in the comic Doonesbury, who is now Twittering.  While some of those things actually do happen, they’re really exceptions in the grand scheme of things.

As HR Pro’s, it’s important to know that there is a HR community on Twitter.  It consists of hundreds of people from around the world who provide information, news, trends, data and most of all, support.  I hope my muffin example has peaked your interest in Twitter.  Join us…won’t you?  You can follow me at @sharlyn_lauby.  And, here’s a great article to get you started.

Oh, you want the muffin recipe that started it all?  Here it is.  See you on Twitter!

Parmesan & Prosciutto Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tb baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsps sugar

10 tbs butter, softened

1 tb Dijon mustard

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups plain yogurt

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

½ cup minced prosciutto

1 tb dried basil

Directions:  ADJUST oven rack to lower-middle position.  HEAT oven to 375 degrees.  PREPARE cheese and prosciutto.  Set aside.  MIX flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and basil in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  BEAT sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  WHISK mustard and eggs together, then beat into butter until pea-sized lumps form.  Alternating by thirds, BEAT in the dry ingredients and the yogurt until a smooth, very thick batter forms.  FOLD in cheese and prosciutto.

SPRAY a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable coating.  DIVIDE batter evenly among the cups.  The muffin cups will be full.  BAKE until the muffins are golden brown (approx. 20-25 minutes).  COOL slightly in muffin pans set on wire rack.  Remove muffins and SERVE.

Recipe compliments of Pam Anderson, author of “The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great”