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BEEP…BEEP…BEEEEEP! Snooze. 

That would be the sound of my 5:00 am wake-up call and me not wanting to get up!  Luckily our rooms were equipped with a coffee pot and supplies – just enough to get my caffeine fix before starting another long day.  After getting the #SHRMFL hashtag started with some early morning tweets I dragged myself to the conference center.

I made my way through the hustle and bustle to a session I have been waiting for for quite a while – “Blogging and HR:  Can the two peacefully coexist?” – where I finally met a few idols of mine for the first time:   Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, Michael VanDervort, Laurie Ruettimann and Michael Long.  The coolest part of all of this is that they knew exactly who I was thanks to my presence on Twitter and Facebook – quite an honor.  Next up – general session.

As the doors opened at 10:00 am sharp for the first general session, attendees were greeted by members of ZANCOS, a stilt walking and power skipping percussion ensemble from SeaWorld Orlando.  These guys rocked the audience who remained on their feet cheering throughout the entire performance.  It was truly spectacular.  Attendees were welcomed by the conference emcee, Wendy Chioji, former anchor of NBC’s WESH 2 News in Orlando, FL.  Her debut as conference emcee last year was a huge success and it is great to have her back for a second go-around with HR Florida.  After a message from Carol McDaniel, 2009 Conference Chair, HR Florida President, Kitty Fields introduced a recorded welcome message from Governor Charlie Crist, whose poignant message regarding the economic impact of the recession on the state of Florida was well received. 

Next up was  a keynote presentation by Dr. Christine Dumas, a lifestyle, consumer health and fitness reporter, and author whose stories are featured regularly on NBC, Weekend Live on Fox News, the Sirius Stars Network, Oprah and The View.  Dr. Dumas kept her audience engaged as she spoke about transformational health care and its impact on the workplace.  At the conclusion of the general session attendees were ushered to the sold out expo hall for lunch and networking with over 150 exhibitors and sponsors.

Later on that afternoon was the official “Grand Opening Reception” for the expo hall – complete with live entertainment, drinks and tasty hors d’oeuvres!  If you didn’t get a chance to try some beef wellington, you don’t know what you were missing (as I drool thinking about it).  Onlookers watched as Jeff Civillico performed a vegas style act, complete with juggling and audience participation.  Jeff did an awesome job!

Bloggers: (L-R) Kris Dunn, Mike VanDervort, Michael Long, Laurie Ruettimann, Jessica Lee

Last but not least I made a stop at my favorite conference event so far - the official HR Florida State Conference TweetUP!  A big shout out to Mike VanDervort of The Human Race Horses for setting it up for us.  At last count we had over 30 attendees, including our celebrity blogging panel and a few new friends.  I had a blast meeting fans of HR Gumbo and sharing experiences with them.  It was pure gratification to see all the hard work I have put in developing a social media presence for  Big Bend SHRM, HR Gumbo and HR Florida pay off.

As chapter president for Big Bend SHRM I am a voting member of the HR Florida State Council.  This year I am also volunteering as one of two Technology Directors that manage the council’s presence in social media.  On top of that I volunteered to be a member of the 2009 conference team.  Needless to say I love it all!

Roger loves stuffing bags!

Today was a long day for us at the HR Florida State Conference.  It began with me waking up at 5 am not being able to sleep because I was thinking about all the prep work left to do!  After a few hours of web updates, posts on Facebook and tweets I headed down to the conference team room to grab my radio and hit the conference center floor.  First big task:  stuff over 1,300 conference attendee goodie bags, with help from members of our incredible conference team filling in for missing volunteers.  After 3.5 hours, a few dozen paper cuts, a slice and dice from a pair of scissors and some much needed coffee and pastries, a cheer rang through the hall as the last bag was stuffed and ready to go!  With the bright green bags piled high we dispersed and found other tasks to tackle.

At this point I made my way up to help out in a pre-conference session, “Social Media + HR” presented by Kris Dunn from The HR Capitalist and Fistful of Talent.  The session was packed with 30 HR pros eager learn what Kris had to say.  We were also graced with appearances by two other fellow HR bloggers Jessica Lee from Fistful of Talent and Mike VanDervort from The Human Race Horses.

Kris did a phenomenal overview of why social media should be important to you as an HR pro, including answering the question “Who cares?” – “Your customers, your candidates, your kids, your employees and people who want to give you money as an HR pro!”  Kris thoroughly covered tidbits on Google Reader and its importance to an HR pro with a drive to learn.  Attendees had their laptops and followed his every move – slowly getting the hang of it. 

Next came a detailed look into Twitter.  With the help of Jessica, Mike and myself Kris was able to lead attendees to creating their own accounts and tweeting for the very first time.  This caused quite a few smiles across the room - that turned into lots of excellent questions.  By the end of the session everyone seemed pretty content and proud of themselves – maybe even a little less scared of social media!

As attendees began to flood the hotel and registration area I headed off to a technical rehearsal for our general sessions followed by a meeting with the registration team, making name badges for our blogging panel and finally dinner.  No sooner did I set my napkin on the table I was out the door to review pictures taken by our wonderful photographer from Jobing.com for our following day’s presentations.  I can’t forget helping the HR Florida secretary prepare gift baskets for our silent auction benefitting the Make a Wish Foundation and the SHRM Foundation.

Last but certainly not least I made it back to my hotel room just past midnight to right this update and head to bed.  Another early day awaits me but I look forward to each and every second of it!

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!