By Tina Marie Wohlfield
It is the end of October, which means fall conference season is winding down. An incredible season that kicked off with HR Indiana in late August will be ending with the 2022 HRUnite! Awards later this week.
I attended MISHRM 22 this year from a different perspective, as a member of the conference committee leading the Social Media experience team affectionately known as the MIT (MISHRM Influencer Team). It was an amazing experience and I want to shine the spotlight on some of the highlights of three days of #HRAwesome.
Pre-Conference Legal Session with Dinsmore and Shohl – aka “The Employees Behaving Badly Players”
Sitting in a 3 hour legal summit hearing about all the things keeping us up at night as HR pros can be daunting. When you can act it all out in real time – three hours go by real fast! Thank you to James Reid, Trenae’ and the rest of the Dinsmore team for creating an interactive learning experience. A huge shout out to Nikki Thomsen (the HR Manager) and Lisa Cooper (the Manager) for joining me ( the bad employee) in the fun with their mad acting skills.
Opening Keynote – Cherrie L. Davis
Cherrie is one of those “igniters” that has been on my “must see in real life” speaker list. She did NOT disappoint. She will give you a much needed push you out of your comfort zone challenging the way we think. WHICH is exactly what I needed. As a member of the MIT, I got a seat up front dead center of the stage and was working my magic when she called me out. The impromptu selfie was #priceless. Cherrie – thank you for using your voice to challenge all of us to be resilient and not lose the “human” in our roles.
Breakout Session Highlights
A shout out to some incredible speakers and sessions including –
“Coaching for your own career development” presented by Tom Daniels, Celebrated by a room selfie – thanks Tom for joining in the fun.
“6 Hidden Gems to Maximize Your Benefits Strategy” presented by Megan Nail. Megan was part of the popular total rewards track this year which contained some great content for HR professionals especially since it’s renewal time for many of us!
“The Modern Employee Benefit Experience” presented by Linnea Hoekwater and Laura Van Houtte. This was another hot session in the Total Rewards track that did NOT disappoint. Incredible insight shared by two #HRAwesome speakers!
“Dealing with Difficult People” presented by Greg Coyne – which had a standing hallway packed house.
“Rebuilding Culture for a More Diverse Work Environment” presented by Jamar Jones. I had the pleasure of chatting with Jamar later in the day which was an absolute pleasure! If you are not following him on social media – make it a point!
“Tackle Your Recruiting Challenges with the Right Solution” presented by Nancy Wood. Nancy is our conference volunteer coordinator and totally rocked both her role and this session this year!
Friday’s breakouts featured CEO’s and HR leaders sharing the stage together. The session “Ways to Combat the “Great Resignation” and Building a Thriving Team” featured Don Kallil (CEO) and Mary Dale (CHRO) of Convivial Brands. A powerful and engaging session (a must watch again if you have on-demand access). On a side note had the pleasure of meeting Don and shared my appreciation of his efforts in putting people first in his decisions and sharing his perspective as a CEO to allow us to better engage the C-Suite.
Closing Keynote – Marcus Buckingham
WOW – many takeaways from this session on Love + Work. “We don’t find a job we love, we find love in what we do” – a resonating quote from Marcus as I self reflect on three incredible days at #MISHRM22, and my role as an HR Leader.
From Sessions to Connections Thank You #MISHRM22
The best part of our our #HRCommunity is our #HRCommunity seeing old friends, and making new ones, regardless of how crazy our #HRDay is, we need to take time to invest in our own development and put ourselves out there to build relationships with other HR professionals. I am grateful to have been a part of the committee to shape the conference experience and share my experience with others as part of the MISHRM Influencer team.
A huge thank you to: Amy Pecha, Meg Bott, Laura Van Houtte, Tom Daniels and Jennifer Dupont who joined the MISHRM MIT with me this year. Celebrating sharing our view as an attendee with others so that they can join us for three #HRAwesome days next year!
I am looking forward to seeing everyone back again in Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 18 – 20, 2023!
