SocialHRCamp #16 came and went in a flash! It was my first event in Los Angeles and I think it’s safe to say that the event was a success. It took place at WeWork Culver City, the headquarters of one of the Camp sponsors, Recruiting Social. As in typical fashion the audience was a diverse one — Recruiters, HR Professionals, Technology Experts, and everything in between.
People often ask me why I run these events when one of my objectives is to break-even. I do generate revenue (small attendee ticket fee and sponsorship) in order to cover my costs but I don’t focus on generating a profit. This often gets most people scratching their heads.
Well, in no particular order here are my reasons:
- I truly do enjoy giving back. I have done a ton of training and development during my career and nothing gives me more personal gratification seeing people learn something of value that they can take to their respective workplaces. I love technology and social media, and I am lucky that I have spent the past 10 years in the space. I know first-hand how challenging the world of technology is for the HR industry. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and with so many tools available today it can get a little complicated — throw in pricing differences, feature differences and the list goes on. I just like helping make things a little bit simpler and easier.
- I have no personal interest in focusing all of my time on managing events to make a living. Seriously, I probably could focus on growing the SocialHRCamp platform beyond what it is today but it’s not where I want to spend all of my time.
- SociaHRCamp has helped me in my career. I can’t tell you how many opportunities have opened up for me because of SocialHRCamp. I tell active job seekers all the time that they need to figure out a way to differentiate yourself when job searching. For me, one of my strategies is SocialHRCamp. Of course it’s unconventional, but it’s worked and I love doing it.
- It gives other people opportunities. I love the “underdog”. I consider myself to be one because I have been discriminated against so many times during my life because of my hearing disability. I love HR tech start-ups because they don’t have the cash to invest $50,000+ in a traditional HR conference like the big boys do. I also love giving HR/Recruitment practitioners who are doing really cool things in their work opportunities to speak. They may have never spoken before but it doesn’t matter. While many high-priced conferences profile highly expensive keynote speakers I like to profile the “under-the-radar” HR Director of an up and coming tech company who is doing something truly amazing with technology to drive business results.
- SocialHRCamp is one of my ways to help drive technology adoption within my industry. I learn by visualizing, doing, talking and having fun. SocialHRCamp enables me to deliver exactly this, and I think people have appreciated it.
So, there’s more to life than myself. I am fortunate to have the ability and the means to give back to the HR/Recruitment community, so that is exactly what am doing and will continue to do in the future. If you want to join me for the ride there’s always room on the “give-back” bandwagon!