I’ve been a speaker and attendee at more conferences than I can count.  One thing I’ve learned is that in order to get the most value out of your time and money is to set yourself up for success with a little pre-conference planning.

Here are 10 ways you can boost your conference experience as well as improve your networking:

1.  Study the Agenda.

When I began going to conferences, I rarely looked at all the session options.  Now, I study the agenda and have a loose plan that contains:

• Sessions that will help me immediately at work
• Sessions that challenge how I think
• At least one that is unrelated to my current role
• Time built in so that I can add a few “on the fly” when I’m there

Having room for spontaneity may lead to one of the best sessions you never would have planned on attending.

2. Connect with people on LinkedIn or follow new people on Twitter.

Start by looking up the speakers of the sessions you plan to attend.  If they are on LinkedIn, send a brief but personal message stating that you’re looking forward to their upcoming session.  Next, go on Twitter and search the conference name or, if you know it, the hashtag (i.e. #SHRM12, #ILSHRM, #HRevolution).  You will be able to follow people who are talking about the conference online before the event.  Reach out to a few of them and chat about what they are looking forward to at the conference, what sessions they are attending, etc.

3. Read blogs.

If there is a vendor hosted blog, blogs written by speakers, or other industry blogs covering the event, be sure to read them in the weeks immediately before the event.  It’s a good way to find tips that will help you have a better conference experience.

4. Meet the Speakers/ Session Leaders.

Plan to stay a few moments after the session to speak to the session leader.  Most work very hard to prepare and love to hear your feedback.  It’s also a good time to meet if you’ve previously connected on LinkedIn or Twitter. If they are not using social media, don’t forget to ask for their business card.  The biggest mistake I see professionals make today is not bringing any cards with them to conferences.  It’s still a leading way to connect after an event.

5. Arrange to meet at least 3 people in person that you connected with via LinkedIn or Twitter.

There have been many times I’ve been to an event where I did not know anyone.  It would have been easy to attend a few sessions and go back to my room, but I would never have some of the great business connections I do now if I had done that.  Even if you are shy, force yourself to be a little bit outgoing.  Using LinkedIn or Twitter to learn about someone first makes it much easier to meet them in person.  Take advantage of that.  By having a handful of people you know at least a little, your networking results should multiply as they are able to introduce you to their contacts.

6. Attend at least one session you think you may never use at work.

I used to focus only on sessions that I saw as beneficial to what I was trying to do at work.  Once I began branching out, I actually found that many of the issues and situations I learned about came in handy years later.  People tend to gravitate to what we already know so by taking this approach you are forcing yourself to open up to a different topic or way of approaching work situations.

7. Participate in arranged ice breakers or meet ups.

Anyone who has gone to a conference knows there are always the ice breakers or events that lean on the corny side.  Plaster a smile on your face and jump in with a good attitude.  I’ve found that by doing that and making sure I’m not just hanging around the people I already know, I’ve been able to meet some outstanding professionals I would have never been exposed to.

8. Take notes.

Whether you take notes in a journal or using your netbook, iPad or smartphone, find a way to document those ideas you may need to tuck away for future use.  I can’t tell you how many times I attend conferences and see professionals just sitting and listening or checking their email.  If you are going to take your valuable time and spend the funds to attend, make sure you at least have several takeaways.

9. Think of at least a handful of “to do’s” inspired by the event, then DO them and document the results.

I’ll raise my hand as “guilty” of coming back to work after an event and not doing anything productive that I learned at the event.  What a waste!  For the last three years, I write down ideas as I fly home and then over the next few months, I attempt to incorporate them into my daily job.  Sometimes something clicks and I have great results and sometimes it’s something that doesn’t stick.  Either way, I’m approaching my work with a creative and innovative spirit and using knowledge gained at the conference.

10: Have fun!  Get out an experience life in the town you’re visiting.

Grab some of your new found friends or some you’ve had for years and hit a restaurant that only locals typically haunt.  Take tons of pictures then share them on Flickr or FaceBook so you can keep the conversation going when you’re back home.  By interacting with business professionals in the more formal daytime setting and also getting to know them better in casual settings too, you’ll strengthen the networking results by forming a closer bond than if you were to just attend sessions and head back to your room to “work” each night.

Remember, there are many reasons professionals attend conferences.  The reason with the most benefit is networking.  By trying new ways to boost your networking skills and opportunities you will come home knowing you had a successful event!

If you’ll be at the upcoming SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, the IL SHRM Conference or HRevolution/ The HR Technology Conference in the fall, you can connect with me on Twitter (@TrishMcFarlane), through my blog or via email atTrishaM89@gmail.com.

I hope to meet you there!

One of the most accepted social platforms from a business standpoint is LinkedIn.  If you’re new to social or not familiar with LinkedIn, here are a few facts from the site:

• The site officially launched on May 5, 2003. At the end of the first month in operation, LinkedIn had a total of 4,500 members in the network.
• As of March 31, 2012, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with 161 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
• As of March 31, 2012 (the end of the first quarter), professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of approximately two new members per second.
• The company is publicly held and has a diversified business model with revenues coming from hiring solutions, marketing solutions and premium subscriptions.

Having a tool that has free and low-cost options for businesses that also has the reach of LinkedIn makes it a platform that your HR team should seriously consider using.  Many people I talk to think LinkedIn is primarily for job seekers or recruiters but there are so many other ways to use the site.  I use it to search for information and articles, I do research on companies, I find information about people I am networking with and I also use the Groups feature to stay in close contact with other professionals with similar interests.  One of these interests is staying in contact with colleagues from my former employers.  This brings me to today’s tip:

Create a LinkedIn Alumni group

 A LinkedIn alumni group is a way to drive interaction.  As HR professionals we know that boomerang employees are on the rise because as people leave organizations they find that they may miss the culture of the organization they left and decide to return in just a few short years.  Having an Alumni group where they can come back regularly and receive company news updates, hear about new client projects, connect with their former colleagues, see your job openings and be given access to special perks and discounts your company may offer are just a few ways to keep them connected.  They can also easily engage in conversation on the alumni group site.

How To Create An Alumni Group on LinkedIn

• First, watch the video on LinkedIn to learn how to Start a Conversation In A LinkedIn Group.
• From the LinkedIn home page, click the Groups tab
• Click Create a Group
• Fill in all information about the company including a logo, link to the website, information about your company
• Who will be allowed to access the group

Be sure to link the group to the company Twitter account as well.  Now you’re ready to get started sharing information.  You may be the person responsible for maintaining the alumni group or you may assign it to someone on your team.  Either way, make sure that you encourage and ALL members of your team as well as current employees to participate in the discussions on the alumni group.

The last, and most important piece of advice is to invite employees who are leaving your organizaiton to join the group.  This will reinforce that leaving a company does not have to be a bad experience.  You send an important message that they are part of the culture and will remain a welcome part of the company.  You never know when they will return, when they will steer future business your way or will refer friends to you.

Today, we’re going to learn how to create podcasts for your employees.  There are so many employees who prefer a quick hit of information in verbal form.  With hundreds of email coming in each day, key HR messages can tend to get buried and possibly never opened.  When thinking about your internal communication strategy, it’s key to build in other ways to have the key messages heard.

Create podcasts for employees- What information do you share?

HR is tasked with communicating throughout the year on a variety of topics.  Consider:

• Leadership meetings and updates
• Annual benefit enrollment
• Performance review process
• Merit increase information
• Local office initiatives
• Charitable giving updates and opportunities

How to get started

Firs, have a conversation with your Marketing leader.  It is possible the company already has a preferred method of creating and sharing information via podcasting.  If not, there are many online services. These services vary by ease of use, level of security, ability to share on a company site, cost, and ads included.  You’ll want to start by thinking about those aspects before deciding on whether you want to be self-hosted or use a third-party site.  Here are some of the options:

• PodOmatic-  This is a free service that offers both podcasts and minicasts.  They have free options as well as “pro” options so you can determine the level you need based on your requirements.
• BlogTalkRadio-  Another popular site for it’s ease of use, BlogTalkRadio provides many options for either free or paid hosted podcasts.  They are easy to share on your website or via social media.  The instructions are clear and you can get started in just a few minutes.  A great option for beginners.
• LibSyn (Liberated Syndication)-  One of the largest platforms to host podcasts, this site has a great feature of offering  the option for mobile apps for your podcasts.

There are many other options out there and you can always choose to self-host.  That option is obviously more technical in nature, so talk with your IT department before taking on this type of project.

Stay tuned next week for more tips on how you can incorporate social media into your HR practice.

My first suggestion is to tweet your jobs.  It’s becoming common for companies today to have a company Twitter account.  Make sure that at a minimum, your recruiters are sharing their job openings on Twitter. But Twitter is not just about posting jobs like a job board.   Recruiters and HR pros should also tweet reasons candidates would want to work at your company, share awards or recognition the company has received and in general, any positive messages about the organization.

If you’re not on Twitter:

• Go to http://Twitter.com and open an account.  It’s easy to get started and Twitter now has easy steps to walk you through the process of creating your profile and following a few people.
• Once signed up for Twitter, go to the search box and type in words related to your business or industry.  It will bring up people related to that industry.  Start    following people.  The only way to begin getting people to follow you (which you’ll need later) is by following them.
• Take an online Twitter tutorial to gain understanding of how to begin to use the tool.  Twitter provides a good tutorial and you can also search for videos on YouTube that give good demonstration on how to use Twitter.

 If you have a Twitter account for your company or your recruiting team:

•  Compose the tweet.  Now that you are using Twitter, compose a tweet that suscinctly describes keywords about the job.  Be sure to include a shortened link to the job on your career website.  An example would be “Charlotte manufacturer hiring Director of IT. Relo available. http://ht.ly/aEbSs #Charlotte #IT #Jobs“.  You can see that it describes the location, type of company, role and gives a bit of information on relocation.  It includes a shortened version of the link and a few hashtags to help the tweet reach more people.
• Use hashtags.  In the example above, you can see I included three word “tags”  that will help the job show up in searches on Twitter.  Since it is located in Charlotte, I chose that as a search I would want the tweet to appear.  I also chose IT and jobs since there are people who run searches looking for IT jobs.    For more information on what a hashtag is and how to use it, click here.

My plan is to give a brief description today, then provide more detailed posts about the steps to actually accomplish each one.

10 Easy Ways to Build Social Media into Your HR Practice:

• Tweet your jobs-  It’s becoming common for companies today to have a company Twitter account.  Make sure that at a minimum, your recruiters are sharing their job openings on Twitter.  They should also tweet reasons candidates would want to work at your company, share awards or recognition the company has received and in general, any positive messages about the organization.
• Engage with candidates on Twitter and Linkedin-  The key to closing a candidate on a specific position is the ability of the recruiter and interviewers in connecting and engaging with the candidate.  Connect proactively with the candidate on sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Find HR resources on Twitter, then connect-  Twitter has a “Lists” feature where you can search for specific types of people who use the medium.  Search for other HR professionals or recruiters then start following.  Even if they are not following you yet, “tweet” at them and introduce yourself. It’s a great way to build your network and add valuable HR resources to your practice.
• Strengthen your employer brand with FourSquare- Make sure that your organization, or each of the locations, is listed on FourSquare.  Encourage employees to “check in” each day and once they do, encourage them to leave “Tips” on why it’s great to work there.  This is a great way to strengthen your brand and you can easily reward employees who are most active.
• Reach out to passive candidates via FourSquare-  One tactic I’ve heard about may be a bit controversial but in times where there is a talent shortage in certain skill sets, you may need to try innovative ways to connect.  Post open jobs in locations near your target candidate market.
• Use a blog to communicate HR news- Not everyone or every company should have a blog.  However, if you have at least one person (exec or HR team member) who is committed to writing, a blog is a great way to share HR news.  The key is also having someone who can respond to comments and questions that come in from employees.
• Create podcasts for employees- Do leaders have regular meetings about the health of the organization?  Do you have HR activities like annual benefit enrollment, merit increases, performance reviews and such?  If so, you can use podcasting as a way to save key information in a format that is easy for employees to listen to anywhere and with minimal time needed.
• Post YouTube video showing what it is like to work at your company-  Another way to strengthen your brand is to ask employees to record videos of what they like about working at your company.  These videos can be posted on your intranet, on the company site or via sharing sites like YouTube.  It’s a great way to engage both current and potential employees.
• Reward employees who share positive company messages using social platforms- Instead of being the company that monitors social platforms to catch employees posting things that are considered wrong, catch them posting messages that are positive about the company.  Set up an incentive program to encourage positive participation on social media.
• Create a LinkedIn Alumni group-  LinkedIn is the one platform employees and employers tend to agree is the most business focused.  Since membership is on the rise, take advantage and set up organization groups to drive interaction.  Specifically, don’t forget about your employees who are leaving the company.  Ask each one to join an alumni group and use it as a way to remain connected, share company news, and provide information on the industry.

There you have it- ten quick things you can do to amp up your HR team’s involvement in social media.  Stay tuned over the next two weeks for more detailed “how to” posts on each of the items.  

What have you done to get your HR team involved in social?  Share in the comments.