SHRM 2021 National Annual Conference Recap
Probably best if I start this blog post with a confession. Given the chaotic “still in pandemic mode” times that we find ourselves in, it’s tough to feel optimistic about in-person events. Masks, vaccinations, socially distanced dining, hotels, airports, taxis, buses, elevators……. All those thoughts dampened my hopes for SHRM annual conference 2021 in Las Vegas. Still weeks before the event as things unfolded, we were prepared to go virtual. We were really planning for two conferences at once, knowing one set of plans would be tossed away.
Imagine my very pleasant surprise when I walked in the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 9th and saw a SHRM exhibit hall, albeit a little smaller than prior years, but very familiar! I think that comfort, being surrounded by friends from prior years and having clients stop by the booth, made this conference maybe even a little more special than some in years past.
SHRM Annual Conference 2021
Like most years, the cocktail party on opening night was full of smiles, reconnecting, and sharing what we all have been up to. Not to mention how we’re dealing with COVID. Coping with COVID is going to be part of the conversation at most events you attend these days, but generally those are very personal thoughts, such as how COVID has affected me and my family. But not here, not this year.
I quickly found myself in a sea of HR professionals who are the essential workers in companies trying to reopen – the unsung heroes of jump-starting the economy. In this room were the people who made the tough calls, who met the challenges brought on by work from home and then office re-openings. The people who had to separate personal politics from their actions and decisions at work. These weren’t the people out front in walkouts and protests. These were the people that were the glue. That go to work everyday to moderate the anti-maskers and the maskers, the unvaxxed and the vaxxed, and make the hard calls to bring things back to a pre-COVID world.
The sessions were well attended, the presenters were on point, and many of the attendees were getting those courses in to maintain their various accreditations. Although I took my own courses virtually earlier this year, and with a great instructor, there’s still something special about being with your peers and not just on a Zoom call.
The keynote speakers, including Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, two Chief Executives from Chipotle, and the co-founder of Life is Good, were both inspiring and entertaining. Those sessions reminded us as well of the light at the end of this tunnel by daring to not just talk about what used to be but also what can be.
I think what will remain in my memory about this year’s SHRM conference is the number of HR professionals from small companies – in many cases an HR team of one. They’ve faced all the same issues that larger companies have, but alone. When I talked to them and they reflected, I was reminded of a great quote attributed to the cartoonist Bob Thaves about Ginger Rogers. In his Frank and Earnest series, as they stood in front of a billboard announcing a Fred Astaire film festival, Thaves said, “Sure he was great, but don’t forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels.”
That’s what I’ll remember as I think of all those HR pros from small companies, those departments of one; they did everything the big companies did, only backwards and in high heels. The memory I’ll have is the day I danced with all those Ginger Rogers.
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