13th Annual Maine State HR Convention

From May 6 through May 9, the 13th Annual Maine State HR Convention swept through the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine, leaving motivated, energized, and focused HR professionals in it's wake.

This year's theme was HR 20/20 Vision, with workshops and seminars focused on long range, strategic vision along with the day to day HR skills necessary to facilitate those long term plans. Six keynote speakers came from across the country, bringing expertise in various fields of Human Resource Management, including an inspiring presentation by Gov. Angus King on leadership. (To learn more about this year's speakers, follow this link)

This is my 4th year attending this event, and each year I leave feeling refreshed and invigorated to return to work and begin to develop new processes that will benefit our company. However, this year was unique for me as I had the priveledge of presenting at one of the more than 30 professional workshops. The subject I spoke on was "Employment Branding", which seems to be a term popping up all over the place right now. The basis for the popularity of employment branding truly stems in the power of the internet. Companies now have the ability to create, develop, and launch powerful and successful employment brands, focused on attracting the top talent, with low costs and little or no reliance on advertising agencies. And as staffing and personnel managers know, attracting the right candidates is one key to a business's long term success.

I still had time to attend other seminars, though, and really enjoyed the presentation by LL Bean representatives on creating a specialized compensation structure, unique to their workforce, to increase productivity while keeping costs down. The trio that presented provided excellent context and detail on how the process came about, what issues they faced, how they came to their solution, and then how the process was implemented. A great learning experience for everyone in attendance, I'd think.

This year's event wasn't all business, though, with great opportunities to network with other HR professionals and unwind. With ove 550 attendees, this event is a great example of the best that a professional convention can be. Kudos to Bud Bernstein of Law Publishers and Peter Myer of Green Tree Events on another successful year!