Why you should come to IMPACT on April 10-13…

We are all getting excited about our upcoming research conference IMPACT 2012:  The Business of Talent®.

There are seats left, but the conference will likely sell out (as it has in prior years), so let me give a few big reasons to take a few days of your valuable time and come to the beautiful Renaissance Vinoy hotel with us on April 10-13.

Reason 1:  Amazing Speakers.

This year we have the most amazing lineup of speakers we’ve ever assembled. You will have the opportunity to meet some of the world’s most expert HR and L&D practitioners in some fantastic sessions. Let me highlight just a few :

• John Leutner, Head of Global Learning Services at Xerox, Anne Schwartz, VP of Global Talent and Leadership Development, UPS, Lew Walker, VP of Learning Services at AT&T, and Gary Whitney, VP of Hotel Learning from InterContinental Hotels will talk about how to implement global learning and performance consulting in today’s borderless workplace.
• John Campagnino, Senior Director of Global Recruiting for Accenture, will detail the company’s global strategy for recruiting, which has driven the referral recruiting rate to over 30% in this global complex organization.
• Peter Jones, Director of Central Learning Services for Bristol Myers Squibb, Carol Robinette, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, American Red Cross, and Laurie Kwilos, Manager of L&D for Sage, will discuss how to build learning strategies for a blended, free-agent workforce.
• Sean Dineen, VP of Talent Management and Organizational Development at Luxottica, will be joined by, James Raybould, the Director of Business Analytics for LinkedIn, Marc C. Williams, Statistical Analysis Manager, Workforce Analytics, Capital One, and Dan Samatulski, Lead Consultant, HR Technology, AT&T to teach us about BigData in HR.
• Manon  Kebodeaux,  Diversity and InclusionDirector for Baker Hughes, will talk about how the company drives global diversity programs in its operations around the world.
• Terry Hauer of Kelly Services will talk about how the company has “done away” with performance ratings and transformed its performance management process.
• Bertrand Dussert, VP of Global HR Services for American Express, Lina Hardenberg, Director of HR Systems UPS, and Karen Thomas, VP of HR, Business Development and International Operations, Raytheon Company will talk about how their companies have truly globalized their HR and recruiting functions.
• Mary Sibley, Global VP and Dean of SAP Sales University, will show us how the company has implemented a world-class mobile learning strategy.
• Brandon Bayles, Director of Global Talent Acquisition for Halliburton, Michele Golden the VP of Talent Management for Turner Broadcasting, and Eric Stewart, the Director of Shipboard Strategy and Services for Royal Caribbean Cruises, will explain how to build an end-to-end employment branding process, from recruitment to retention.
• Matt Milbrodt, Senior Director, International People Group at Walmart, will explain how Walmart has built a new global talent management strategy which helps the company manage global leadership mobility and pipeline.
• Jeff Scolnick, VP of Talent Acquisition at Eaton and Heather Lemke, VP of Talent Acquisition from UnitedHealth Group will talk about how they are leveraging job boards and social media for next-generation recruiting.
• Don Kraft, Director of L&D from Genentech, will talk about the company’s innovative new mentoring program, which has driven the company towards a high-impact informal learning strategy to create cultural vitality and growth.
• Jayaraman Nadessin,  Director,  Technology and Strategy, Citibank, will join Craig Yetter the Director of Global Learning for GSK and Starr Shafer the Director,  Global L&D for Marriott International to talk about how to build an agile, global learning team.
• And many more…

Reason 2:  Amazing Keynotes

We have three tremendous keynotes this year, each of which will transform your thinking about business, HR, and learning.

First, I will kick off the conference with a new speech about Building the Agile Organization, where I will introduce a new body of research on how HR can create organizational agility. You will be amazed at some of the things going on in our market and how important it is to transform what we do and how we do it.

Second, we are fortunate to have Dana Tomechko, VP of HR for NBC Network News, speak on Thursday.  Dana will share NBC’s best practices for managing a highly dynamic and diverse workforce, and share stories from The Today Show and NBC Nightly News to teach us more about how HR supports a highly agile organization. She will also share NBC’s new strategies for leveraging Twitter and other forms of social media.

Finally, we are very excited to have Olivia Fox Cabane speak on Thursday Afternoon about her soon-to-be-released book The Charisma Myth. Olivia has spent the last two years studying charisma and will be introducing her book at the conference. I’ve met Olivia and read the book and it is absolutely incredible. You will all learn tips on how to improve your own charisma and understand the charisma of others.

Reason 3:  An Intimate Team Learning Experience

This is our fifth year running IMPACT, and if there is one thing I hear over and over each year, it is that this is the most intimate and energizing event in our market. We deliberately limit the size of the event to 450 people and love the Vinoy because it is a small, beautiful, informal setting to meet people, sit with your peers, and learn.

Many companies bring several of their team with them, and use it as an opportunity to attend sessions and get together and talk about what they have learned.

On Friday we have two half-day workshops available to all:  one on how to build high-impact leadership development programs, hosted by Bob Danna, our COO, and Laci Lowe, our lead analyst in Leadership Development.

The second workshop covers one of the biggest issues in HR:  Practical and Proven Approaches to Learning Measurement, led by Carrie Beckstrom, VP of Learning and Performance at ADP, and Karen O’Leonard, our Principal Analyst and head of Methods and Analytics.

In each of these workshops you will have a chance to meet and work with your industry peers – and they alone are well worth the price of admission. Bring your team!

Reason 4:  The Industry’s Leading Solution Providers

Each year we select a limited number of sponsors, each of which brings their senior leaders to join the conference. This year the sponsors include CornerstoneOnDemand, DDI, Impact Achievement Group, SHL, Achievers, ADP, Certpoint, Clarity Consultants, Enspire Learning, Forum, Harvard Publishing, IBM, Jobs2Web, Kenexa, Lawson, Lynda.com, NetDimension, NIIT, PageUpPeople, Richardson, Saba, Skillsoft, Sonic Foundry, SumTotal, Teds, TowersWatson, and Vangent.

These companies will each bring their senior executives and we arrange them in an intimate solution provider showcase so you can meet with them easily during the conference, but not be inundated by booths of large halls like many conferences. These companies are our clients, and they make up an important part of our entire industry.

Reason 5:  Announcing New Research and Products

And the fifth reason to come, which to me is the most exciting of all, is that Bersin & Associates will introduce  some very exciting new research and products at the conference.  Not only will we share our new High-Impact Learning Organization research, our new research on Rewards and Performance Management, our new Leadership Development and Succession research, our new Talent Acquisition Framework, and our new research on organizational agility, we will also  give you a sneak preview of Bersin & Associates’ brand new online member experience.

Over the last two years we have worked behind the scenes to pull together the industry’s most exciting new content delivery platform you have ever seen, and we will show this to you at the conference as well.

We would like you there.

For me personally, this conference is a very important event. We go out of our way to make this a comfortable, inspiring, and highly educational few days.

For those who come (watch the video of some prior attendees), the conference is always a “love-fest” of our research members, fans, and leading HR and L&D professionals who want to learn. We all spend our year studying the market, talking with you, writing, and speaking about best-practices. At IMPACT we enjoy the opportunity to meet you face to face, enjoy meals together, and just spend time to chat. I promise you this will be one of the best learning and networking experiences you have all year.

See you there.