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Laurie Ruettimann

Ding Ding Ding: Google+ Roundup Time

by Michael Krupa on July 29, 2011

I’m too busy trying to keep up on Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/MySpace/BeKnown/BranchOut to find time to write up my thoughts on Google+. Fortunately many of my Blogger buddies did find time to write about Google+ so I thought I would share some of these posts with you.

Rather than saving the best for last, I’m going to put it right up front with the fantabulous post from Kelly Dingee on how she is TOTALLY geeking out over Google+:

But Google+…it makes me smile. I’m like a moth to the flame with this one, I just can’t stay away. I’ve seen a lot of blogs on how great it is for recruiting because of the core features like hangouts and sparks and circles. Sure, there’s huge potential there, but I think that’s just looking at Google+ in a very surface sort of manner.

Pay attention to Kelly’s post and read EVERY word.  This is one of the best examples of thinking outside of the box for using Google+. She also provides some tips on searching profiles and a link to pimping out your Google+ profile design.  Seriously, you don’t want to miss this post.

On the other end of the spectrum our intrepid HR Technology blogger, Steve Boese, is not sure what to do with Google+.

I kind of like Google Plus, but I also really don’t know what if anything I’ll ever do with it, and that any time I spend there is time I’m not doing something else.

And yet Steve does write near the beginning of his post some of the reasons people will use Google+.

Plus seems to fit nicely into a gap that many users of more established social networks feel exists, making it easier and simpler to share status updates, contents, images, etc. with discrete ‘circles’ of friends and contacts, positioning Plus less of a broadcast medium like Twitter, while offering better (at least ostensibly), control over data privacy, and possessing more potential for meaningful engagement than on Facebook.

It will be interesting to see how long Steve will be able to hold out on Google+. It’s a shiny new object and I know deep down inside that Google+ is calling to him.

Not surprisingly Laurie Ruettimann has chimed in with her take on Google+ and verdict is…wait for it…wait for it…”It’s okay”.  Umm, okay thanks.  Actually Laurie continues on to talk about social media and technology in our lives.  I love her final thoughts.

So what do I really think of Google+? I don’t care. The platform doesn’t matter because I’m pretty sure Google+ can do anything we want it to do.

We should dream bigger.

Rounding out the reviews is Chris Ferdinandi with his I want to love Google Plus (but I don’t) post.

Why not? It’s my least favorite things about Twitter and Facebook rolled into one site. It’s a beautifully designed network that I hate to use.

Ouch. Chris goes on the say the Google+ is too much like Twitter and Facebook and doesn’t solve a problem he has with Twitter and Facebook.  However Chris does give major props to Google on Privacy and data:

I will hand it to Google on this one – it’s a LOT easier to control your privacy and download your data on Google+ than on Facebook, and with more nuance than on Twitter.

Make sure you read all the comments on his post to catch the debate on the post contents.

So what have learned?  As usual if you ask for the opinion of four bloggers you will get four different answers.  What do YOU think about Google+? Leave a comment and let me know.

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HR Technology Conference 2010 – Still about the Tweeps

by Michael Krupa on October 4, 2010

Last year at this time, I was eagerly preparing for the 2009 HR Technology conference as an attendee.  I was excited to finally meet many of the people I had been conversing with on Twitter.  In fact my first blog post after the conference was about the tweeps instead of about the conference.  Boy did I take some flak from Bill Kutik about that.

Mike Krupa spent his entire first blog post listing every friend he’d made on Twitter (known as a “Tweep”), whom he finally got to meet in person in Chicago (becoming a “Peep”). He hardly mentioned the conference content, even though he works full time in HR technology. I was furious and called him on it.

His reply was telling and withering (I paraphrase): Look, HR technology conferences come and go. But my network of friends and acquaintances is what I depend on to get my work done, and they’re a lot more important than any conference.

Yup, still applies to this year’s conference.  It was great to see so many of my tweeps from last year and meet many, many more people I have met on Twitter since the last year’s conference. Once again I met CEOs, HR Bloggers, Industry Titans, Consultants, HR Professionals and Techies. I can’t think of any other conference where you have such easy access to such a diverse group of people.

Unlike last year where I was just an attendee, this year I attended as a speaker and a blogger.  Loved the respite (and free food) in the Press Room by the way. As a speaker I was fortunate enough to participate on the blogger panel and assist Laurie Ruettimann with Twitterversity.  More on these topics in later post.  Last year after the conference I posted some thoughts on my blog for next year’s conference:

Chicago: Been there, done that. How about someplace else?

With the now pervasive use of Twitter and live Blogging, I believe the conference should offer affordable or no cost Wi-Fi.  I’ve been to volunteer run tech conferences that cost a couple of hundred dollars for the week that offer free Wi-Fi for conference attendees.

Make sure the conference facilities are not a big black hole for cell phone coverage.  McCormick Place (almost) completely blocked out cell data coverage from AT&T.

Embrace the use of Twitter at the conference.  How great would it be during keynotes and sessions if one of the big screens was showing the live tweets as they came in.

Wrangle up some actual customers who are willing to demo some of the really cool technologies they are using.

So how did I do? Conference was still in Chicago, we had free Wi-Fi (YES!), cell phone coverage seemed better, Twitter was very much embraced and the Workday booth had customers working hand in hand with Workday employees (very smart of Workday). Congratulations to the conference for making some of these changes.  Next year the conference will be in Vegas baby.

Okay, onwards and upwards.  Some observations of the 2010 conference:

  • Naomi Bloom was sorely missed at the conference but we all understood and supported her reasons for not attending.
  • The opening party was a great opener to the conference.
  • The Oracle booth was mighty busy with people wanting a test drive of Fusion.
  • Lexy Martin blew us away again with her data from the 13th Annual CedarCrestone HR Systems Survey.
  • Gretchen Alarcon held her own with Bill Kutik with the discussion and demo of Fusion despite a couple of software glitches.
  • Jason Averbook did a good job “parachuting” in to replace Naomi in the Great Technology Debate with Jim Holincheck.  However, I think it’s time for Jason to retire his catch phrase of “LinkedIn and Facebook know more about your employees than you do”.
  • The Blogger Insights panel was off the charts. Okay maybe I am a bit biased on this one.
  • The Hyatt Regency Chicago is too far away from McCormick Place.
  • Laurie Ruettimann did a great job with Twitterversity but Twitter’s refusal to sign up many of the new users during the session was a bummer. With a 100+ people trying to sign up for Twitter with probably the same IP from the free Wi-Fi, I’m guessing Twitter thought they were being spammed.
  • The vendors sure do know how to throw good parties.
  • The Data Integration session by Jac Fitz-enz was very interesting to me but content was very heavy and I noticed more than a few glazed over looks.
  • The Awesome New Technologies general session was awesome but some of the presenters were great and some not so much. Aquire nailed their demo of InSight, SocializedHR demo of the Social Identity Report was a bit controversial and Versult didn’t seem to win over the crowd with their demo of versobile.
  • The stuff that happens behind the scenes (private vendor meetings, briefings, one-on-one conversations) is just as important as the conference and might not have happened without the conference.
  • The Sonar6 booth was the bell of the expo hall.

I will tackle some of these bullet points in more detail in an upcoming blog post.

Don’t forget to listen to the HR Happy Hour show from the conference where I single-handedly saved the show from a technology meltdown by starting up the BlogTalkRadio control panel from my iPhone. Okay I might be exaggerating just a wee bit but listen in and you be the judge. To our utter amazement it was the AT&T network on my iPhone that worked when hotel internet and Sprint 3G/4G cards failed.

Once again Bill Kutik and Dave Shadovitz put on a fantastic conference.

p.s. Special shout-out to some of the tweeps I got to meet this year: Meg, Amy, William, Dwane, Leighanne, Andrew, Afton, Lexy, Josh, Chris and many others.

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Come See Me Live At The HR Technology Conference

by Michael Krupa on September 13, 2010

Are you coming to the 13th annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition?  Maybe you are still on the fence?  If you have not decided, time is running out as the conference is only 2 weeks away (September 29 – October 1).  I have attended the show for the last couple of years and this year I get the pleasure of participating as a panelist on the Blogger Panel along with Bryon Abramowitz (The HR Technologist), Trish McFarlane (HR Ringleader)and Laurie Ruettimann (The Cynical Girl).  The panel will be moderated by Kris Dunn (The HR Capitalist).  We will be talking about blogging, social media and of course technology on Thursday, September 30 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

If that is not enough to convince you to attend then check out this post by Sarah White on other great reasons to attend the conference.

Why YOU should be at HR Technology Conference this Year!

Don’t forget that you can save $500 off the registration fee by registering here and entering INFOBOX10 as the discount code.

If you see me at the conference don’t forget to say hi.

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Is HR Technology Conference Co-Chair Bill Kutik The Old Spice Guy?

by Michael Krupa on July 19, 2010

Laurie Ruettimann thinks HR Technology Conference co-chair Bill Kutik is no Old Spice guy.  Or is he?

“Hello HR Professionals, look at your HR Technology, now back at me, now back at your HR Technology, now back at me. Sadly, your HR Technology isn’t state of the art like me, but if you stopped using legacy ERP software and switched to true SaaS HR software they could be state of the art like me.  Look down, back up, where are you?  You’re in Chicago with the state of the art technology your software could be like.  What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s a Promotion Code for 30% off the HR Technology conference registration.  Look again, the promotion code is INFOBOX10.  Anything is possible when you attend the HR Technology Conference.  I’m on a horse.”

If I have not sold you on attending the HR Technology Conference & Expo by my witty Old Spice satire then you should know that the HR Technology Conference & Expo is THE HR Technology conference to attend.  Each year the conference has a shootout session where multiple vendors demo their live software to a scripted scenario.  The shootout has been so successful that this year there will be four separate shootout sessions with only 2 vendors per session.  I’ll be hosting one of the shoot out sessions this year so how better to spend your money except to come see me live and in person as sheriff making sure the shootout vendors stick to the rules.

But wait, there’s more.  Last year we had a highly successful impromptu Tweetup during Friday morning’s breakfast (and garnered interesting looks from those conference attendees who were not in the know).  We are stepping it up this year and for my loyal twitter followers we will be having another Tweetup Friday Morning with more, more, more.  I can’t discuss all the details yet but I know you won’t be disappointed.

I know I am forgetting something…think, think, think.  Oh yeah, don’t forgot my promo code of INFOBOX10 gets you $500 off the onsite price of $1,695 – just $1,195.

Need more convincing? You will be surrounded by 2,000 HR practitioners, vendors, consultants, analysts and bloggers from 24 countries (over 18,000 attendees in the last 12 years).  The conference will also feature free Wi-Fi in the conference center and giant Tweetstreams outside the expo floor and the general session room.

Still not convinced?  Laurie Ruettimann will be teaching a class called Twitterversity.  There will be a debate between guru Naomi Lee Bloom and Gartner’s Jim Holincheck, Oracle revealing more of Fusion HCM,  the Blogger Insight Panel (members not yet chosen), and “Awesome New Technologies for HR” from bleeding edge start-ups (chosen at the last possible second).

If you still need more information, head on over the conference website, download the PDF of the full conference brochure or check out my recap of last year’s conference. Finally, don’t forget my promo code of INFOBOX10 to get $500 off the onsite price of $1,695.  Go register now, while I go buy some Old Spice Body Wash.

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HR Happy Hour – Happy New Year Show

January 1, 2010

HR Happy Hour – Episode 24 – ‘HR Happy New Year’ Well, well, well. That was quite an HR Happy Hour last night.  For the 2 people that read my blog that were NOT listening in live last night, here is the recording of last nights show. It was wild and crazy and we all [...]

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