ConnectingHR Unconference. From the Heart

Did it really happen? Was I really lucky enough to get together with over 60 curious, caring and sharing people for a great day of learning last week? If the number of encouraging and motivating blogs and tweets are anything to go by then the answer is a resounding yes.

Many people have summed up the day in lovely detail, with pics and videos to boot. There’s talk of revolution, bravery, and inspiration which you can read all about in a list to the fabulous blog posts down below.

For me the day can be summed up best with a single word. Encouragement.

People who have never written publicly before have been encouraged to do so.

People who had never led discussion groups before were encouraged to do so.

People who maybe haven’t taken their personality to work before were encouraged to do so.

I was encouraged too. By Darius Norell who whispered to me “why don’t you sing a song about today?” and to Jon Ingham and Mervyn Dinnen who gently reassured me, “it’ll be fine”.

Inspired stuff from Jon and Gareth Jones, well done for having the courage to break the mould. And well done to everyone who came along and helped to break it too. Even FlipChartFT who the following day took the piss out of me for recycling old Damned tunes!

The ConnectingHR Unconference was one of the very best days I’ve invested in personal, community, and social development. I’m proud and humbled to be a part of it. Still buzzing four days later, and I don’t want to go to another “traditional” conference ever again!

Here’s that list of wonderful reading I promised you:

And because I haven’t sung a song on here for a while, here’s a copy of the little closing ditty I penned for the day. Thanks Gareth and Alan Whitford for recording this 🙂

Lyrics:

I usually find these conferences boring
By half past two I’m in the corner snoring

So I came along with a sense of trepidation
And got lost along the way from Vauxhall station

On arrival I met lots of friendly faces
People met on yammer twitter, other places

And although the temperature felt minus twenty
Conversation opportunities were plenty

It’s been a long time since a day has past so fast
I feel like connections made today will last

I listened to Gareth and Jon and everyone and I heed ya
What a great exploration of HR and Social media!

Photo c/o Robert Fornal

Author: Doug Shaw

Artist and Consultant. Embracing uncertainty, sketching myself into existence. Helping people do things differently, through an artistic lens.

One thought on “ConnectingHR Unconference. From the Heart”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *