1. The event was magic. This is the second time I have been present for the moment when a “good idea” became something real, vibrant, and alive. It is an incredible thing to witness.
2. Specifically from my session: Paul Hebert’s and my session on “influencing” scratched the surface of the topic. Influence is one of those topics that can be hard to wrap one’s mind around, for three reasons: first, influence is not “clean,” and someone coming to the topic from a specific discipline often pushes back against the “messiness” of it. Second, as we each tend to view ourselves as having a complete view of ourselves and others until someone shows us specifically where our blind spots are (itself a potentially challenging endeavor), we can be naturally, unconsciously, and sometimes, fiercely, resistant to the idea that there are more “levers to pull” than the ones we see. And third, it can be difficult to tease the science of influence out of the context in which we experience it, making hard to see how the same principles apply to different aspects of HR, such as recruiting, influencing culture, or managing peers. We covered a wide range of concepts, grappled with some of these challenges, and shared great suggestions and questions and books… but in an hour? We barely got through the basics!
3. The conversation started well before the event, and needs to continue. My contribution this week will be to extend and amplify the discussion about influence. Here is the schedule I’ve laid out for myself:
Monday: Cover the basic principles and definitions.
Tuesday: Cover where many people mess up in influencing others.
Wed: Tips & Tricks day. I’ll either provide tactical how-to’s to improve your influence ability, or I’ll do a post on tying a bow-tie… which has nothing to do with influence, but I had a number of inquiries after Friday night’s tweet up.
Thursday: Cover how to go deep and discover what you and others are really about.
Friday: Cover a real world example or two of influence at work.
4. There are some companies out there doing things right. From Monster’s incredible support to Nobscot’s sponsorship of attendee scholarships to Rypple loaning the event Flip cams to capture the event, all of our sponsors came through and then some to make this event the best it could be. For those of you wondering how we were able to throw this event while charging only $100/ticket, here are the organizations to thank:
Monster – Search jobs, find your career.
Rypple – Simple software to help managers align, motivate, and develop their teams.
Pinstripe – Providing high performance staffing solutions
Ceridian – Global human resources, payroll, benefits & payment solutions
SHRM – The HR association. Take a look at this thoughtful welcome video from Curtis Midkiff, SHRM’s new PR & social media manager.
Nobscot – Exit Interview Management Systems
Fusion Frames – Innovative certificate frames and award design.
Unbridled Talent – Talent strategy consulting
Whiting Consulting – Talent acquisition and recruitment services for the technology industry
5. There is still an execution risk to bringing the issues we discussed to life: talking about something and doing it are very different beasts. Everyone did a good job participating this weekend, but away from the safety of the group, will this continue? We need to all remember that when that little voice of doubt starts chirping at us, ignore it. Take the risk, dare to fail (spectacularly), and keep moving forward. Open your mouth. Dare to get your hand slapped. Ask why. Go!
6. Man can survive on cupcakes, donut holes, and soda only for about 24 hours.
7. Wearing a tuxedo gets you noticed.
8. I truly enjoy using social media to build my real life community. It was fun to have someone I’d never met before walk into a hotel, see me, and burst into a smile while coming over to give me a hug hello as if we’ve been friends for ages… because you know what? We have been.
9. Last, but not least, I am highly indebted to the organizing committee, who made my home town look fantastic. Trish McFarlane, Mark Stelzner, Steve Boese, Ben Eubanks, Crystal Peterson, and Joan Ginsberg,
Thank you.
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I'm Jason. I make people shine. My mission is to help 1 million people tell their stories better. 
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