Thinking About Authenticity

I realize that mentioning authenticity may seem cliche, and Laurie of Punk Rock HR is sick of thinking about it, but every where I go I hear people talk about being authentic. Comments I heard at the "HR Bloggers - Who Are These People and Why Should You Care?" session at the SHRM conference in New Orleans included the following.

• Tell your own story. He is who he is in person and on his blog. - from @thelance
• It's easier to be yourself when you blog. - from @jessica_lee
• If you can't be yourself when you blog, you're working for the wrong company. - from @lruettimann
• Risk adverse companies may push a blogger to go anonymous. - from @kris_dunn

I work from home so for me my social outlets are my cats, my Cool Works partners via IM and GTalk, my twitter friends, other social networking peeps, and the employers with whom I work. However, from June 20 to July 2, I got full face-to-face (f2f) social experience because of two planned trips, one for Cool Works through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and one for me / Cool Works for the annual SHRM conference in New Orleans. In some ways, it's too bad that the trips couldn't have been spread further apart to maintain my "contact high," but in some ways, I think that running so hard and fast kept my brain at the proper pace to absorb all of the energy from each event. Lots of goodness was received from each trip.

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Cool Works Meetup Wrap Ups - Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV (Final) SHRM Wrap Up - For Three Strange Days...at SHRM - Conference Wrap Up

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Now being self-absorbed for just a moment, I think I'm fairly authentic. The writing me and the talking me are the same. Comments from people I met on both trips support my belief, and frankly, really made my day(s). Back at you folks! Some examples:

• From a member of our My Cool Works social network after meeting me at Lake in Yellowstone National Park - "Lovely meeting you kari. i think i felt your energy before i saw you, and as you passed, i'm pretty sure i could have grabbed the electrons in your outer orbit. i'm very happy that you were you. i wish you more luck in life than even an unreasonable person could expect." [WOW]
• "I feel the same about @lruettimann, @kariquaas. She would ask the same Q's in person that she does on her blog." 9:47 AM Jul 1st from web - @leanneclc - Leanne Chase
• "@kariquaas - I will never *ever* mispronounce your name again. You're a wonderfully interesting person & it was great mtg you! #SHRM09" 3:13 PM Jul 2nd from web - @stelzner - Mark Stelzner
• "How did @kariquaas get so awesome?" 11:35 PM Jun 29th from twhirl - @SBWorkforce - SmartBriefWorkforce, aka Mary Ellen Slayter, whose writing I love!

Needless to say, but I'm flattered and happy that who I am online is who I am in person. I am me. If you don't like me, don't follow me. It's almost like @Animal's line of "If you're sensitive, don't follow me" on twitter. Being true to oneself is so critical. Like Kris Dunn of HR Capitalist said during the panel, blogging is about having an opinion, taking a stand and critical thinking. In addition to that I would like to state that sometimes it's hard enough to clarify my own thoughts so why on earth would I want to add the challenge of trying to think like someone else. Writing as yourself is easier, and also helps to develop your personal brand, a topic for another day.

So, therein lies the challenge to you. Are you you? If yes, great. If not, why not? Do you write as yourself or try to be someone else? If you write as yourself, good for you. If not, who else are you trying to be?

OPP - Other People's Posts

Jessica Lee - SHRM09 Wrap Up... The SHRM's Recovery + Rebuild - Yes We Can?

Michael VanDervort - Getting Strategic with the HR Bartender

Laurie Ruettimann - SHRM Explainer: What is a HR Tweet Up?

Kris Dunn and China Gorman -

KD + China Gorman from Fistful of Talent on Vimeo.

For Three Strange Days...at SHRM

Okay, so really it was 4 days that I spent in New Orleans for the 2009 Annual SHRM Conference. I'll say right up front that I feel honored and privileged to have been able to go. Thanks again to SHRM for having me as a member of the "press." Also, briefly, I want to thank all of the wonderful HR bloggers and other attendees for making it another good conference experience. You guys are GREAT!

Like I've said before, and I'm quite sure that I'll continue to share that I love Twitter and its power to connect like minded people. I'd list all of the folks I met but it would take a long time. Just check out my twitter account to see who I follow and / or search by the hash tag #shrm09 and you'll see all the cool folks out there. This is the future of connecting. I read a comment on Laurie's blog from a guy who complained about people who use their BlackBerry / PDAs in the bathroom and maybe the possibility that as a group we've gone too far. For posterity sake, since I'm a child of the Ferris Bueller generation, "you can never go too far." I will agree that I too am against any phone being used in the bathroom because it's just plain disgusting, disrespectful and gross. But, at this point, you'd have to rip the phone or computer out of my hands before I would stop tweeting.

I intend on doing other posts about my opinions and summaries from certain sessions, but here are a few highlights from SHRM in New Orleans now that it's all over.

• The community of bloggers and twitters is strong and vibrant. I am happy to be counted amongst this talented and non-risk adverse group. Read these folks' words. You might just learn something, and also, the next time you attend an annual conference or otherwise, you might just have some new friends to meet.


• Lee Woodruff is an honest, compassionate and capable woman and I'm so glad to have her heard her story of love and learning regarding her husband, Bob Woodruff of ABC News. I'll eventually pick up Lee's book Perfectly Imperfect. What a gal. And, for that matter, what a guy.


• Generational differences are nothing but different lenses for viewing the world. Each of us has more in common than is different. There simply isn't any good reason to pick on any generation for their so-called faults. Each generation was shaped and molded by the generations before. In other words, we created what we got. Stop blaming and just learn to work together.


• Hurricanes are strong and the French Quarter is a whole other world.
• Voodoo doctors exist.


• Hurricane Katrina presented the city of New Orleans an opportunity to reinvent itself and show just how resilient its residents are.


• Sheryl Crow ROCKS!


• The Morial Convention Center is LONG.


• Humidity is not something I enjoy for extended periods.


• SHRM is running as fast as it can as a giant, traditional organization to catch up with the changes happening around it. There are some leaders including China Miner Gorman and Amy Thompson leading the charge for change, and I think in future years, there will be a better connection between the HR office, the blogosphere and social media. As Gerry Crispin says, if you want change within SHRM, you have to get involved and be that change on the inside. Or was that Gandhi? ; )


• Most of the food in New Orleans is fried, but there are glimmering rays of sunshine and non-fried options at yummy places like Cochon. Long live pork heaven!


• My friend, Erin, who runs her own HR consulting company is great. I'm glad we got to experience another SHRM conference together. It's nice to have a deep and meaningful conversation about what is really important in life.


• Whoever believes that you can't create meaningful friendships with people you met on the Internet has his or her head in the sand.


• I already miss Cheezhead, PunkRockHR, TheRedRecruiter and Stelzner.


• Beignets are tasty.


• Mobile is everywhere, but you know what? I didn't hear it mentioned ONCE at the SHRM conference.

I guess that's it for now.

Photos from the conference can be found on my Flickr page - Kari Quaas' photos.

Tweets from the sessions I attended and general impressions can be found on my Twitter page if you didn't catch them along the way.

Lastly, be on the lookout for more posts about SHRM as my mind processes all that I heard, saw and experienced. Thanks again to SHRM and for reading!

First Day in New Orleans for SHRM

Greetings from the Big Easy. This will be short and sweet since I got up WAY too early for my taste and only was home for 36 hours between the Cool Works Yellowstone / Teton adventure and taking off for NOLA. One could say my life has been a bit of a whirlwind. Also, in the midst of the 36 hours at home, I learned that all three of my photography entries made it into the juried photography show at the Shoreline Arts Festival. Yay me. I also did a lot of laundry.

Back to New Orleans. First, I'm happy to be here and to be sharing with other HR folks who could not make it to the 2009 conference. Merci beaucoup to the SHRM folks for giving me this opportunity. I am also thrilled to meet some of my long time twitter friends and other HR / recruiting bloggers whom I have admired for some time. Also, it's great to see "old" friends from previous conferences. No doubt, the virtual world is fantastic, but it sure is wonderful to have face to face conversations. I look forward to many more over the next few days.

I think the biggest take away I got today from SHRM directly was their influence in creating a standardized curriculum for HR students. They've created a template that has been implemented at over 100 schools across the U.S. This is a wonderful start. Certainly, when I was in college and already had an inkling that HR was something I wanted to do, the classes weren't there. I took one HRM class as a part of my business minor, but that's it. I'm glad to know that they're moving forward with this idea. Having a basis of knowledge in addition to what is tested on via the HRCI certification exams is good.

And, if you follow me at all, you knew that there would be photographs. They're not fancy, but you get the idea.

For real time updates, please follow me on twitter, or get the daily summary from here in New Orleans at the end of each day on this blog. Thanks for reading.