WorldatWork 2009 - Day 2 - Expo

Another great day at the WorldatWork conference today: I had a chance to talk with several existing subscribers including Susan from Harvard University, Tammy and Ann from the Port of Seattle, Michelle and Nile from Amazon.com, reacquainted with some folks I hadn't seen in a couple of years, met many new people, learned quite a few new things about what is happening in the compensation world, had a chance to interview Doug Sayed of Applied HR Solutions, and met a fellow HR/Compensation blogger Ann Bares.

I participated in a fascinating discussion on the state of compensation design in Venezuela and how the culture of pay there differs from the United States and also Brazil. This was just one of the interesting topics that came up in conversation at the booth. I have to give extra thanks to Tammy from the Port of Seattle for the rave reviews and sharing her experiences with NextComp with a group of prospective customers today. Thank you Tammy! Also thank you to my Dad for helping out this afternoon. You're a life-saver!

Today's video blog from the conference has the interview with Doug Sayed. Doug is a co-author of the just released "Base Pay Toolkit" which is part of the Strategic Pay Series. It looks like a fantastic series that will meet the needs of many HR departments.

Also, if you're not already reading Ann Bares' "Compensation Force" blog, I highly recommend it. She writes in a very approachable and understandable style. The topics are timely and well thought-out. I also highly recommend "Compensation Cafe" which Ann and Doug as well as several others contribute to on regular basis. Links to both blogs are on the blog roll to the right of the page.

Here's the video for the WorldatWork 2009 Exhibition - Day 2...



This video is also available on Youtube.

A couple of notes on the video.

The map fly-overs are generated using Google Earth and screen captured using Screenflow.

Ann Bares is a Managing Partner with the Altura Consulting Group LLC based in Medina, Minnesota. The firm's website is www.alturaconsultinggroup.com. I know Ann from her blog "Compensation Force" so that's how I referenced her in the video.

Also, at the very end of the video you'll see that I look up out of the frame before the fade to black. Apparently I was causing some concern for one of the people in the neighborhood. He thought I was taking photos of his house. He came out and asked what I was doing and why was I taking photos of his house. I assured him that I wasn't taking any pictures of his house and that I was shooting some video for my blog and I wanted to get the great scenery in the background. I think this caught him off guard and he seemed OK with that answer, maybe a bit perplexed though. I wrapped it up and thought that maybe he was overreacting a bit, but perhaps that's just a sign of the times we live in. Anyway, I think I'll find a different spot in the future!

Here are the photos from today. These are also shown in the video.

The "sky bridge" exposition hall. I needed special permission to take pictures here today.

Thank you to Rodney with the Washington State Convention Center security department for taking this photo of me.
"Freeway park" where I ate lunch and enjoyed some quiet time in the sun today.


Some of the view of downtown Seattle from the Conference Center.



A group photo with Doug Sayed, Ann Bares, me and Bob. Thank you to Meg from Univar for the photo.