WorldatWork 2009 - Day 3 - Expo

It was a successful exposition this year in Seattle. I feel energized and optimistic this evening. The traffic at the booth yesterday and today was great. Bob and I met many new people and had the pleasure of seeing some familiar faces, including Kelly, Brett and Shannon from Amazon.com, Yvonne and Michelle from City of Bellevue, Cathy from Newmont Mining, Leigh of Culpepper and Associates, Debbie and Colleen from BECU, and many more!

I had a chance to visit with Larry Daniels from Milliman USA. He and I have known each other for over ten years, and he was very supportive and encouraging back in 2001 when we first started developing NEXTCOMP. Thank you Larry for taking time to talk today.


I also had the pleasure of speaking with Leigh Culpepper. I actually approached Leigh yesterday regarding the video journal that I'd been doing for the blog. I asked if he would be willing to participate in an interview. He asked me what the questions would include. I thought of asking him about pay trends in merit budgets and what he was seeing in overall market adjustments. He said that he would give it some thought. Today, he came by the booth and we picked up our conversation, though it took a different turn, away from data. I really like Leigh's insights and this conversation really got me thinking about why we attend conference and what we take away from the experience.




This video is also available on YouTube.

The booth is packed up, exhibit is closed, and I made it home this evening in time for dinner. It was a treat for me to have the conference in Seattle. I want to personally thank Audrey Johnson for her tireless dedication managing a seamless and successful show. I also want to thank the WorldatWork and Convention Center staff that work behind the scenes to ensure a great experience for the conference attendees. Thank you to Doug Sayed and Leigh Culpepper for the time and allowing me to video them at the expo. Also, a huge thank you also to everyone that stopped by the booth. You're the reason we attend the show each year.

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.

WorldatWork 2009 - Day 1 - Expo

The conference is off to a great start here in Seattle. The exposition opened at 4:30 and closed at 7:00 PM with a steady stream of folks walking through the hall. I saw quite a few friends tonight, including David from Virgina Mason, Tammy and Ann from the Port of Seattle, Doug from Applied HR Strategies, David from Equilar, Bill and Diane from The Regence Group, and a host of new people and hopefully prospective customers.

My original plan for today didn't pan out as expected. I brought my 10 year old and 6 year old sons with me to the exhibit hall. My Dad was going to walk with them up and down the aisles so that they could see what it was like and collect some trinkets of course. Well the conference center staff didn't like the idea of having kids in the hall. Apparently about a dozen kids were turned away. So my Dad took my kids to Gameworks and they played games and ate pizza. Not a bad way to spend time with Grandpa!

But I did get to visit with my Mom at the show. She's in town from Montana for some work. Here's a photo taken by Diane from The Regence Group. Thanks Diane!

Here are a couple more photos from the booth.

The booth with the new banner on the front. Here's a link to the original photo of the mountain.


A row of the best pens in the world...


My plan for tomorrow is to try and get a couple of interviews and post another video tomorrow night. We'll see how that works.

I'll be at the booth tomorrow from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and again from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM. Maybe I'll see you there!

WorldatWork 2009 - Day 1 - Setup

It's conference time again!

This year the WorldatWork show is in Seattle. I live 30 minutes from Seattle. The whole experience is much less busy and less stressful since I can stay at home and just drive into the city during the show hours.

Here's a video of the first day of getting the booth setup. At the end is an interview with Audrey Johnson, Visibility Manager for WorldatWork. She's great. Very energetic, enthusiastic and supportive of the sponsors and exhibitors. Thanks Audrey!



This video is also available on Youtube.

Here's what the booth looks like all setup in Seattle.

Audrey really is dedicated to her work. She even had her toes painted with the WorldatWork logo!

We're hanging a banner on the front of our table at the booth this year. Here's what the banner will look like...

Tomorrow I'm taking my sons with me to the booth and Grandpa Bob is going to go along and walk the aisles with them so they can pick up some of those great expo give-aways.

WorldatWork Virtual Exhibit Hall Open

Audrey Johnson from WorldatWork says "With just 53 days 17 hours and 45 minutes to go…. We are pleased to announce that the 2009 Total Rewards Conference Virtual Expo Hall is now live on the conference web site. The virtual hall will remain up from now until two months after the conference."

Wow, only 53 days until the conference. I like that WorldatWork sends out these little reminders. It helps to keep me focused on getting ready for the show.

Here's the NEXTCOMP virtual exhibit hall booth.

I hope to see you in 53 days!

User Group Thank You And WorldatWork Booth in Seattle

I've been told that Spring is officially here, but I think Nature is playing an April Fool's joke on me, because I woke up and it was snowing (again) at my house. I have seen some hints of Spring around the neighborhood, the cherry trees have some blossoms, but Winter is keeping a toehold at least for now.

User Group Meeting Wrap Up

Thank you to those subscribers that attended the 2009 Northwest Area User's Group meeting held on Monday, March 30th at the Port of Seattle's offices on the waterfront. A huge thank you to Tammy Woodard, Ann McClellan and Hugh Hastings for hosting the meeting, helping setup, and take down and for the help with getting all the food and beverages moved from my car, to the room and back. Also, thank you to Tracey for bringing lunch and to Bob for stopping by at lunch to say "Hi" to the group. It was an excellent meeting and we discussed and generated some really good ideas for Version 3. Everyone, including me, is eagerly anticipating the full release of version three starting in April.

Version 3 Upgrades

A quick note to existing subscribers: we are upgrading each subscriber on a one-by-one basis on a time line to meet your needs. We will contact you when we are ready to proceed with the upgrade OR you can contact us and let us know you are ready. We will not be automatically moving everyone over, primarily because we know some of you are in the middle or just starting your annual analysis. We don't want to interrupt the annual process. We want to be sensitive to your time line and needs.


2009 WorldatWork Exhibit Booth

It's only the first of April, but my mind is already moving to the end of May and the WorldatWork conference and exposition being held in Seattle this year. Yay, it's in Seattle this year! This makes the logistics of setting up a booth and attending the conference much easier for me since I live in the area. The last time the conference was in Seattle was in 2000. I remember that we had an incredibly warm and beautiful week of weather during the conference. I hope that holds true for this year as well.

Here's a link to a "free pass" to the exhibit hall. If you are not attending the full conference, but you want to wander the aisles of the exhibit hall, just print these passes, fill them out, and you can wander to your heart's content.

http://www.worldatwork.org/pub/Expopass_09.pdf

So if you're in the area, or if you coming from out of town, I hope you have a chance to stop by booth 1330 and say "Hi".

North Bend and Snoqualmie Flooding

You may have heard about the torrential rains and snow melt that we had in my neck of the woods last week. The Snoqualmie Valley was hit hard.

I spent a couple of hours volunteering at my kids' school to help with clean-up. Talk about GROSS stuff! It was all mud, slime, and garbage piled up along the fence lines of the playground and surrounding school areas. The district had about 100 volunteers last Friday and another 60 or so yesterday helping to clean and get the schools ready for today. And YES, the schools opened today! I'm so happy that the kids get to go back after having many extra days off due to snow and flooding over the last few weeks.

More importantly though, there are many families with homes and businesses in the area that are impacted by the flooding. Being out in the muck yesterday really brought that home to me. I hope they are all safe and warm with a place to be until they can return home.

Photos
http://www.svsd410.org/districtinfo/newspubs/Flood%202009.asp
http://www.svsd410.org/districtinfo/newspubs/MoreFlood%202009_1.asp
http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=1&w=all&q=north+bend+flood+2009&m=text

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvrnA3BGHVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqTnTWEqYS4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6WqTFlokkk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFpZRIsw2ss

Happy Holidays

Here's hoping that you have an enjoyable holiday season. 'Tis the season to enjoy time with friends and family, stay warm and try to take some time off from work.

We've had a very cold and snowy start to winter here in the Pacific Northwest. My kids missed three days of school due to snow and we're expecting more on Christmas eve.




Here's one of my favorite photo locations during the first round of snow...



After a bit of an absence over the last two months, I'll be posting regularly starting in the new year. October, November and December are the busiest time of the year for data loading, updating data, and providing customer support. I've also been very busy with programming on the new version of NextComp. We have two customers currently using the new version as we build out all the features. Expect an in depth review of some of those features in the next post.

I read a very heartwarming blog post today about the importance of appreciating each moment we have on this earth. Take a read if you have a few extra minutes.

Here's to a successful and exciting year in 2009!