World’s Premier HR Technology Conference Unveils 2009 Agenda

-Chicago’s McCormick Place THE Place to Be in September for Latest Trends-

HORSHAM, Pa. (May 21, 2009) — Human Resource Executive® Magazine today announced the agenda for the publication’s 12th Annual HR Technology® Conference & Exposition, being held Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2009, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

“Worth flying from Finland,” according to one past attendee, the event is widely acknowledged to be the best conference in the world for executives to learn what they need to know today about technology for HR. Practitioners from 16 countries attended last year. Boasting the world’s largest exposition of HR tech products and services, the Expo last year showcased 230 exhibiting companies with more than 50 new product announcements.

For 12 straight years, Dave Shadovitz, Editor and Publisher of Human Resource Executive® Magazine, and Bill Kutik, the magazine’s technology columnist and host of The Bill Kutik Radio ShowSM, have used their combined 40 years of professional experience to create a conference that helps HR executives become tech-savvy and learn how to wrestle the business benefits out of technology.

As companies move past the initial shock of the global economic crisis, the annual HR Technology® Conference & Exposition is helping HR professionals respond to their organizations’ most pressing challenges by providing the best information on companies finding better ways to work with what they have and improve processes that will help their organizations.

In addition to focusing on three critical areas in HR technology – Talent Management, Web 2.0 and Workforce Management/Analytics/Planning – the conference is revisiting the more traditional functional areas that have plagued companies for years.

The conference will once again stage its signature “Shootout,” featuring four competing vendors in head-to-head Talent Management software demonstrations based on real-life HR scenarios. Attendees will save months of research and sales pitches about the latest offerings and vote for their favorite software, based on those live demonstrations.

The conference planners also have brought back the most popular session of last year – “Cool New Technologies” – featuring live demonstrations of the five coolest new software products in 2009 for any functional area of HR.

Keynote speakers for the event include Wikinomics author Don Tapscott, who will share what companies need to do to harness the power of human capital and turn it into competitive advantage in the era of what he calls “HR 2.0.” Closing keynote speaker Naomi Lee Bloom will apply her encyclopedic knowledge of HR technology and processes to make sure attendees are doing all the right things to weather the current economic climate and successfully prepare their organizations and careers for the inevitable recovery.

This year’s “Industry Analyst Panel” will feature Naomi Lee Bloom, Managing Partner of Bloom & Wallace; Jim Holincheck, Managing Vice President of Finance, HCM and Procurement for Gartner; and Lisa Rowan, Program Director of HR, Learning and Talent Management Services at IDC. These leading analysts will share their thoughts on current technology trends and their predictions for the future. They also will host separate discussion sessions for attendees.

In addition, three new panels of HR executives will focus on critical topics: how to take an HR system global, even during hard times; how to take advantage of recruiting technology in 2010 and beyond; and how to continue innovating in the area of Talent Management and increase the value HR brings to a company.

Additional sessions will feature presentations by senior executives from world-class companies, including: Abbott Laboratories, Accenture, Aon, Chiquita Brands, the City of Chicago, Deloitte, Dow Jones, Global Hyatt Corporation, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intuit, Kelly Services, MetLife, Microsoft, National Reconnaissance Office, Nike, Nokia, PUMA, RIM (BlackBerry), Target, Turner Broadcasting and Zions Bancorp.

The “Create Your Private Social Network for Free!” session will show companies how to use free software to start a great HR project for good or tough times. “What Customers Really Think of Their Talent Management Vendors” will unveil results of a year-long research study of customer satisfaction with Talent Management systems and services. Rounding out the conference will be sessions focusing on other Human Resource software for Portals, Outsourcing, HCM and Recruiting.

The complete conference program is available at www.HRTechnologyConference.com. Pre-Early Bird registrants will receive $400 off registration if they sign up by July 31, 2009. A smaller discount is offered to those who register prior to September 18, 2009. The “team discount” provides for a 30% discount after the first two full-price registrations, making the event affordable for a company’s entire HR team to attend.

A limited number of press and analyst passes are available for this conference. To request a press pass, please contact Jeanne Achille, The Devon Group, 732-706-0123, ext. 11, or e-mail jeanne@devonpr.com.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Jeanne Achille
The Devon Group
732-224-1000, ext. 11
jeanne@devonpr.com