Passion is contagious. Get a group of people in a room who have the same passion.....the same vision... and it is amazing how the energy level rises. Our annual conference -held this year in Phoenix - was filled with people from around the country passionate about finding solutions to the "business" issues that challenge human resources.

As a staffing analyst who attended and moderated many of the workshops, it was comforting to see the focus on "return on investment."  Features and advantages are taking a backseat to the focus on benefits and results (ROI)  that technology and services provide.

Here are a few observations :

• Testing and assessment services -  HR executives in attendance were quite vocal in their support of tools and services that can help improve the quality of hire, particularly in revenue producing roles (read: customer service and sales). 
• Vendor compatibility - Professional services that help hr practitioners design, develop, and implement seemingly incompatible services and technology is gaining favor (read: vendor selection services). 
• Data, data, data - there is a growing comfort with metrics within the community affected by human resources. Human resource executives  - and their teams -  are increasingly chartered with competitive analysis and business metrics initiatives.

Food for thought.......