Here are the 10 most interesting things I found at HR Tech … to be shortly followed by the 10 worst things I found at HR tech …

So on to the 10 most interesting things…

1.       The simple use of Web2.0 technology to document expertise within an organization. I like what Synaptis does in capturing a video from a basic computer screen, categorizing it, tagging it and enabling people to share their expertise. Some people like me just aren’t great writers so these short videos may be a better way to learn. Check out their Knowledge Harvest Product.

2.       Salary.com has a very impressive Talent Management Suite … Where most people underestimated Salary.com’s ability to enter the Talent Management space, I do believe they have succeeded. Great showing in the shoot out and I think the audience, based on what I have heard, was generally impressed with the interface and depth of the product. Great job team (nice party as well)!

3.       Cornerstone launched a social networking platform, not a talent acquisition platform, although they define talent management as learning, compliance, performance, compensation, succession and analytics . While the functionality was very light, it is a step in the right direction to a unique offering that the other TM vendors do not have. Although I have to admit that I have never heard of a social networking platform without chat, I’m looking forward to version 2.

4.       It’s best to be a private firm (Kronos, Authoria and Hireright can all attest to this). Although the VC’s and PE firms were all over the floor, most were looking for deals, not long- term investment. Beware of the sharks.

5.       People are still trying to figure out the job posting/matching algorithms … How many times have we all been there, done that? Check out zapoint.com . Will this one finally work?

6.       Arbita (Don Ramer) has a lot of courage. Hiring such industry pundits as George LaRoque , Shally Steckerl, and Glenn Gutmacher… We believe they may have cracked the code for job board metrics … Stay tuned. I hope this recession is short and Don comes out on top. He is a great guy and deserves to win, based on his tenacity in the industry. Email his head of security to find out why their product rocks.

7.       Silkroads and Kenexa may be the next two talent management vendors with a full suite (besides HR Smart) … with the addition of an LMS to both products. Silkroads should be announcing the acquisition of one and Kenexa has licensed source code to ultimately develop and build it into their platform.

8.       Jeff Carr, industry Sales Guru, is looking for a new gig. Highly connected, loads of experience (Peoplesoft, Taleo and Motiva) I can’t believe he is on the market still.

9.       It’s really hard to beat Tod @ Authoria in a shoot out. So unless you just want to be on the map … Like Salary.com did to showcase their full product suite… why participate at all? Tod is a wonderful, engaging presenter and the new release of his product looks great as well.

10.        Improving the user interface was probably the most important thing everyone was talking about. This is great news for all users.