Not even the wind and rain could stop over 150 delegates from attending CPHR BC & Yukon’s 2^nd annual HR Technology Symposium + Showcase this past Monday at the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel.

This hands on interactive event started with a warm welcome from Anthony Ariganello, president and CEO of CPHR BC & Yukon, and included four invigorating keynote sessions, four thought provoking “Tech Talk” presentations on how technology is impacting the HR industry in various ways, and 18 vendors showcasing the latest and greatest innovations that are making HR professional’s lives easier. 

“After reviewing the feedback we received from both delegates and exhibitors at past events, we wanted to ensure this symposium allowed ample opportunity for delegates to make meaningful connections, to ask the exhibitors questions face to face, and to fully understand the unique solutions being showcased,” explained Kelly Aslanowicz, director, business development, CPHR BC & Yukon. “To facilitate those meaningful connections, this year we provided comfortable demo pods, lounges and kiosks, instead of traditional booths. This set the stage for more interactive and intimate conversations. We also scheduled delegates for ‘demo crawls’, which were hour long guided tours of the showcase.”

Each demo crawl was led by a CPHR student volunteer, who served as the “showcase tour guide” to the groups of three-to-five people. They provided attendees with insight on what each vendor’s focus was and what problems they were helping HR professionals solve.

“I went on one of the demo crawls, so having an introduction without having to create that myself and get a snapshot as to what everyone is doing through their presentations was great,” said Alina Zutz, CPHR, of Coastal Community Credit Union. “It made it really easy, and helped me with what kinds of follow up questions I need to be asking them.”

One of the demo crawl leaders, Haidar Waled – who is currently attending Kwantlen Polytechnic University – volunteered because he is interested in the technology side of HR and the opportunity to watch the final keynote presentation by Saeed Sadooghi of Indeed.

“I was actually lucky enough to talk with him before his keynote and we chatted about what Indeed is working on,” said Waled. “His presentation was very thoughtful and he certainly has a lot of data on the current job market, which honestly, you have to pay for that kind of data a lot of the time.”

He also added that it was eye-opening to see all the different areas that technology is impacting HR.

Making Meaningful Connections

With operations running in Toronto, head office in Chicago, one of our sponsors Envoy Global, was able to travel out west for our event. They specialize in technology that helps organizations navigate the immigration process when bringing in workers from other countries.

Jeff Reppucci, Envoy Global’s head of strategy raved about their experience at the event and the wonderful opportunity he had to network with so many HR professional and companies that are working in the HR technology space.

“Sometimes when you go to a showcase like this, there’s thousands of people and it’s chaos – you can barely hear each other,” said Reppucci “Here, it was intimate and cozy, and you get to actually sit with people, talk and do real human networking, so I think that was great.”

And what did HR professionals talk with Reppucci about?

“A lot of people shared stories about challenges they’ve had trying to bring people to Canada, so that was an easy jumping off point to talk to them about how we can help.”

Returning to the event for a second consecutive year was TELUS Employer Solutions, who showcased the TELUS HCM VIP Platform and their employee virtual care program.

José Dino, TELUS’s vice president, business development was very impressed with the lounge space that offered comfy seating for six-to-eight people and how well it aligned with TELUS’s clean and nature-focus brand.

“The biggest thing we’re hearing today is technology isn’t going away in the HR industry,” said Dino. “Some see it as something that is helping the profession, but others view it as something that is very difficult to manage.”

“With us and all the other technology vendors here, it’s a great opportunity for us to educate people on how technology can help HR, but at the same time, help people better understand what technology can and can’t do.”

Dino ended by emphasizing, “You can’t take the human out of human resources – technology is simply an enabler to make HR better.”  

Photos

ADP's booth at the showcase

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Keynote Panel

Thank You Speakers & Volunteers

CPHR BC & Yukon would like to thank our wonderful speakers and volunteers. Without you we could not continue to put on events such as these. Your contributions are greatly valued.

Speakers

• Paul Rubenstein
• Aaron Hudson
• Jose Dino
• Josh Berman
• Kathy Gibson
• Sheh Shojaee
• Saeed Sadooghi
• Jeff Reppucci
• Greg Ford
• Pierre Roy
• Nicole Severin

Volunteers

• Samantha Savoy
• Alex Wu
• Ashley Ram
• Fariha Siddiqui
• Misoon Kim
• Kavya Goswami
• Yuxi Zhao
• Haidar Waled
• Anna Zavalishyna
• TJ Sandhu
• Clayton Bergquist

Thank You Vendors

• ADP
• TELUS Employer Solutions
• Indeed
• Jostle
• DLGL Technologies Corporation
• Cegid
• Ceridian
• Culture Amp
• Envoy Global
• Perkopolis
• AnswerBar
• Visier
• Ultimate Software
• TalentClick
• Fishbone Analytics
• HeroChat
• Screening Canada
• WorkTango
• Blue J Legal
• Work Briefly

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