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InFullBloom Archives

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Speaking Engagements

UPCOMING
Predict and Prepare sponsored by Workday 12/16

PAST BUT AVAILABLE FOR REPLAY
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #171, 2/15
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #160, 8/14
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #145, 1/14
Workday Predict and Prepare Webinar, 12/10/2013
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #134, 8/13
CXOTalk: Naomi Bloom, Nenshad Bardoliwalla, and Michael Krigsman, 3/15/2013
Drive Thru HR, 12/17/12
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #110, 8/12
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Business Value," 5/3/12 Audio/Whitepaper
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Predict and Prepare," 12/7/11
HR Happy Hour - Episode 118 - 'Work and the Future of Work', 9/23/11
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #87, 9/11
Keynote, Connections Ultimate Partner Forum, 3/9-12/11
"Convergence in Bloom" Webcast and accompanying white paper, sponsored by ADP, 9/21/10
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #63, 9/10
Keynote for Workforce Management's first ever virtual HR technology conference, 6/8/10
Knowledge Infusion Webinar, 6/3/10
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Predict and Prepare," 12/8/09
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Preparing to Lead the Recovery," 11/19/09 Audio/Powerpoint
"Enterprise unplugged: Riffing on failure and performance," a Michael Krigsman podcast 11/9/09
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #39, 10/09
Workday SOR Webinar, 8/25/09
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #15, 10/08

PAST BUT NO REPLAY AVAILABLE
Keynote, HR Tech Europe, Amsterdam, 10/25-26/12
Master Panel, HR Technology, Chicago, 10/9/012
Keynote, Workforce Magazine HR Tech Week, 6/6/12
Webcast Sponsored by Workday: "Building a Solid Business Case for HR Technology Change," 5/31/12
Keynote, Saba Global Summit, Miami, 3/19-22/12
Workday Rising, Las Vegas, 10/24-27/11
HR Technology, Las Vegas 10/3-5/11
HR Florida, Orlando 8/29-31/11
Boussias Communications HR Effectiveness Forum, Athens, Greece 6/16-17/11
HR Demo Show, Las Vegas 5/24-26/11
Workday Rising, 10/11/10
HRO Summit, 10/22/09
HR Technology, Keynote and Panel, 10/2/09

Adventures of Bloom & Wallace

a work in progress

We’ve Come A Long Way In HR Tech!

We spent this morning at the Fort Myers boat show, which was very much diminished because of the economy.  It was very unlike our own 2009 HR Technology Conference, which was overflowing with vendor booths and full of energy.  But what really struck me as we walked through the boat show was how far we’ve come in gender equality in HR technology. 

Years ago, the folks doing our tech demos at conferences, then called demo dollies, were just that: attractive, young, primarily nubile ladies with a limited grasp of the architectures or object models of their products (you thought I was going to ask them how to do an address change?) or of the dynamics of our industry.  And all the real dealing was done by men. 

Fast forward to 2009, and there’s no reputable HRM product or service vendor whose booth attendants don’t reflect well on their companies.  They know their products and demo them well, and they are as likely to be men as women, young or not.  And it’s just as likely that the sales or marketing executive will be a woman, although there remain very few women HRM software architects or engineering executives.  Most important, whatever matching outfits are selected for those doing booth duty, they haven’t included high heeled, black patent leather boots in many years.

So back to the boat show.  I really wasn’t surprised that most of the dealers are men, as well as most of the booth attendants for what are some very engineering-based products, like boat lifts and replacement engines.  Now that I think about it, there must be a lot of people refurbishing older boats, because I’ve never seen so many booths featuring replacement engines, some of which were enormous.  But the real surprise were the “demo dollies” in their shorter than short shorts, black high heeled patent leather boots, and “Hooter-style” T’s.  And they weren’t alone. 

The bottom line.  Jobs are scarce, and perhaps “working” the boat shows pays well, but how very sad to see this in 2009, or sad until I thought about how far our own industry has come.  Yeah HR tech!

3 comments to We’ve Come A Long Way In HR Tech!

  • Naomi Bloom

    I’ve been thinking a lot more about gender roles across HRM and the HRMDS. There was a fairly even gender distribution in the earliest days of business computing when programmer trainees were selected from among the best liberal arts graduates at the top universities. My programmer trainee class of ’67 at John Hancock Life Insurance actually had a few more women than men, but many of those women either dropped out entirely or took a different career path when they became wives and then mothers.

  • Christian Almgren

    I think the lack of women as HRM Software acrhitects and engineering executives is due to lack of women in software industry. But even there its getting better although it is still along way to go until 50% of those reading computer science is women.

  • Agreed. Strictly anecdotally, since I’ve been in hi-tech marketing communications (1996) and the HR marketplace (2000), I’ve worked with many more women than men in marketing and PR (and even sales). The HR marketplace has certainly been an equal opportunity employer in that regard. HR suppliers have got it goin’ on as the kids say.

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