Connecting HR is pleased to announce our fifth UK Unconference to be held at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations in London on Friday 21^st June 2013.

This event will be very different to any standard conference you have been to before.  If you are not sure what an unconference is, start here, browse a little and you will soon get the picture. No event management companies, no big budgets, no hard selling from sponsors and no fixed agenda. 

Theme

Our theme for the unconference is: Brave HR. What does that mean? Beyond an acknowledgement that our approach to work needs to evolve, it’s really up to you. If you would like a little guidance, then why not take a look at this 10 point agenda for change written by Neil Morrison at the start of 2013.

Beyond the outline theme the agenda will be driven by you, the attendee, on the day.  

To contribute and if you want to get more involved generally you can also sign up to our online community and share your ideas - click here to sign up to www.connectinghr.org.

Nearer the time of the event we will be sharing the comments and any contributions for session topics on the community site.

Who should attend?

First and foremost we welcome people who are looking for an informal, value-adding forum to discuss and learn about different ways of working. This may include:

HR, Internal Comms and other in-house professionals

Journalists/Academics and representatives of professional bodies 

Independent consultants and suppliers to the HR profession

What is an Unconference?

This event will be very different to any standard conference you have been to before. No event management companies, no big budgets, no hard selling from sponsors and no fixed agenda. Just value adding conversation amongst HR professionals on the subjects that matter to them. The unconference is organised by volunteers.

There are a number of key differences between a standard conference and an unconference including:

• The agenda is driven by the attendees, not the event organisers.  This means that the event is highly interactive and participative and whilst there will be industry experts and thought leaders in attendance, they are not driving the agenda, or, as is typical with a normal conference, delivering long, one way presentations. 

• The event is collaborative. Attendees will get involved not only in discussions on the day, but also in the organisation of the event should they wish.  If you have a specific issue you would like to address in this forum, then simply get involved and suggest it!

The format of the event is very different too.  The day will be broken up into a number of free flowing discussion groups based around subjects as suggested by the attendees in the lead up to the unconference.  Unlike a normal conference, these groups will be small and you are free to move between them at any time.  If the conversation is not value added for you, simply get up and move onto the next!

Further information

You can follow the Connecting HR conversation on Twitter by using the hashtags #ConnectingHR. and #chru13

To find out more information please also join our online community www.connectinghr.org where you will find likeminded HR professionals, some background information on what we are trying to do and some of our other initiatives.