HR, er, “Talent” Tech? Day 1

Welcome to Las Vegas and HR, er, “Talent” Tech? For the next two days, I’ll be attending HR Tech, the largest gathering of Human Resource Technology companies in North American. This was Day 1 of the event and I had the opportunity to walk around the expo and take in some first impressions. What initially comes to mind is how this event has morphed into what might be better titled “Talent Tech.”
Almost every booth is somehow now a “Talent Management” solution provider – at least it says so on their signage. Many of the companies exhibiting are attempting to capitalize on the latest trend and be a one-stop-shop for all things “Talent.” The major vendor booths are smaller this year and there are a considerable amount of up and coming niche companies.
There’s a “minimalist” or “clean” style of design that represents the bigger (Johanna Gaines & millennial) trend outside of just tech. Mobile is not near as prevalent as I would expect it to be. While there are images of app screens for many of the providers, most booths are still defaulting to a desktop view. I’ll keep an eye out today for more on this and will report back in my next update.
The one thing I do love about HR Tech is that the event serves as a defacto reunion of sorts. Throughout my 20 years in the industry as a customer and now vendor I have made some great friendships along the way. Already I’ve bumped into several friends and colleagues from my previous companies and vendor contacts. Not everyone is still with the same company, or even companies which is to be expected in a hot market for talent, and one that representative of the small ecosystem that is HR Technology.
Overall I’ve noticed several repetitive themes and words from my first day on the expo floor. Here’s the list so far for the first day: Talent Management, Optimized, Human, Experience, AI, Personalized and Engagement. We’ll see if these initial observations hold and I’ll continue to gather feedback and viewpoints from friends and colleagues over the next two days. Stay tuned for a Day 2 update and some thoughts on any Exponential finds.