‘The Annual Conference has Landed’, by The CIPD Conference Insider

Well, it's been a real rollercoaster ride putting together my first CIPD annual conference as part of the team of producers working on this mega event. With 59 conference sessions and nearly 90 high-level speakers, it's a veritable beast of a conference (the biggest HR event in Europe, in fact!) and it’s taken some effort to research, write and co-ordinate all the conference sessions, not to mention find a host of top level HR people to deliver them. The first brochure lands on desks this week and I must admit to feeling rather nervous when it comes to getting feedback and the general reaction from the HR conference-going community.

But despite my nerves I am certain the conference is going to be hugely popular, as this year’s agenda is packed full of an incredible array of expert HR practitioners and business executives who have committed to providing some fascinating insight into the HR function.

One of the highlights for me is set to be the keynote panel discussion on ‘creating a culture of innovation through your people’ on day two of the conference. The recent resignation of Steve Jobs at Apple has sparked a huge amount of debate around the true nature of innovation in business and whether it is driven through leadership or through people and culture. The answer to this question seems to me to be that innovation requires great leadership that can bring about a creative culture and nurture the right people and skills. As Steve himself put it: “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. It’s not about money.  It’s about the people you have, how you’re led and how much you get it.”…can’t wait for the panel discussion at the conference!