DisruptHR: We’re Back, Baby! (Safely, and When Appropriate in Your Area, Of Course)

Over the past 17 months, you’ve probably noticed that DisruptHR has been relatively quiet.

We’ve all had a lot to process, and our core purpose – bringing people together to have fun, learn something new, and connect with like-minded people – just wasn’t possible.

We made the decision early in 2020 to not move DisruptHR events to a virtual format, because we didn’t feel that virtual events fit with why we originally started DisruptHR in Cincinnati, Ohio back in December 2013.

The original and ongoing purpose of DisruptHR is to provide an opportunity for those with an idea about the workplace, or the future of work, to share it.

Many of our DisruptHR speakers are not professional speakers, and by utilizing the Ignite presentation format of 5 minutes for each speaker, with 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds, all of our speakers are on the same playing field, and that allows those who have never spoken before, as well as those who are seasoned speakers to have fun, to be challenged, and to get their message heard.

We believe that great ideas need to be shared and heard, even if you have never spoken on a stage before, or are terrified of the idea of getting up in front of a group of people to share your idea, and even if you mess up.

The DisruptHR format is intended to be fun and forgiving. And we like it that way.

So, we froze our licensing process, and encouraged our local Organizers in the 158 licensed cities in 37 countries that were active as of March 2020 to take the time that they needed to focus on maintaining their health, and their own businesses/careers.

We also encouraged local Organizers to do practically anything virtually that they were up for, to keep their communities engaged – other than a traditional DisruptHR event. And many of them did – holding fun and engaging online Happy Hours, networking chats, sponsor spotlights, panel interviews, and even some fun twists on the DisruptHR format.

A couple of my favorites were the DisruptHR Challenger Format version from the team at DisruptHR Indianapolis, described as “if The Gong Show took over DisruptHR Indy…”, and DisruptHR Tulsa‘s Dumpster Fire Talks, which was billed as “a virtual event about how to deal, now that work and life has changed.”

It’s been great to see the disruptive spirt alive and well, even during challenging times!

Thankfully, and hopefully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for us all, in terms of being able to come together to disrupt safely once again, and we’ve already had 6 live events take place this year.

Check out the videos from DisruptHR Barbados 1.0, DisruptHR Zurich 5.0, DisruptHR Daytona 2.0, DisruptHR Yerevan 1.0, and DisruptHR Wellington 2.0, to get you back in the spirit of disrupting live!

DisruptHR is a global community, and we know that not every country, every region, or every city is ready to hold live events at this time. We’re sending love and care to everyone in our community around the world, and looking forward to when there will be a DisruptHR event happening near you again, in the future.

Speaking of DisruptHR events that are happening in the future, check out all of the Upcoming Live DisruptHR events, with more events added to the schedule each week.

The future of work looks a lot different than it did in early 2020, but I believe it’s in good hands… because you’re part of the community that’s invested in making the (new) future of work better for us all!

Jennifer McClure – CEO of Unbridled Talent LLC & Chief Excitement Officer of DisruptHR