A conference for HR Leaders providing actionable takeaways to help level up their organizations.
The Purpose
Hosted by Gregory & Appel, The HR Lab is a collaborative hands-on, single-day live workshop for HR leaders.
The event is designed to share knowledge in a collaborative format, while also serving as a prospecting opportunity and as a value-added event for current G&A benefits clients.
Where many events in this industry bring in authors or speakers who inspire but don’t offer much in terms of actual takeaways, our vision was to provide our guests with information they can really use to level up their organizations.
Event Planning
Starting in fall 2023, our marketing team planned the conference start to finish, including:
Venue selection and contract negotiation
Sponsorship outreach and negotiation
Recruiting and signing speakers
Marketing & advertising the event
Managing all attendee communications & agenda updates
Day-of-event logistics and operations
We met with our internal subject matter experts to determine the best topics to cover, based on the state of the current benefits market and ongoing trends that would be of interest to our guests. We then conducted a survey of 50 current clients to get their input. Then, we recruited speakers we could collaborate with to plan the presentations.
The Content
We selected the following topics and recruited the following presenters to lead our workshops:
Benefits compliance with attorney Stacy Barrow of Barrow Lent LLP
Beyond Recruitment: Creating a Formula for Recruitment and Development with Andrea Brummett, Jen Hauck and Cassandra Faurote
Taking HR Strategy from Aspiration to Execution with Dr. Misty Resendez-Woods of InvigorateHR
HR Megatrends: What’s Shaping HR Technology in 2024 with Erika Sandoval of UKG
Things Fall Apart: How to Use Empathy to Combat Change Fatigue in the Workplace with Liesel Mertes
Our team worked alongside each presenter to help organize their ideas into workshops, develop their presentation materials, and build any materials or presentation aids they needed. One example was a printed and bound guidebook that went into more detail on legal & compliance considerations that weren’t covered in Mr. Barrow’s seminar.
Planning and Executing the Event
We agreed to a contract with the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in downtown Indianapolis. They met our criteria for the event:
Located in the heart of downtown Indianapolis
Scenic location with a larger connection to history & our community
On-site catering, A/V and tech support
Capacity to host over 200 guests
Space for breakout rooms equipped with necessary technology
On-site parking
We went live with a basic agenda just after the new year and started marketing the event aggressively through direct outreach to current clients, providing media kits to our consultants to invite their prospects, and both paid and owned media.
Identity & Concepts
I collaborated with my creative partner to build the positioning, look, and feel of this event. She led the visual identity and I led the communication strategy and content development.
The HR Lab needed to fit within a larger event structure – this event was geared towards HR professionals, but we were also planning events for captive insurance, work safety and other areas of risk management.
We settled on a simple, understated look that could be adapted for other events: The HR Lab could become The Alt. Risk Lab or The Cyber Lab to focus on other areas of discipline. Below, you can see some of the collateral created for this event.
Welcome signage, placed at the entryway and on both sides of the main stage.
A sticker that was placed on our gift for attendees, a charging cable with connections for Apple Watch, USB, and USB-C.
Attendee name badges, which were placed in a plastic badge holder on a lanyard.
The Event
We set a goal of over 100 registrations, and blew that mark out of the water with 133 clients and prospects attending the event.
Of the 52 attendees who completed our post-event survey, we received over 90% positive reviews, including the following feedback:
The HR Lab was truly a great experience. Very informative, and I would love to be a part of future events. I thoroughly enjoyed my time – thank you for hosting!
Excellent day with top notch presenters. Great topics, engaging speakers, and just the right length.
Post-Event
I shot footage throughout the day and edited this recap video to send to attendees as post-event follow-up. We also included event materials, an invitation to sign up for our weekly Legal & Compliance newsletter, and information about future events. Enjoy!