For those unable to attended this month's HR Technology Conference, 1) you missed the best vendor-neutral conference of the year and 2) start planning for next year, Oct 15-17, 2008 in Chicago.

Want to know what Bill thought of his own conference? Read it now on HR Executive Online here. Bill also had some flattering things to say about Knowledge Infusion including a comparison to the old Andersen Consulting. In Bill words...

"...KI is riding the current talent-management wave perhaps better than any other HR consultancy of any size, certainly to be accelerated with the recent hire as vice president of Elaine Orler, a five-time presenter at the HR Technology Conference and "Ms Recruiting Systems," in my book. Averbook, CEO of the consultancy, a great presenter and salesman, has garnered KI about 150 clients for strategy, transformation and vendor selection in less than three years! At his hit Friday session on Web 2.0 technologies, I said KI could become for HR in the next decade what Andersen Consulting was in the early '90s (if you remember its power and influence back then), minus the implementations that made Andersen's vendor selections so dodgy. That is, if Averbook and co-founders Heidi Spirgi and Stavros Liakakos, all Gen Xers formerly at PeopleSoft, keep working 24/7 and don't screw it up. OK, if you find the Andersen comparison hyperbolic, at the very least KI will have the influence of the old Hunter Group, if you remember that name, too."

Thanks Bill for the kind words. I will try to make sure Jason, Heidi and Stavros don't screw it up either!

Ever been to a conference, sat in a great session and, towards the end of the session thought, "man...I would sure love this session to continue"?

Last week at the HR Technology Conference, Jason Averbook, CEO of Knowledge Infusion, hosted a session called "The Talent Management Panel" with some of the leading thinkers/practioners in HCM technology including:

• Liviu Dedes, VP Organizational and Leadership Development, Aramark

• Valerie Norvell, VP Training and Development, Luxottica/Sunglass Hut

• Nickolas Nyhus, VP Workforce Planning & HR Compliance, Ameriprise Financial

• Bryon D. Abramowitz, VP, Enterprise Services, Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc.

• Mary Ruiz, VP HR Technology and Processes, Yahoo!

As many were walking out of the room, the theme was consistent, "that could have kept going for a couple of hours". Well...I'm going to attempt to keep it going. With our Center of Excellence (COE) launch last week, we have created a community called "Talent Management" where we will be extending the discussion with the panelists. Click here to access the discussion (one caveat, you must be a registered member of the COE but don't worry, its free). Feel free to also reply to the discussion or create a new discussion. Let's keep the dialogue rolling!