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In addition to covering large-scale global events such as SHRM, ATD, and HR Tech Conference, I’ve been involved in building business communities and producing events for HR professionals and business leaders for nearly 20 years. From my early career at Haymarket and Ultima Media, through to co-founding the InnovateWork series in Toronto and across Canada, co-running a series of AI Summits at UK universities, and, more recently, co-organising DisruptHR events in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Buffalo, Dublin, Cambridge and elsewhere, I’ve had the opportunity to experience B2B events from many different angles.
So, when it comes to building business communities, I feel I have a pretty good sense of what makes for a powerful event experience and, equally, what can leave attendees wondering whether their time might have been better spent elsewhere.
For me, the best events aren’t necessarily the biggest. They’re the ones that create the right environment for relevant people to meet, exchange ideas, learn something useful and form relationships that continue long after everyone has gone home.
That was one of the reasons I particularly enjoyed my recent HRchat Podcast conversation with Robbie Jones, CEO and Co-Founder of Double Centurion Events and a global advisor in HR technology and people platforms.
Robbie has also seen the events industry from several angles, including major international exhibitions, the HR technology sector and, more recently, executive-level experiences designed specifically for senior HR and People leaders.
Our conversation got me thinking about how the expectations of B2B events are changing.
Big HR conferences have long been a fixture of the industry calendar – and for good reason. Thousands of attendees, packed exhibition halls, multiple stages and seemingly endless opportunities to network can create an energy and breadth of experience that’s difficult to replicate elsewhere.
I’ve attended, supported and reported from plenty of them over the years, and at their best, large-scale events do an excellent job of bringing an entire industry together. They expose attendees to new technologies and ideas, provide access to a huge range of expertise and create opportunities to reconnect with existing contacts while making plenty of new ones.
At the same time, we’re seeing other event formats emerge alongside the big conferences, offering something deliberately different.
For some CHROs, CPOs and other senior leaders, smaller and more curated gatherings provide an opportunity to go deeper on particular issues, spend more time with a carefully selected group of peers and have candid conversations about the challenges they’re facing.
It’s not really a question of one model replacing another. The most interesting development is the growing variety of experiences available to HR leaders – from major industry gatherings that offer scale, choice and energy to intimate executive summits designed around deeper conversations and relationship-building.
That’s one of the ideas behind the Leaders Summit for HR & People series.
Rather than trying to maximise attendee numbers, Robbie and his team focus on creating curated, invitation-led environments. The model includes a concierge-style delegate experience, executive think tanks and a carefully selected combination of senior HR practitioners and relevant solution providers.
The objective isn’t simply to put lots of people in the same room. It’s to create the conditions for the right conversations to happen.
From Networking to Relationship Building
One of the themes that came through strongly in our conversation was the importance of trust.
We often use “networking” as shorthand for almost any interaction that happens at a business event. But there’s a significant difference between exchanging LinkedIn details after a two-minute conversation and developing a relationship with someone you trust enough to call when facing a major organisational challenge.
I’ve seen that first-hand through the events I’ve helped organise. Some of the most valuable outcomes aren’t immediately obvious on the day. They’re the partnerships, introductions, friendships and business opportunities that emerge weeks, months or even years later.
That distinction matters enormously in HR.
People leaders are dealing with increasingly complex questions around workforce transformation, organisational design, leadership, employee wellbeing, skills and rapidly evolving technologies. Many of these issues don’t have simple answers.
They benefit from honest conversations between people who understand the pressures involved.
In that environment, a smaller executive community can potentially offer something a huge conference struggles to replicate: the space for people to talk openly.
AI Is Changing the Executive HR Conversation
Unsurprisingly, AI featured prominently in my discussion with Robbie.
The conversation among senior HR leaders has moved well beyond whether AI will affect the workplace. The questions now concern where organisations should deploy it, how quickly they should move, what governance is required and what it means for jobs, skills and leadership.
Those questions also intersect with wider challenges around wellbeing, workforce transformation and organisational performance.
For event organisers, simply adding “AI” to a conference agenda isn’t enough.
Senior executives increasingly want to understand what their peers are actually doing. What’s working? What isn’t? Where are the risks? Which investments are producing measurable results?
A well-facilitated think tank, roundtable or peer discussion can sometimes generate more useful insight than another presentation predicting what the workplace might look like in five years.
Why the Environment Matters
Another interesting element of Robbie’s approach is the choice of venues.
The Leaders Summit series has used memorable locations including Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and, for its Canadian edition, Niagara Falls.
I’ve become increasingly convinced that the physical environment matters.
Taking people away from a standard conference or office setting can change the dynamic. Conversations continue over coffee, dinner or drinks. People relax. Relationships have an opportunity to develop beyond a scheduled 20-minute meeting.
We’ve tried to embrace some of that thinking with the different event formats I’ve been involved with too – from university-based AI Summits and smaller leadership gatherings to the intentionally fast-paced and informal atmosphere of DisruptHR.
The format and environment should support the conversation rather than get in its way.
In an increasingly digital business world, those shared physical experiences arguably have greater value than they did before the pandemic.
Technology has made it incredibly easy to arrange a call with almost anyone. What remains difficult is building genuine trust.
What HR Technology Providers Should Take From This
There’s an important lesson here for HR technology companies and other solution providers too.
Getting access to senior HR decision-makers isn’t simply a numbers game.
A database containing thousands of contacts isn’t necessarily as valuable as a handful of trusted relationships with executives who understand what you do and why it matters.
That means providers participating in executive events need to approach them differently.
Rather than arriving with an aggressive sales pitch, the opportunity is to contribute intelligently to the conversation, understand the challenges leaders are trying to solve and build credibility over time.
The organisations that do that well are far more likely to create meaningful commercial relationships.
The Future of HR Events May Be More Human
After nearly two decades around B2B events, one thing I’m increasingly convinced of is a growing demand for smaller, more curated communities built around relevance, trust and shared experience.
For senior HR leaders whose calendars are already overflowing, that’s a compelling proposition.
Perhaps the question event organisers should be asking isn’t “How many people can we get into the room?” It’s “How many valuable conversations can we help happen once they’re there?”
That’s a much more interesting measure of a successful event.
Connect with Robbie on LinkedIn and learn more about the Leaders Summit for HR & People series.
