We have Bill Kutik's very popular HR Technology Shootouts and now we have a Beauty Pageant giving top vendors in HR technology another venue to strut their stuff.
I love great marketing ideas.
And that is exactly what HRchitect's recently announced "Beauty Pageants" for Top Vendors in the HR Technology Arena is - a great marketing idea.
Why?
For a lot of reasons but mainly because it is highly creative, well branded, provides real value for HR decision makers, gives HRchitect a ton of visibility and will generate a lot of ongoing buzz.
As a marketer I wish I could take credit for such a fabulous idea. But I can't. Kudos to Tiffany Appleby and Matt Lafata at HRchitect' for coming up and executing this idea.
Here are the details:
What is it?
HRchitect, an HR technology consulting firm that helps companies select the right technology for their HR and talent management needs, is hosting a series of 90-minute webinars where six vendors will compete for the votes from an estimated 200 HR professionals in attendance.
What are the HR people voting on?
Who has the best HR technology solution.
What is the schedule of Webinars?
(all times are 11am CST)
November 14: Talent Acquisition Systems
November 21: Talent Management Systems
December 12: Human Resource Information Systems
December 19: Learning Management Systems
January 9: Mid-market ATS
January 16: Onboarding
January 23: Employee Performance Management
February 6: Mid-market HRIS
February 13: Time & Attendance Systems
February 20: Workforce Planning
March 13: Compensation Management
March 20: Succession Planning
What HR Technology vendors will compete?
HRchitect publishes many reports on what they believe to be the top HR technology vendors. They reached out to the top vendors in each category above to participate in these Beauty Pageants. Some declined. Ultimately, about 6 vendors were selected per category.
Why Beauty Pageants?
That's the theme for these 90 minute webcasts where each of the 6 vendors (contestants) have 7 minutes to strut their stuff. Here is the agenda:
- Opening Ceremonies: Intro by HRchitect and overview of the marketplace.
- Evening Gown: The formalities. Contestants give their corporate overview, list of marque clients, etc.
- Swimsuit: The Wow factor. Contestants discuss their technology, usability and show some skin (screenshots).
- Talent: Contestants discuss their technology's functionality, integration, features, etc.
- Interview: The audience (HR professionals) asks questions.
- Vote: HR people vote and the winner is crowned.
Good "content". Good marketing. Good visibility. Good leads. Good fun.
I love it.
More details here.
HR Buyers guide, thousands of white papers and other content related to human resources and more! 
Posts
3 comments:
Hi, Mark. I think you're off-base putting the HR Technology Shootouts and these Beauty Pageants in the same sentence, though I always appreciate a blog reference to the conference.
The Shootouts are based on a rigorous scenario of everyday HR problems that the four vendor CEOs must solve with custom, live demos, and they spend hundreds of hours preparing for it. The Shootout allows no time for marketing pitches or selling. And because of the common script, the audience has a real basis for making judgments among them and then voting.
While we've occasionally been accused of being a "beauty pageant" due to the influence of a good presenter and a pretty UI on the audience, these new Beauty Pageants are truly just that: pure marketing events. Vendors pitching from your computer, saying whatever they like, presumably with no rules but the segments you laid out above. I am ignorant whether they'll be paying to participate or not, but they don't for the Shootout.
Certainly they will be useful for people ignorant of the vendors' offerings, but they seem to me to offer no additional information or insight for those truly trying to make a selection among them.
But best of luck to them.
Bill Kutik
Hi Bill,
I'm not comparing the two so I don't think the posting was inappropriate.
While you present some fair points, I think the folks at HRchitect (a reputable and respected HR technology consulting firm) would say they too have a rigorous process and that there are some real advantages to hosting these types of events "online" where more HR professionals can participate (especially in this economy when many travel budgets are being reduced or eliminated).
But more to the point - it does not really matter because I don't think anyone is "comparing". And ultimately, it is the HR professional that decides the credibility and value -- or lack of -- of these events.
As I see it, the more the better when it comes to events that help HR people better understand the many technology solutions available in the human capital marketplace.
I would encourage you to reach out to HRchitect (or vice versa) to learn more about the others "process" as I think both parties can learn something from the other when it comes to hosting these types of events that help HR people better understand and evaluate HR Technology vendors.
This is all good for the HR industry.
As always, thank you kindly for reading our blog and best of luck with the 2009 HR Technology event (and Shootout).
Thanks Bill.
Mark Willaman
President and Founder HRmarketer.com
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the great blog about our beauty pageants. We are very excited about the concept and the interest it has generated.
As you pointed out, and Bill Kutik did as well, this is not a shootout and there is nothing scripted. Yes we have a guideline that we have provided to each vendor (evening gown, swimsuit, talent and interview) but what they do with that is up to them. You pointed this out nicely in your blog and each vendor will choose what they want to do with the limited time they have.
Mark, you commented that perhaps we should reach out to Bill to learn more about his shootout process. While I appreciate the spirit of the comment, I was not able to attend the shootout at HR Tech in Chicago so I don’t know the specific format and I think it is better that I missed it. We didn’t want anything to influence how we conduct these unique sessions, and we didn’t want people to compare our idea to anything else. So in the end, we agree with you that all of this is good for the industry.
We are not asking the audience to make a decision as to which product to purchase based on this webinar series. We don’t think you can get that from a shootout format either. Our webinar is designed in a way to provide exposure to a select group of qualified vendors in a short, informative and fun format. In fact, we will be stressing the need for the customer to utilize Decision Drivers and to still conduct a rigorous software evaluation project based on their unique requirements (and referencing Bill’s shootout process, his shootouts are based on fictitious scenarios and not the customer’s unique requirements, so we advise customers not to make software purchase decisions without going through a software evaluation process).
Also to Bill’s question, vendors are not paying to participate in the beauty pageant. The more qualified vendors are invited by HRchitect to participate. HRchitect is funding the cost of the webinar infrastructure and marketing efforts related to it.
At the end of the day we feel strongly that as the leaders in Talent Management Systems consulting, we have an obligation to educate the marketplace. We are just looking for a different way to help vendors get their message out and in the end, everybody wins.
Matt Lafata, HRchitect
Post a Comment