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UNLEASH America Conference & Expo – The International Festival of HR is returning for another year in 2024.
It's not one to miss. The conference is the world’s fastest-growing HR event and will once again bring HR leaders from across the globe to solve industry challenges, share inspirational stories, and change the way organizations think about human resources.
Running from May 7 to May 9, 2024’s UNLEASH America conference is set to be bigger than ever in 2024, with over 5,000 leaders, technology buyers, and vendors from over 3,000 leading employers in nearly 100 countries.
“UNLEASH America features numerous exceptional sessions, speakers, experiences, and hours of networking for an unforgettable journey as we explore topics including courageous leadership, AI, and the future of work,” says Marc Coleman, Founder and CEO.
Whether it’s through a killer keynote speech, a practical pre-event summit workshop, or an innovative vendor demo, HR’s foremost experts, practitioners, and tech providers will be tackling the biggest challenges and themes for HR head-on.
HR Grapevine’s selection: Three critical themes and three unmissable sessions
More than 200 speakers will present at UNLEASH America 2024. Whether it's employee disengagement, AI anxiety, or recruitment woes keeping you up at night, there’s coverage for every key theme that will shape the HR departments in 2024 and beyond.
Everyone will be looking for something different from their time in Las Vegas, but here are HR Grapevine’s recommendations for three unmissable sessions that will offer universal value:
Theme: 2024 - The year of enterprise-grade AI
Session: Josh Bersin, Founder and CEO, The Josh Bersin Company, “PANEL | Navigating the Future: Unveiling AI's Impact on HR Leadership, Innovation, and Trust”
Where else to start but with AI? For some, the promise of AI is already a reality, from streamlining recruitment processes to automating payroll and beyond. For others, the idea of AI at work is risky, dangerous, or even laughable. But ignoring the problem won’t go away, and employees will both use AI and expect communication from your company on when, how, and why it will be adopted.
Workday research reveals a significant trust gap between employee and employer, with 23% of employees saying they are not confident their organization puts employee interests above its own when implementing AI, and four in five employees saying their company has yet to share guidelines on responsible AI use.
Bersin is a conference stalwart armed with data-led insights, practical tips and reality checks aplenty, ready to cut through the buzz and straight to the heart of the opportunities and issues AI presents to HR. This isn’t one to be missed. You can get a taste of what to expect by signing up for an upcoming HR Grapevine webinar with Josh Bersin on the four-day work-week.
Theme: Talent and recruitment
Session: Jyoti Chopra, CHRO, MGM Resorts International, “Viva Las Vegas: Winning Strategies From the Top Las Vegas Resorts on Nurturing and Retaining Talent”
From Quit-Tok to job-hopping candidates, the age-old difficulties of engaging and retaining talent rear their heads through different buzzwords and trends. Whilst the hashtags might change, the fundamental issues are still the same: Why are our employees unhappy, and how can we keep our best workers?
Chopra’s session, beyond the obvious appeal of immersing us in the Sin City setting of roulette wheels and luxury suites, will get at the heart of these issues. There are nearly 300 hotels in Las Vegas alone, making it a perfect study for how to retain talent in a highly competitive landscape which has seen the city's most glamorous hotels accuse others of poaching employees.
The discussion looks to be highly practical and downright fascinating in equal measure – well worth taking a bet on.
Theme: Courageous leadership
Session: Earvin “Magic” Johnson, NBA Hall of Famer and entrepreneur, “Courageous Leadership”
In a world of uncertainty, volatility, and accelerating change, good leadership has never been more important. Gallup research tells us employees who strongly agree they trust the leadership of their organization are 4.0 times as likely to be engaged.
But what does good look like? Vulnerable? Innovative? Courageous?
It would be easy, at an event chock-full of thousands of HR professionals, for the conversation to become self-indulgent or siloed, and for HR to lose sight of what good leadership means. Conferences like UNLEASH remove this risk by bringing novel and diverse perspectives to the stage. Enter Earvin “Magic” Johnson onto the court.
Magic’s session should be nominative determinism in full swing and leave those who attend with fresh ideas and perspectives about how they can develop leaders that employees trust. It should be a slam dunk (sorry).
Making the best of UNLEASH America 2024
Of course, these are just three of over 200 sessions, before you take into account the 5,000 networking opportunities walking the halls of the finest conference center Las Vegas has to offer.
To make the most of your time, remember to review UNLEASH’s pre-conference resources and delve into HR Grapevine’s guides for getting the best out of conferences in 2024.
Viva Las Vegas – and see you there!
HR Grapevine’s Editor at Large will be attending UNLEASH America 2024. If you’d like to set up time to speak, be it a formal interview or friendly chat, please email [email protected].
