As I’ve said before, Ignite HR is an intriguing and very different type of conference format.
Speakers get only five (5) minutes, 20 slides and exactly 15 seconds per slide for their presentation, and this makes for a fast-moving and (sometimes) memorable presentation. If nothing else, it moves the topic along pretty quickly.
It’s also why the session title is critical to pulling the audience in quickly. A highly engaging title can really help to pull people into the topic a lot quicker, and in some ways, reduce a bit the fast-moving and sometimes abrupt nature of the Ignite HR format.
That’s why the third presentation I saw at HR Reinvention in Omaha last month was one that made people wonder, “just what is this one all about?”
The title really said it all — Why You Should Hire Criminals?
The presenter in Omaha was Nick Jasa, the CEO of One Source, a Nebraska-based Background Check Company. And as you might imagine, his Ignite HR presentation had a little bit to do with his business, background checks, and the fallout that impacts people who want to work but don’t have a perfect track record.
Interesting topic? You bet; it certainly was for me. But, it seemed to me at the time I first saw Nick do this, as it does now, that a topic like this may be perfectly suited for the quick, five-minute length of an Ignite HR presentation.
Take a look and see if you agree, but for my money, it’s the exact type of subject that this kind of presentation format was really meant for.