Read time: 5 mins

Keywords: HRTech2024, Performance Management, Compensation, LinkedIn

 The HR Technology Conference and Exposition returned to Las Vegas, NV this September with RedCAT making our second trade show appearance this year. Our team secured a corner booth and the opening talk for the Tuesday evening Pub Crawl.

With 250 postcards, freshly printed business cards, and a banner in tow, my journey started on Monday morning with a shuttle ride to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. 

Monday­: Travel and meet

Spending 90 minutes in the security line provides one time to think through the plans for the week and confirm Low Power Mode is set to On for the day. After a four-hour flight, I was in the Harry Reid International Airport. Somehow, the checked banner arrived before I did, making it a quick trip through baggage claim.

Within two hours of landing and completing mobile check-in from my phone­–I headed to HR Tech’s registration to meet our Director of Growth Chad Atwell for the first time. As a remote-first company, it’s not often our team meets in person, but it’s always a great time to connect when we do.

We put the finishing touches on our booth space and went our separate way for the evening.

Tuesday: Prep and tour

Our next day was full. We had a team breakfast with our CEO Jason Phillips and made plans to head to the expo together that afternoon. The three of us previewed several booths, making note of names we wanted to learn more about and those with impressive design strategies.

 That evening was the Pub Crawl. A great opportunity for early access to speakers and booths, but most importantly swag. Jason led a talk on Building a Transformational Mindset with Trust, Strengths, and Transparency at the epicenter.

 After the conversation, we toured different vendors with a pitstop at the Startup Pavilion. There, we met with leading entrepreneurs and learned about the problems they’re solving.

 We called it an early evening, looking forward to the week ahead.

Wednesday: Show and tell

Wednesday was the official start to HR Tech 2024. We built connections with our exhibitor aisle neighbors and admired the effort put into their booth themes.

This was my first time working a booth at this level. In graduate school I had a summer direct marketing internship where I managed a product booth at a large retailer. A key difference between this experience is the depth of knowledge and understanding required to support HR Tech attendees.

We’re fortunate at RedCAT to have several team members well versed in compensation and total rewards, who are ready to talk integrations and calculation variables. Especially to have Chad leading the conversation at our booth with more than 20 years of experience in this space.

We closed out the day fulfilled by the conversations of our visitors. And, also, selfishly, the number of people who knew how to pronounce my name without a second thought. That’s a rare occurrence.

Thursday: Explore and connect

I started the day with a quick self-led walking tour of the Vegas Strip. I visited Las Vegas landmarks such as the Sphere, Caesar’s Palace, and the Bellagio. This was before 9 a.m., so most places were still closed, but it was a venture, nevertheless.

The expo hall opened at 9:30 a.m. This time I chose to record footage from the registration area to our booth for us to create a timelapse video for LinkedIn. It was about a 3.5-minute walk. That’s one thing to prepare for when it comes to a conference this size—you’ll over exceed your step goal every day.

It was a slower day for the booth. I had overheard attendees discuss changing travel plans due to weather concerns in the Southeast, so that might’ve played a factor. We made the most of our time, continuing conversations with other exhibitors, engaging with new and existing customers, and celebrating our personal wins for the week.

At 4 p.m., the lights were dimmed, and the HR Tech 2024 exhibition hall closed. We packed our booth and received our tracking information. 

I took personal inventory of all the swag collected throughout the week as I prepared my bags for Atlanta. 

HR Tech reflection

The learnings and conversations we gained during HR Tech will be pivotal to our growth as a company and brand. We can’t wait to share what’s next for RedCAT Systems.