Meet The Disruptors: Michelle Salis of DisruptHR Cleveland

Who are the people that are taking the lead in disrupting the future of work?

They’re the official Disruptors (Organizers) of DisruptHR events held in cities around the world. Each week, we’ll introduce you to one of these intelligent, inspiring, and beautiful people (okay, pick two) who have stepped up, and volunteered to organize a Disrupt HR event in their city.

Michelle Salis – DisruptHR Cleveland (Disruptor #8)

LinkedIn – Michelle Salis

Twitter – @michelle_salis

Who are you, and what do you do in your “day job”?

I have the pleasure of selling our UltiPro HCM system to Enterprise-level companies that have their headquarters in Ohio.

How did you first hear about DisruptHR?

I attended the very first DisruptHR event in Cincinnati (based upon a tweet I saw from Steve Browne) and knew that we had to bring DisruptHR to Cleveland!

Why did you decide to raise your hand and become an organizer for DisruptHR events in Cleveland?

I spent over 8 years on the Cleveland SHRM Board and “retired” back in 2009 when my role as NOHRC chair ended. I missed being an active volunteer and loved this movement.

How many events have you organized?

I’m one of the founding committee members and we are in the process of planning DisruptHR CLE 7.0 scheduled for August 10th. We host our event at the Music Box Supper Club located in the Flats in Cleveland. We started with about 100 attendees at our first event and now have over 180 attendees.

For the last DisruptHR event in February, over 50% of our audience were first time attendees. We have limited capacity at the venue and are researching a bigger venue for 2018.

What types of people/industries have attended your events?

Our audience members are very diverse. From HR Execs to practitioners, start-up community and tech community. Social media has helped broaden our audience.

What are you most proud of that has come out of being involved with/organizing DisruptHR events?

We have HR professionals that never leave their office always come to this event! It’s great to see them come out and network with their peers.

What kind of feedback have you received from those who attended prior DisruptHR Cleveland events?

We have hand selected a few of the speakers that generally don’t present to large audiences. They are excellent HR Execs and were pushed out of their comfort zone for this event. After the event, they were very thankful that we asked them to present and are now taking more risks in their careers to do more public speaking.

What is your favorite DisruptHR Talk, and why?

The most memorable talk was Frank Zupan. He kicked off our very first event back in 2014 with “10 Things HR Needs to Stop Saying Right Now”.

10 Things HR Needs to Stop Saying Right Now | Frank Zupan | DisruptHR Talks from DisruptHR on Vimeo.

He proceeded to drink a beer for 5 minutes as the slides scrolled. It was a very disruptive way to start the first ever DisruptHR in Cleveland.

Based off of the Talks and conversations at your events, what do you feel are the areas with the biggest opportunity for disruption?

I think it is the overall candidate and employee experience. What are you doing as a company to get your brand out there to entice candidates to work for you organization.

I work in technology with large employers and am still surprised at some of the career portals (of course, not my UltiPro customers!) Once they become employees, what are you consistently doing to keep them engaged with your organization. How are you leveraging technology to help?

What excites you or frustrates you about the future of work, your career and/or DisruptHR?

I know that we are all crazed in our professional and personal lives. There are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything on your “to do” list. However, you need to make time for your own career. You can’t sit in your office all day long and be secluded from your peers, social media, etc.

HR professionals need to do a better job in expanding their network. Just pick one event (like DisruptHR) and show up. You won’t be disappointed!

Follow What’s Happening With DisruptHR Cleveland:

– DisruptHR Cleveland Community Page

– DisruptHR Cleveland Facebook Page

– #DisruptHRCle Twitter mentions