I’m always excited about live events. There’s something irreplaceable about people coming together to celebrate, to bond, to experience. The sense of community is priceless and the opportunity to truly immerse and network with so many colleagues, peers and luminaries at once can feel like a rare gift. But what we learn in these live, immersive formats is really the gamechanger. We get the chance to truly take a deep dive into ideas, strategies and solutions we may not get the chance to explore during our relentlessly busy day-to-days. New approaches, new technologies, new tools — you just don’t know until you get there. So I was thrilled when I heard Workhuman Live 2025 is happening — and happening, I think, is the right word here. This is a 4-day HR-fest at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado, spanning May 12 to 15.
The event, by the way, is only in-person (and if you’re concerned about accessibility, the planners have taken care of that). The choice to stick with a live format is a bold one, but it makes sense: it almost feels like a celebration of HR and the future of work. It’s also going to be immensely entertaining: Trevor Noah is one of the keynotes, along with a host of marquee names: the list of speakers includes one visionary after another. This is going to be a packed agenda, with four days dedicated to building community, sharing groundbreaking ideas, learning, and growth, with thousands of people who will feel like your best friends by the time everyone walks out the doors for the last time. As a thought leader, a member of this amazing industry, a business leader, and a practitioner, I can’t wait to attend.
A good disruption
Workhuman Live events are always ambitious. Going since 2015, each is designed to transform, not just inform; to immerse, not just converse. These are occasions intentionally designed to be intense and unforgettable in good ways. They’re meant to provide a milestone event that serves as a positive, hopeful disruption. In HR we have a common tendency to think in silos, not ecosystems; in incremental fixes, not holistic solutions. By force of habit and necessity, we sometimes keep our vision short-term because it’s a heavy lift to turn seriously breakthrough ideas into actual, practical strategies. Granted, leaders often try to allocate at least a portion of their role for a more future-forward, big-picture approach, but it’s usually a luxury to switch gears on the daily. As for managers and mid-level practitioners? More like an impossibility, given the litany of tasks. But HR thinkers and feelers, these four days are for you.
If Workhuman Live 2025 seems even more ambitious, I think that’s absolutely the right approach for right now. We’re in an era when focusing on people, technology and business challenges requires big thinking and bold moves: we have to dig in, we have to think outside the box. Clarity and vision are necessities, given the pace and scale of transformation. And we all know that we are not the world of work we were 10 years ago, let alone a year ago. By the time we say transformation some aspect of change has already taken place. I’m gratified that Workhuman planned an event to so thoroughly embrace these new complexities.
Mainstage to meetups
How to navigate an event like this is always a challenge in itself, but I’m planning to earmark these 4 days as a voluntary interruption of the status quo, and take in as many sessions as I can. Note that there are more than 65 speakers in all on the schedule, and literally no way to hear them all. Of the keynotes, Trevor Noah’s got a right-now brilliance and the ability to be entertaining and apt at the same time, and I think we all need that right now. I’m always drawn to organizational psychologist Adam Grant and his take on unlocking potential at scale. Erin Meyers has a savvy, well-considered approach to building culture that applies to even the biggest organizations. Cy Wakeman is a leader’s leadership expert whose emphasis on reality I find very refreshing.
Last but not least on this very partial list? Eric Mosley, the CEO and founder of Workhuman. This event is his brainchild, and central to his mission of bringing more humanity to work. He’s evolved some truly deep perspective on how humanity and technology can work together in effective, people-empowering ways. We should always be talking about how to leverage innovations to include people, not leave them behind. Of course we’re going to be talking about AI here, and I’m looking forward to his insights, and seeing where our perspectives on recognition, performance and AI intersect.
How to ace the event
There are dozens of ways to experience this conference, from mega and breakout sessions to workshops to networking activities. It’s designed to energize and nourish; to celebrate and recognize — which is part of Workhuman’s DNA after all. The event is curated around four relevant cornerstones, and I recommend focusing on the tracks that most fit your needs:
- personal growth and strategic clarity on our roles and careers.
- building organizational cultures and driving success.
- building community and empowering by aligning company and human values.
- giving leaders dynamic, data-driven strategies to boost performance and people.
My advice? First, with so many concurrent sessions, you’ll likely wish you could be two places — if not three — at once. One solution is to bring a team so you can divide and conquer — then share your learnings. Whether you’re going solo or with colleagues, stay focused. This event is not meant to provide all things to all attendees; there’s simply too much going on at once, for good reason. It reflects today’s enormously expanded landscape, in which the world of work is more like a universe of work. Even calling it all work is probably a misnomer (I’m looking forward to new definitions). But with the calibre of insights you’re going to encounter, swap out endless variety for enduring experience. Stay in your lane and seek out wisdom that addresses your pain points. (And for more on that, I had a great conversation on the #WorkTrends podcast with Workhuman CHRO Keyanna Schmiedl.)
Second, give yourself plenty of chances to mingle and network. Take advantage of the scheduled breaks in this marathon as well. Use the downtime to regroup, fix those hastily scribbled notes, check on your team, save those new contacts and add a detail or two about them for when you reach out. Eat something delicious. Have a cappuccino, drink some water. And third, don’t be afraid to enjoy yourself. You’ll have plenty of time to unpack all the wisdom you gathered later — and score your professional development and continuing education credits too. For now? Soak up all the energy and inspiration you can, and remind yourself how lucky we all are to be in a field that celebrates and recognizes people.
Sponsored by Workhuman
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