CIPD Festival of Work - Live From the Event

Day 2 of the CIPD Festival of Work is in full swing, and the festival atmosphere is nothing short of electrifying! Building on the success of last year’s unforgettable event, this year’s festival continues to infuse the world of work with vibrant energy and innovation.

The festival floor is buzzing with activity as attendees immerse themselves in interactive content, led by inspirational thought leaders and industry experts. The networking opportunities are enriching, and the activities are immersive.

Listen to this special episode to hear from exhibitors and attendees live from the CIPD Festival of Work!

More about the festival

Over 170 exhibitor stands are showcasing the latest innovations, workplace technologies, and business management tools and services. Attendees are engaging in in-person discussions, hands-on demonstrations, and gaining real insights into effective integration within their organizations.

Peers are coming together to explore critical topics such as AI, hybrid working, and ethics. There’s a deep dive into organizational culture and leadership development across several stages:

DEI Stage This stage is fostering fairness and collaboration, spotlighting positive actions and innovations in diversity. From examining initiatives to challenging best practices, the sessions are driving workplace growth and inclusivity.

Employee Experience Stage From onboarding to retention, the importance of listening to employees is emphasized. Discussions revolve around best practices for work satisfaction and leveraging existing data for people analytics, providing valuable insights for organizational success.

Internal Comms Stage Exploring the pivotal role of communication within organizations, this stage is dedicated to developing strategies that empower teams to actively participate in achieving organizational goals. Attendees are leaving with toolkits for employee advocacy and engagement case studies.

L&D Stage Focused on the skills agenda, this stage is all about developing future skills, prioritizing tasks, and managing increasing workloads. It’s a deep dive into the effective development of essential competencies.

Responsible Business Stage Addressing critical issues like trust, transparency, pay equality, mental health, and overall wellbeing, this stage is tackling the most important themes for modern organizations, providing actionable insights and strategies.

As Day 2 progresses, the CIPD Festival of Work continues to be a hub of learning, networking, and inspiration, truly making it a transformative experience for all who attend.

Transcript

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HR Chat Show at CIPD Festival

Speaker 1 0:03

Welcome to the HR Chat Show , one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros , talent execs , tech enthusiasts and business leaders . For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work , subscribe to the show , follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom .

Speaker 2 0:25

Welcome to a special episode of the HR Chat Show . Hello , this is your host today , bill Bannon , and it's special because I am at the CIPD World of Work Festival at the Excel Centre in London and I'm walking around on day two chatting with lots of attendees and exhibitors . So in this episode , listeners , you are going to hear from a whole bunch of folks who are at CIPD . You're going to hear their thoughts as to why they're here , what they're getting out of it , and a whole bunch more . I hope you enjoyed this episode and , if you do , please remember to like , comment and subscribe .

Speaker 3 1:02

So my name is Martin Baker . I'm the CEO and founder of the Charity Mentoring Network .

Speaker 2 1:07

And we're here at the CIPD Festival of Work . Martin , why are you here today ?

Speaker 3 1:11

So we're here mainly to talk to corporates about this new project that we just released . So the Charity Mentoring Network is about connecting all 200,000 UK charities to share mentors . Any charity with less than 50 employees is free of charge . So we're here really to talk to corporates about them joining to use their charity and volunteering days to be mentors back into the charity sector , and then the fee that they pay will then fund access to those smaller charities .

Speaker 2 1:37

And why is the CIPD event ? Why is that the right fit for you guys ?

Speaker 3 1:41

And so this is the right fit , because our expertise and our space is within the lnd world , and so the audience here is hr and lnd people who understand what mentoring is about and can see the value of mentoring within their organizations . And why do you love what you do ? Oh , I just love what I do . I love working in the sector . I love working within , within , I love working within the territory sector because people are doing it so care . It's not about money .

Speaker 4 2:03

My name's James Gardiner and I'm a co-founder and director of Studios Digital Education , creator of the Rise e-learning app and yeah really great to be able to come here and tell people a little bit about what we do at Studios , how we bring high quality education into people's phones , into their workplaces , bringing the best academics from across the UK to give them that misspoke learning experience really video , rich content and just a chance to interact and find out from practitioners as well Best of practice outside of their industry as well as inside their industry and organisation .

Speaker 2 2:42

And why specifically the CIPipd ? Why is this the right event for you guys ?

Speaker 4 2:47

so we work with companies all over the uk and really wanted to expand working with some smaller organizations , middle-sized organizations . Um , copd was a great event . We work closely with the copd from the university side as well and we just wanted to be able to come here to connect with so that , let say , non-traditional partners that we might not be able to reach through other methods .

Speaker 2 3:08

And what makes you guys unique ?

Speaker 4 3:10

Well , what makes us unique really is that we're a university spin-out that has created a really high-quality learning experience online . But we bring the best academics and practitioners come to be able to deliver that in-person , face-to-face , but also the asynchronous content . So academics write the content that's featured on our learning platforms . So you really are hearing from the people who write the books , who give the guest lecture keynote speeches at various different events . So you get that unique blend of high-quality academic content in a digital format that's really engaging , that's really gamified and really sort of exciting and sticky . We also hear from great practitioners from other companies , big brands across the UK .

Speaker 2 3:52

Very good , james , and you're also based in the fine city of Norwich , so I'm sure I'll be tapping you up for a disrupt talk at some point . Thank you very much .

Speaker 5 3:58

I'm Anna Marsden and I am a training associate for the Oakridge Centre and I lead on the Stride programme , which is a programme for female leaders , aspirational managers and accidental managers .

Speaker 6 4:10

Perfect , thank you , anna and yourself . I'm Deborah Lardishaw and I'm a camp director from Oakridge , and look after the Stride programme .

Speaker 2 4:16

Okay , very good . And here we are at CIPD . Why exhibit at CIPD ?

Speaker 6 4:22

So we decided this is our first time at CIPD , even though the programme is 12 years old , so we just decided to come along and a lot of our people who've been on the programme have said why don't you tell more people about this ? So that's the reason we're here today . Okay .

Speaker 2 4:34

And Anna . What's the mission of Stride ?

Speaker 5 4:37

So we know , because research tells us that we are great at showing women at boards , because we count that . So there's training and development for women at boards . What we know is women in the middle pipeline tend to lose them , and we lose them because there's a preconception , which isn't always right , about what management and leadership looks like and we opt out sometimes of that . So for Stride , we're all about targeting women who are aspirational and accidental managers , and the course runs through starts with the psychometric tool , with emergenetics , and we end with coaching . We've got online and in-person modules that focus on ourself , our ways of thinking and knowing what our values are and how we can dial into authentic leadership and managers as women Rock and roll .

Speaker 2 5:25

And what have your big takeaways been from the conference sessions maybe you attended or conversations that you've had ? One big takeaway for each of you from the festival work .

Speaker 6 5:34

I think I was amazed yesterday just how many people are interested in female leadership development and we were sort of had people queue in to talk to us . It's been amazing in terms of that experience and just shows how much the need is for female leadership development . As Anna said , it's a real sort of challenge at that middle management level and we're hoping to help support female leaders in order to be the best version of themselves and to become those leaders in the future . Very good .

Speaker 2 5:58

Thank you , anna . What about yourself ?

Speaker 5 6:00

again , I've been astounded by how busy we were yesterday in particular , and today , having conversations with people because they know that they need to do more to support women in leadership positions and women in managerial positions . So , again , we know that we're four times more likely as women and intersectional women we will experience this differently . We're four times more likely to burn out in work . We're three times more likely to leave a work situation because it's not good for us . So there is a real need to encourage and motivate and train women for resilience in the workplace , which is what we do at stride hi , my name is

HR Professionals at CIPD Festival

Speaker 5 6:34

zachariah pace .

Speaker 7 6:34

I'm just with the ipdh on form and I'm one of the um business sales executive , business sales consultants . Um , is it just my name and where I'm from ? Yeah , that's it . That's it .

Speaker 2 6:47

You're doing well so far . Okay . So here we are at the cipd festival of work . Uh , you guys are cipd hr . Inform . Tell us a bit about the business so we're endorsed by cipd .

Speaker 7 6:56

we're an information platform to support hr professionals with kind of their day-to-day operations to you know , anywhere from like policy work , training to even benchmarking or beyond , and we provide that support network for CIBD members and HR professionals as well .

Speaker 2 7:12

And obviously you're going to be biased with this answer . But why is the CIBD ? Why is this a good event ?

Speaker 7 7:17

Oh , first of all , it's just a great way to network , meet new people , inform people about the platform as well . It's surprising because not everyone's familiar . I think it gets a bit lost in translation when they're just thinking of CIPD and they're unaware of maybe this whole platform that can actually support them . So it's just great to spread the message . Also , we've just had a recent new launch , basically with Pro , so it's a way to spread the word about Pro , get people kind of excited about the changes and how we can inform professionals and help them with their day to day .

Speaker 2 7:47

Really , and what's been the highlight of your event so far ? Highlight of the event so far .

Speaker 7 7:52

Oh , I think the dogs maybe the dogs . Yeah , it was really nice to see them . It's been so busy , we've had so much attention , so it's been hard to get away and that's been really good , just kind of meeting the people as well . But the dog's always a little highlight . You can't go wrong with a little puppy .

Speaker 8 8:12

You can't go wrong with a little puppy . I'm Christopher Preeb . I'm the founder and CEO of Zelt .

Speaker 2 8:18

And what does Zelt do ? What's the mission of Zelt ?

Speaker 8 8:21

Zelt is an all-in-one HR platform and the mission really is to simplify people operations processes so you can spend less time on administrative tasks and spend more time on evaluating tasks .

Speaker 2 8:34

And why are you here at the CIPD Festival of Work ?

Speaker 8 8:37

We are here because a lot of our customers are here as attendees and we're looking to connect with companies that we haven't spoken to before , from different industries that we may not know yet . So it's great to hear what people are working on , what their priorities are and what problems they have , so hopefully we can potentially help them .

Speaker 2 8:54

And Christopher , what do you love about your job ?

Speaker 8 9:00

I love simplifying stuff , I love solving problems . I'm a physicist by background , so I kind of stumbled into HR tech , more or less by accident , and I used to be an investor in big HR companies and I just saw from the customer base how many problems and how much pain there is in people , operations processes and I just I just feel like there's a better way .

Speaker 9 9:22

My name is Celia Wright and I am one of the founder and directors of Communication Collective , and that means that I coach people , I train people , I facilitate workshops and I also run the business .

Speaker 10 9:33

Hello , my name is Charlotte Lucas . I'm also a co-director of Communication Collective . I train people , I come up with programmes that we teach people and I also run the company with Celia . Emma Darwell-Smith is not here at the moment . She's another of our directors .

Speaker 2 9:47

Very good . And here we are at the CIPD Festival of Work . Is it your first time ? Have you exhibited here before ?

Speaker 10 9:54

No , but I was here last year and I loved it . That's why we're here now , but no , but I was here last year and I loved it .

Speaker 9 9:57

that's why we're here now , but it's our first time exhibiting at a festival . We decided let's see how it is , let's come out and meet more people and have more conversations , and being here and having a stand has really enabled those conversations . People want to know how can they develop themselves , how can they develop their teams .

Speaker 10 10:14

Why are you guys awesome ? Why are we awesome ? I think we're awesome because of our backgrounds as actors professional actors from stage and tv and screen um , from having been in that profession and been to drama school . We've used all those skills and techniques and applied them to these communication skills . So it feels different , it feels experiential . We get people to stand up and do the things they're thinking about , maybe through role play or it could be through , I don't know , challenging the way they think dissecting a script as an actor might dissect a script . Looking at you know ways in which we can make it more dynamic and affect other people .

Speaker 2 10:50

I think that's the key , is we're all about ? How do we ? Affect other people , and if people want to learn more about you , how can they do that ?

Speaker 9 10:56

please visit us on our website , wwwcommunicationcollectivecouk , or you can find us all through our linkedin profile .

Speaker 11 11:04

It's Matt Goten . I'm the Head of Sales for Phase 3 Consulting .

Speaker 2 11:08

And what is Phase 3 Consulting ?

Speaker 11 11:11

So we help customers to select , implement and manage their HR , payroll and finance software and digital transformation products that sit underneath all that . Why does that matter , Malcolm ? Because customers don't necessarily have the depth of knowledge in software products that we have in the HR , payroll and finance space . They come to us for independent advice on how to select a system and how to best implement it and configure it for their industry .

Speaker 2 11:36

How important is it that you guys are an independent company , so you guys don't , for example , recommend certain software ?

Speaker 11 11:44

So most vendors in the marketplace will create great software and there aren't any bad products out there . But in the sales cycle often the vendors will show all the shiny , colourful dashboards that woo the customers and they buy a product that actually sometimes isn't fit for purpose . And when a customer spends the amount of money and time they do on investing in software that two , three years down the line they end up ripping out , that's a really bad move . So having an independent level of advice for customers to select the right software is important to prevent having to spend all that time and cost invested into the wrong decision-making process .

Speaker 2 12:23

And why CIPD .

Speaker 11 12:24

So it's an event we come to every year . We have good footfall on our stands . We engage with our existing customers , loads of new customers engaging us around issues they're having with their systems and asking for advice from us as an independent , giving their customers good customer service and ongoing support . And that's where Phase 3 are really strong . So those customers are relying on that independent view as to what the whole of market best practice looks like , versus what one vendor's view of the market might be .

Speaker 2 13:00

Awesome , and if folks want to connect with you , malcolm , how can they do that ?

Speaker 11 13:03

Phase3.couk .

Speaker 2 13:05

And LinkedIn . Are you on LinkedIn ?

Speaker 11 13:06

Yeah , Phase 3 Consulting .

Speaker 1 13:10

Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show . If you enjoyed this episode , why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work ? Subscribe to the show , follow us on social media and visit HRGazettecom .