Originally posted on the SmashFly Recruitment Marketing Blog.

The 13th annual HR Technology Conference begins in less than a week and we are getting prepared for all the HR & recruitment marketing goodness that will be happening in Chicago! There is so much to do but we can’t help but get excited for this year’s event for a few great reasons:

1) To See Other Awesome Technologies - We are technology company at our core and we are really always excited to see what new technologies other vendors are coming up with. We look forward to cruising the expo hall and talking with other vendors. And can I say we are really excited to see the “6 Awesome New Technologies“!

2) To Meet Recruiting & HR Thought Leaders - There are so many great HR Thought Leaders that will be at HR Tech that the attendees collective HR minds may just explode. I’m really excited to meet all these wonderful people who we’ve been following on Twitter and through their blogs . I can’t wait to meet William Tincup (@williamtincup), Sarah White (@ImSoSarah), Laurie Ruettimann (@LRuettimann), Bill Kutik (@BillKutik), Trish McFarlane (@TrishMcFarlane), Naomi Bloom (@InFullBloomUS), Steve Boese (@SteveBoese), Jim Holincheck (@JimHolincheck), Bryon Abramowitz (@BryonAbramowitz), Kris Dunn (@Kris_Dunn), Eric Winegardner (@ewmonster), Gerry Crispin (@GerryCrispin) and plenty of others!

3) To Learn Something - There are so many great breakout sessions to attend at HR Tech, I’m torn on what ones I am going to attend. The ones at the top of my list are:

• Job Boards – Valued 21st Century Partners or RIP?: The Great Recruiting Debate
• Companies Have Always Treated Candidates as Second Class Citizens. Why Promote Them Now?
• Blogger Insights
• The Great Technology Debate with Naomi Lee Bloom and Jim Holincheck

Here’s the full list of HR Tech Breakout Sessions.

4) To Form Lasting Relationships - There are so many great HR and recruiting professionals that I guarantee you will meet someone that you will want to keep in touch with in the future. Make sure to have business cards in a convenient place (I always keep them in my front shirt pocket) and connect with others via social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) so that you can keep in touch after the conference!

5) To test out new product concepts – This one is a little selfish, but we are extremely excited to get feedback from HR professionals on our new product features and enhancements we have cooked up over the last few months. We have an awesome new mobile recruiting technology as well as a resume sourcing solution through a partnership with TalentDrive (Booth #1034) that we are extremely excited to get opinions on. And what better place than an expo filled with tech savvy HR enthusiasts!

The 2010 HR Technology Conference has a lot to offer and we are extremely excited that we are attending. If you see the SmashFly team walking through the Expo Hall or in a breakout session, make sure to say hi and ask us about our real-time recruitment metrics! Also, you can set up a meeting with us during the conference by emailing our Director of Sales, Rich Oasis, at rich@smashfly.com.

We will also be very active on the #HRTechConf hashtag during the conference so feel free to connect with us on Twitter at @smashfly.

About the Author: Chris is the Marketing Analyst for SmashFly Technologies. SmashFly is the provider of the first recruitment marketing platform called WildFire that provides companies and staffing firms with the best real time recruitment metrics for all their recruiting efforts online.