The Human Capital Burning Man

A colleague of mine recently called the upcoming Human Capital Summit (coming up in less than a week!), the “Human Capital Burning Man”. She explained Burning Man as an event which is held in Black Rock Desert each year, and is an experiment in a temporary community, one that binds its participants through collaboration and creativity.  A place where people come to create art and it’s the collective effort of all the participants that brings this art to life. Sounds pretty great, right? But how can we really compare that type of experience to the Human Capital Summit?
 
She went on to describe this year’s HCI’s Human Capital Summit as a three-day experience which is also being held in the desert (Scottsdale, Arizona to be exact). Not only that,  it’s an event that brings Human Capital Practitioners and Thought Leaders together to create and collaborate in an inventive and open environment.
 
And, she’s right about that.
 
While it’s certainly a bit of a stretch to compare these two seemingly different events, I can see some common elements. Bear with me as I try to make the case…
 
As someone who’s never attended Burning Man, I needed to do some research to learn more about their mission and values to see if this comparison was possible – and folks – I think it is. Burning Man is self-described as the following:
 
Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind… to truly understand this event, one must participate.
 
I’ve often described HCI’s Human Capital Summit as exactly this – something you need to personally experience in order to really understand. And for those of you who aren’t able to physically attend, we want you to experience as much as you can through our Virtual Human Capital Summit platform (you can still register here). As I researched Burning Man more and more, I started to really think that this comparison was a really interesting one. I found a great essay on the Burning Man experience that articulated their guiding principles or rules of the road. I would argue that these are the same guiding principles, or rules of the road, for the Summit as well.

• You Belong Here and You Participate. You're here to build a community that needs you and relies on you.
• You’re Here to Survive. With the theme of this event as innovation – HR and Business leaders alike will learn about compelling, groundbreaking techniques to help your organization survive and thrive in the new economy
• You’re Here to Create. With interactive break-out sessions, a playbook for you to capture the greatest best-practices and game-changing techniques, and hundreds of colleagues for you to connect with --you’ll have lots of opportunities to create
• You’re Here to Experience. With access to the most cutting-edge thought leaders and organizations -- you’ll have an opportunity to experience new ideas and practices
• You're Here to Celebrate – With tons of networking breaks, cocktail receptions, and the Annual Human Capital M-Prize Awards Ceremony --there will be lots to celebrate! 
• You'll leave as you came - But you'll take the world you built with you.

​​Pretty compelling stuff. And, beyond the fact that we’ll ditch the tents and trailers and lack of showers for some exquisite accommodations at the beautiful Westin Kierland Resort – you’ll also experience one of the most content packed experiences in the Human Capital space.
 
We’ve created an environment of collaboration and community where everyone shares, benchmarks, and helps each other with new ideas and trouble-shooting solutions.  With tracks that focus on Organizational Strategy, Recruitment and Acquisition, Social Media and Technology as well as Learning and Leadership Development you can choose any session you like and then have the ability to connect and collaborate with the thought leaders, top practitioners and colleagues.
 
We hope to see you there! This is an experience not to be missed - it may even change your life...