#94: What Makes a Great DisruptHR Talk

Ashlynne Valdez (00:00.158)
haven't done a lot of speaking, you think a five-minute presentation would be easier. And it is quite the opposite. The thing about the five-minute presentation is your timer doesn't ever stop because there would be times where I would think, this is so disruptive, this is amazing. And then I would share it with somebody and they said nobody's going to like it.

Rhona Pierce (00:17.812)
One thing that I know about Disrupt HR is like you're not controlling the slides. Mike Pedito, he did a Disrupt HR talk where for whatever reasons the slides were out of order.

Ashlynne Valdez (00:28.332)
Sometimes PowerPoint has some issues. So first is always gonna be that disruptive factor. We talk a lot about leadership, personal development, and kind of have these nice fluffy standard presentations, but that purpose is not to be on the disrupt HR stage.

Rhona Pierce (00:47.054)
Most people spend months psyching themselves up for one Disrupt HR talk. Ashlyn Valdis gave two in thirty days and she won Best Speaker at one of them. She's also one of the people deciding who gets the stage at Disrupt HR Vegas. And today we're going behind the scenes on what it actually takes to win the room in five minutes flat. Ashlyn, welcome to Workfluencer.

Ashlynne Valdez (01:11.64)
Thank you so much for having me today, Rona.

Rhona Pierce (01:14.328)
So for folks who haven't met you yet, what's the Ashlyn Valdez story in thirty seconds?

Ashlynne Valdez (01:21.398)
That's good that's good. so I'm originally from Nevada. I fell into human resources. It was not an industry I planned on going into, but I ended up falling in love with recruiting. a lot of that had to do with my experience working with Disrupt HR, and and now I own my own HR and recruiting consulting practice called Sound HR.

Rhona Pierce (01:43.104)
Amazing. How did you get started with Disrupt HR?

Ashlynne Valdez (01:47.692)
Yeah, so my mom is an HR director and she was invited to speak at Disrupt HR Reno five years ago. and she came to me and said, Do you want to be like a mother-daughter duo? Do you want to do this presentation? So Disrupt HR is already hard enough to do as a solo act. It was incredibly difficult to do with another person, but we did it. I fell in love with the concept. I was living in Reno at the time, and then I moved to Vegas.

Only a few months later and I decided as soon as I touched down in Vegas to search to see if there was a license holder in Las Vegas and there wasn't. So I ended up getting the license and have had it for four years now.

Rhona Pierce (02:29.3)
Amazing. And that's surprising that no one had it, but I'm glad you were able to get that. So for anyone who hasn't experienced disrupt HR event, like can you paint the picture for us? Like what is it and what makes it different from a typical HR conference talk?

Ashlynne Valdez (02:46.186)
Yeah, so the style of the talks really is what makes it different. they're five minutes, 20 slides rotating every 15 seconds. So not only is it incredibly quick, but we're also looking for presentations that challenge the status quo of HR. So if there's something that we wouldn't typically talk about or say in HR, we want to hear it, right? We want to have those disruptive conversations. I would say the other thing that I just love about disrupt HR is

It really is open to anybody and everybody, right? We have people who speak for a living and they come and speak, but we also have people like, you know, myself, where I started and I didn't have any experience speaking. I just knew I was passionate about my presentation. so I think it really gives this stage to voices that we wouldn't typically hear at a conference.

Rhona Pierce (03:36.962)
I love that. I've I've never done one. I've actually never gone to an event, but I've seen many of them because I've had many friends who've done them. And I've always been so intrigued by like the five minutes and the slides going and like it it's it's interesting. So not only do you hold the license for Las Vegas, but last month you stepped on stage as a speaker twice. Like you did Arizona.

You did Austin and you did two different talks. Like what made you decide to put yourself through that twice in thirty days?

Ashlynne Valdez (04:11.79)
well, you know, I really wanted to have the experience of being a disrupt HR speaker. I thought, you know, now that I have my own business and I have more flexibility and having, you know, the travel, I wanted to do that. I had applied to quite a few, and those were the two that I was accepted for. So it wasn't intentional that they would be so close together. but yeah, I really.

I thought that it was a good opportunity as an organizer to just see once again the process of creating the presentation. And I'm sure we'll talk about it, but it is a challenging project to undertake, especially when you're doing two different presentations. so yeah, but it it was great. I'm super happy I did it. It was a good experience overall.

Rhona Pierce (04:58.414)
If you've made it this far into the episode and you're not subscribed yet, now's a good time. Yeah, I was impressed that you did two different ones because I would have totally been like, okay, it's one and two different cities. The odds of people seeing it like are so low. But like, how did you land on each topic? Like what was your process for deciding what to bring to each stage?

Ashlynne Valdez (05:22.826)
Yeah, so I would say for me, I really enjoy talking about Gen Z and the entry level workforce. I think one thing about Disrupt HR and and what really makes the presentations impactful is when you can tie it back to your life experience. And so I wanted to be able to, you know, talk about things that are both relevant and timely. One of my presentations was on AI destroying the entry level workforce, and of course we're always talking about AI.

and then the other was on, you know, Gen Z kind of changing the way we view autonomy and flexibility in the workforce. so really kind of just finding those hot topic items that I can put my own unique spin on and and kind of use what I've experienced in my life.

Rhona Pierce (06:04.704)
Yeah. So those topics were amazing. I I saw one of your talks, the one from Arizona, I think it was, and it was amazing. so once you had the topic, what did the prep actually look like for you? Like walk me through how a five minute twenty slide talk comes together.

Ashlynne Valdez (06:27.294)
Yeah, so I would say for me with both of the presentations, I spent a lot of time just thinking and meditating about what I wanted the angle to be. I'd submitted the presentation. I knew generally what you know the theme was going to be. But again, I I really struggled to find what is the, you know, differentiator going to be? What am I going to talk about that's going to make this this presentation memorable and disruptive? And so really that was kind of just

Outlining all of my ideas. And then going to my mom, again an HR director, and going to some colleagues of mine who also have done disrupt HR presentations and receiving a lot of very harsh and critical feedback of like, this is not disruptive at all. Which is, you know, it was just kind of this consistent push. I think certainly if you're doing disrupt HR or really any presentation, like having solid feedback from your peers.

and then also with both of the disrupt HRs, the speakers all would get on a call and give each other feedback. And that is just so valuable because there would be times where I would think, this is so disruptive, this is amazing, and then I would share it with somebody and they said, No, this this isn't very good. Nobody's going to like it. But again, we have to kind of have that critical input. but I think once I kind of had that.

outline. It was just a matter of figuring out how do I want to position this, how do I want to kind of have a hook that gets people interested. And then how do I blend that into my story? And of course, how do I have some kind of takeaway that people can use in the audience. So it's not just a presentation that they enjoy and then forget about, but it's actually something that gives them some actionable items.

Rhona Pierce (08:06.21)
I love that the speakers get together and that you have the people in your life that are honest enough to give you the feedback because yes, I'm sure like you can sit and like think of like, this is so blah blah, and then someone's like, actually, we've been doing that. Like it's it's I I'm glad you have those people in your life.

Ashlynne Valdez (08:27.182)
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Rhona Pierce (08:33.718)
And I a little later in the show, I'm gonna pitch you some ideas and I want you to feel comfortable to tell me like now everyone talks about this, Rona. so what was the hardest part of the whole process for you, like or what surprised you or tripped you up?

Ashlynne Valdez (08:53.216)
Yeah, I think one of the hardest parts is being able to say something that's meaningful and relatable in five minutes. you know, it's funny, I think oftentimes if you haven't done a lot of speaking, you think, a five-minute presentation would be easier than, for example, an hour-long presentation that is quite the opposite. you know, the thing about the five minute presentation is your timer doesn't ever stop. So if you forget something, if you slip up on your words, like you don't have the opportunity to kind of

Correct yourself. and so you really, really have to know your speech inside and out. And you have to know how to make the audience connect with you pretty much right away. Most of the time when you're giving a presentation, you have five or ten minutes to kind of warm up. Whereas you have to come on and be able to connect pretty instantaneously. and so yeah, I I think that the five minute, just the time frame of getting something together that's meaningful, it's it's very challenging.

Rhona Pierce (09:50.894)
No, I mean I definitely agree with you on that one there because just thinking about it, like doing a talk, I think for me my sweet spot is like 30 minutes and then you like talk for 15 minutes and you do a QA and stuff like that. But like still, like you said, you have those five minutes of like

Okay, I'm nervous, I'm freaking out, I'm like connecting with the audience. You're usually like telling a story at the beginning that calms you down, helps them connect. But it's like, no, you literally just have five minutes for the entire thing. So it's like, yeah, that that that's interesting. And one thing that I know about disrupt HR is like you're not controlling the slides. It's like going. So it's like, if you like.

How was that? Like if you forget something or something like that, like how do you do? You kind of like have to improv right then and there.

Ashlynne Valdez (10:42.51)
Yeah, I would say for me personally, I knew my speech so well. So if for whatever reason I missed a beat or, you know, obviously when you go up, you're not used to speaking into a microphone. So sometimes that can trip you up. I think you have to know what you can take out or what you can add in. and and I think, you know, again, that means that if you for whatever reason kind of forget something or miss a beat or come in too early, which certainly happened for me, you can kind of get right back on track and keep going.

but yeah, it's really tough, especially you you practice it, practice it, practice it leading up to the presentation. But once you get up on that stage and you know again, you have the lights on you, you have the microphone, the echo, the audience, it's challenging.

Rhona Pierce (11:28.542)
and man, I've even heard of people who've had technical issues, which we can't control. Like you just never know. if anyone knows a past guest of the show, Mike Pedito. He did a disrupt HR talk where for whatever reasons the slides were out of order.

And like his punchline was at the end instead of the beginning. It was like a whole thing. So it's like you really have to, like you said, know your your speech and know your topic so that you like right then and there can like improvise and and and do stuff. so at the Arizona one, like the audience voted you best speaker. What did that moment feel like for you? And like looking back, what do you think made the talk land the way that it did?

Ashlynne Valdez (12:18.152)
Yeah, I mean it was a really incredible feeling. I was so honored to take this stage with just so many wonderful speakers. I felt like each person just brought this really unique perspective. And so I just was honored to be able to stand on that stage and know that you know, I I was just surrounded by really incredible people.

you know, I I think one of the interesting things that I found with my presentation as I was creating it was I was really leaning into this idea of Gen Z wants autonomy and flexibility in the workforce. And in my first few drafts, I was very much, you know, in this position of like Gen Z wants this and this is why we need it. And and finding that disruptive angle of, okay, that's true, but how do we make that work in the workplace? That was kind of the disruptive.

angle I took is this isn't just about Gen Z saying we want this, it's about how do we actually apply it into the work world. And then the other interesting thing I found is that when I talked about Gen Z, you know, I had a variety of generations sitting on the call and they all said this isn't just a Gen Z issue. And so I think really being able to take this more narrow specific topic and make it applicable to a wider range of people and provide, you know, a formula that they could use in their business, I think that really was what helped get the message across.

And I wasn't just, you know, a Gen Z employee talking about what I want as a Gen Z employee. It really was a more universal presentation.

Rhona Pierce (13:43.254)
And I love how you opened it with like every generation has a there's comes a time where someone's the scapegoat, right? and I don't think that's the term you use, but that's that's kind of like the gist of it. It's like at some point it was millennials, millennials this, millennials this, mill now it's Gen Z's turn. But at the end of the day, everyone wants that flexibility. Like no one can convince me otherwise. So I loved your your angle on that.

Ashlynne Valdez (14:11.052)
Yeah, no, we all want we all want to have meaningful work. We all want to enjoy the work we do and we all want to go home at the end of the day and do things outside of work. And and I think that's just a universal truth for all of us.

Rhona Pierce (14:23.916)
Yes. and I personally love that Gen Z is so loud and vocal about it. I'm a millennial, so I get it. We came into the workplace when people are like, No, this is how we do it, and we changed it. And now Gen Z's coming in and they're changing it and so will every other generation after. so I I I love the the entire topic and yes, it was definitely disruptive. So

I'm the type of speaker who will be changing her slides until the absolute very last minute. I would imagine that's something that's kind of harder to do in this disrupt model, right? Like, can you still do last minute changes to slides or do you like have to lock those in days before or anything like that?

Ashlynne Valdez (15:12.736)
Yeah, you're supposed to lock them in. I mean, depending on the timeline that the the city gives you within like a few days or a few weeks of the presentation. I'll say that for me, I really didn't focus too much on the slides. they were more of just a compliment. I was certainly changing around my script. you know, only like 30 minutes before I went on, but the slides are pretty much locked in and and it's all it's hard to change it.

you know, especially on the organizer side, when we have a PowerPoint presentation that is like two hundred slides long, it becomes incredibly difficult to make those last minute changes the day of.

Rhona Pierce (15:51.782)
'cause you put all of the slides in one.

Ashlynne Valdez (15:55.434)
Yeah, yeah. We put all the slides in one. We have all the sponsor slides. We have the transition slides. So it ends up being, I don't know if people realize, but it's like a 200, 300 slide presentation. and again to your point earlier, like technology is going to have its issues and sometimes PowerPoint has some issues.

Rhona Pierce (16:18.224)
my gosh. I guess I did not realize that. That is amazing. All that work that goes into it. And we'll talk a little about the the other side of things as well. actually, let's do that. Let's flip things. you run Disrupt HR Vegas, right? Like when speaker applications are coming in, what are you actually looking for?

Ashlynne Valdez (16:42.914)
Yeah, so I mean that's always a hard I guess hard in the sense that we always have more applications than we have speaker slots. and I mean that's gonna vary from city to city depending on you know how large the disrupt organization is. But I'd say there's always going to be two or three things that we're looking for. The first is always gonna be that disruptive factor.

you know, is this something that kind of makes me stop in my tracks and say, wow, this isn't something I've ever thought of before? Or you're really kind of pushing the envelope of what you know we normally talk about in HR. and and sometimes I think that looks like, you know, submitting topics of like, let's burn this thing to the ground. I mean, not literally, but you know, kind of saying the way that we've been doing this isn't the way we should do it, and here's how we're going to fix it, or kind of having

You know, an up and coming topic that that we haven't seen before. So we're always kind of looking for those unique, innovative topics. And then I would say the second thing that we're looking for is that it's personal to our speaker. Again, I think that the disrupt HR format is so unique and that you only have five minutes to connect with your audience. And we want to get to know the speakers.

you know, any of us can go online and Google these subjects, but I want to know why this is important to the speaker, what they've experienced that has led them to want to speak on this and how are they going to relate it to the audience. So yeah, we're always looking for those really disruptive, innovative ideas for the speakers to have a personal touch in it, and then also for the subject to be specific enough that it can be done in five minutes. So something like, you know, making our leaders better.

Is always going to be a little bit of a challenging topic because what does that mean? It's so broad, we might say, you know, how to use performance management programs to make better leaders. So I know we're gonna have a time at the end to do always kind of finding like the more specific niche ways of of approaching a topic that I also think makes a good disrupt HR presentation.

Rhona Pierce (18:50.126)
what's the process for pitching? like I know you can speak about Vegas. Let's speak about how what's the process for like let's say I want to go do the next disrupt HR in Vegas. What's the process for me to pitch?

Ashlynne Valdez (19:04.994)
Yeah, so all of the Disrupt HR cities have a page on the Disrupt HR website and they'll have an apply to speak button. each city is pretty autonomous, so we can set our own deadlines and our own schedules for when we want to select our speakers, when the deadline is, and then of course when we host the event. so I would definitely recommend if people are wanting to speak at more disrupt HRs, go and follow the Disrupt HRs on social media. They're typically going to post

about when they're having their speaker applications or you can just go directly onto the website and submit apply to speak.

Rhona Pierce (19:40.27)
Amazing. And then is that like when you're applying, are are there like many questions? Do you have to have a fully formed topic? How does that piece work?

Ashlynne Valdez (19:50.23)
Yeah, so typically what you're going to need is your presentation title and then a short description of the of the presentation. And I would definitely say you want to have that as for fully formed as possible because again, the speaker selection committee has many applications in front of them. And if there's something that's just kind of general or that you know, we can tell hasn't really doesn't have a fully formed idea, it's going to be easier to kind of put that one into the

reject pile.

Rhona Pierce (20:21.966)
What's the most common mistake that you see people make when they apply or even when they're on stage?

Ashlynne Valdez (20:29.262)
I think with applying, it really is finding that disruptive angle. I think that we talk a lot about leadership, personal development, and and kind of have these nice fluffy standard presentations. and those are great and those have a purpose, but that purpose is not to be on the disrupt HR stage. And so I think really just digging deep, finding the nitty gritty.

is so, so important when submitting an application, you know, because that is just gonna increase your odds of being selected as a speaker. On stage, I would say I always tell people less is more. And again, know when you can take things out of your presentation. Nobody knows your presentation as well as you do. So if you forget to say something, if you say it wrong, if you have to omit something.

Nobody in the audience is going to know. If you come on and you're confident and you give the presentation and you're slow and you're deliberate and you have pause, that is going to land so much better than if you try to fit as many words as possible in your presentation and you kind of lose your message.

Rhona Pierce (21:39.176)
So, like we've been teasing for a while. I have some like half-baked ideas, which is funny. Now that with everything that you've said, I'm like, wait, I need to change my thing. So this is literally going to be on the fly. because what I had planned is not what what I'm gonna say. But I'm just gonna pitch you ideas that I have in my head and you tell me what's landing, what's not, and

what like what you'd need to hear to say yes to this ideas. And I am the worst at titles. Like the worst. so I have to like let's see. The first one that I had here is like your careers page isn't the problem. You lost them on LinkedIn and your employees could have saved you. So basically talking about how candidates discover you on social media.

and you're blowing the first impression with stuffy corporate content that no one wants. What people actually want to do is hear from your employees. So anyone who knows me knows I'm very big on employee-generated content and all of that. But people usually think that, once my if I have all of this on my careers page, we're ready. We don't have to care that much about social media. And it's like, no, social media are the discovery platforms. You're

Careers page is a relationship building platform because most people go there after they've decided to apply or after they've applied. They don't find out about you from your website. Is that disruptive enough, do you think?

Ashlynne Valdez (23:21.902)
Yeah, I mean, I really I think you can take any topic and make it into this disruptive idea. And I think that if I were using that as one of my if I were submitting that as a topic, I would try to use some kind of hook or something that's a little bit shocking. you know, obviously I'm I'm just on the spot, so I'm trying to, you know, think of something, but maybe like, you know, your competitors are winning your best talent or something like that.

to just show, to show that it it's not something that most companies are doing, but the companies who are doing it are going to win. And and so how do you kind of find those like, for example, I mean, do you what have you seen that's successful with companies who use their employee generated content?

Rhona Pierce (24:08.654)
I mean, if you ask me, it's successful because they're not lying to people, they're telling the truth. So I would be like, stop lying to candidates on your on your careers page because no one believes you anyway. and like and I'll layer it into like stop controlling what your employees are saying online, let them tell the truth type of thing, which I think would be kind of like more shocking and more like, wait, I'm not lying.

Ashlynne Valdez (24:37.294)
Yeah, no, I think saying something like, you know, like a phrase I used in my presentation is proximity management is lazy. And so I think you could say something like that. stop playing it safe by using your careers page when your savvy future employees are on social media. Something like that, where it's it's critical, it's you know, a little bit provocative in in what has been the standard.

yeah, no, that's a really good topic. I would have to think on it for a bit of how to kind of, you know, massage that title into something that would be, you know, that would catch the eye of a of a speaker selection committee.

Rhona Pierce (25:21.4)
Okay, yeah, I I said I'm the worst at titles. next, what I was thinking about is being cringe online got me hired. Why is your company so afraid of that? And again, like tying it to like having a personal brand is really what has got me hired. Like anyone who's heard me speak knows my story. I'm an immigrant, I'm from Panama, I came here at mid of my career.

no one knows you, so you go from being director level to being like applying to entry level jobs and never getting interviews. and I just

Created a video and invited myself to an in. I always say, no one was inviting my me to interviews. I invited myself. And no, I didn't I'm an introvert. I didn't knock on anyone's door and be like, you will interview me. What I did was I created a video and I started sharing on social media and stuff like that. And yeah, people might call it cringe, but being cringe is what has helped me, helped me back in 2013 and what has continued to help me to this day to make money. So I'm a huge advocate for.

Everyone having a personal brand, especially in HR and tallying acquisition.

Ashlynne Valdez (26:38.67)
Think that's an example of a perfect title, actually. Because what you just explained to me, right? You kind of elaborate on, you know, the brand and what you post on social media, which is kind of the nice way of saying it, right? But the cringe I think makes people stop, right? And I think about well, what does that mean to be cringe? And and then you, you know, pull back the layers, and really it's not, I mean, depending on who looks at it, it's not cringy. It's it's creating that brand, and you know, I think that's a lot more acceptable and everything. But I think really having those, I guess.

showstopper buzzwords that are going to make people stop and think. Yeah, I think that title would be an excellent disrupt HR presentation. Our applications are open until Friday.

Rhona Pierce (27:17.574)
Yes. You never know. You never know. But yeah, no, that one is is one that I literally could do it right now. I could talk five minutes about this because it's I'll stop you anywhere and tell you why, even though you think it's cringy to be online and it's not professional or whatever, it's literally how

I've been able to succeed and why I'm not living in some cardboard box somewhere, because that's literally how I make my money by being cringe to some people online. but it's the new way. And I think as more generations come, it's like, this is who you're competing with because Gen Z doesn't care. They will take the phone and they will do whatever they need to do to get the attention of someone hiring. So

Us millennials and even boomers, we're still not out of the the workforce. So we have kind of like have to adapt type of thing. So that was one. I mean, there's also the everyone needs a personal brand, even if you're never planning on leaving your job, type of thing, which kind of like ties into the same thing. I I even have an episode about this, but I think every employee is a media company.

Like LinkedIn has turned everyone into their own little media company. which again g ties back to all of these things. Also, I would also probably talk about stop controlling what your employees try to say online. but yeah, that those are kind of like the topics I was thinking about. anything that you would say.

Absolutely, you are tired of being pitched. It's not disruptive. People stop pitching this talk.

Ashlynne Valdez (29:15.254)
Yeah, well, I would say anything that's like a sales pitch or talking about technology. I mean, granted, if you're talking about an innovative way to use technology, that's always helpful. But if you're just talking about how to select systems, I mean, we've yeah, we don't want any sales pitches. We want real people telling their real stories. I don't know that there's any topic that is I'm getting tired of. but again, I think it's just you have to find the disruptive angle.

There's a disruptive angle in everything. So I think that I I don't like the play it safe, you know, presentations. I like it when somebody is saying something like to your point, stop, stop trying to control what your employees are doing. And most companies don't want to listen to that, right? But if you're able to show here's why, here I mean, you know, there's all of these brands who have employees who go viral on social media and bring the company a lot of free marketing, you know. and so you know, there's those ways of showing it.

But I think that's a more innovative take than just saying you need to invest in your marketing. You know what I mean? So, and again, like the same thing with if we're talking about leadership. Like we all know that we need good, kind leaders, but how do we really challenge that and say, you know, something like, you know, your leaders don't want another corporate bullshit workshop or something like that. They want actual like something like that that just really digs in a little bit deeper than I think this standard presentation does. So

Rhona Pierce (30:43.15)
Okay, okay.

Ashlynne Valdez (30:44.696)
But I like your ideas. I like your ideas a lot. I think they really do hit that disruptive angle.

Rhona Pierce (30:50.85)
Maybe I'll pitch them. Who knows? Maybe I'll go to Vegas. I do know there's I live in Oklahoma and I know there's Disrupt Oklahoma City, I believe. Someone holds the license there. So who knows? Maybe I'll do that at some point.

Ashlynne Valdez (31:04.5)
Yeah. Yeah. yeah, I feel like I mean the thing is there's just so many disrupt HRs happening all the time and the worst you can do is apply and maybe you get rejected or maybe you get selected and then you know you can make that decision then if if it makes sense. But I definitely encourage anybody to do a disrupt HR presentation. I think it's a it's a great format and it really does challenge you as a speaker.

Rhona Pierce (31:28.81)
Is it only for HR people or for like HR specific topics?

Ashlynne Valdez (31:35.316)
no, I I think that you know, we love having people outside of the HR realm because they can bring in new ideas that we hadn't thought of. and I would say, you know, every year I'll invite colleagues, friends who are outside of the HR industry to our disrupt HR. And the feedback I always get is I wish I was hearing more of these conversations. That was so fascinating. That was so interesting.

you know, I I think that so often we label the people piece of our business as being only HR. It's just it's tucked away in this corner, which doesn't make sense because all of us touch our people, you know, whether you know, that's a sales organization or you know, a finance team or an operations team, like all of this is relevant to how we lead in our businesses and show up as employees and show up as managers. So definitely not only for HR.

professionals, whether that be the speaking side or the attendees.

Rhona Pierce (32:32.46)
I love it. So for someone who's listening, who's been on the fence about applying, like what would you want them to know before they hit submit?

Ashlynne Valdez (32:41.346)
Yeah, I would say there's no such thing as being too disruptive. I might like to push the bounds a little bit. but you know, I would say if there's if there's something that's personal to you, and I think we all have, you know, those things in our lives, whether that be a poor experience in a past workplace or you know, a personal condition that's affected our lives, we all have something that we can talk about. And so I would say really lean into

your story because there's probably other people who have experienced that too and could benefit from hearing the solution that you're able to provide. At the Disrupt HR Austin that I just did, there were two, I mean everybody did a fabulous job. There were two that were very, very personal. One of them was around bereavement leave and being able to change bereavement policies because the individual who had given this presentation

Had been in a position where she was denied bereavement leave because it wasn't an immediate family member. and and so she really challenged this idea that we have to only say, it's immediate family who you can take that leave for. and I thought that talk was incredibly powerful. And then there was another gentleman who talked about neurodivergent employees. And again, he was a neurodivergent individual. And so he was able to pull from his experience. But I think the thing I saw with both of them was so many people in the audience related to that.

Because those are real honest things that were true to them. It wasn't a corporate presentation. It wasn't something they felt like they had to put together. it was something that genuinely did relate. So yeah, my biggest piece of advice is make your talk as disruptive as possible and also just make it personal and impactful. And, you know, you're gonna spend a lot, a lot of time with your presentation. So you want to make sure that it's something you enjoy and something that you're passionate about.

Rhona Pierce (34:29.078)
It's funny, as you're as you're talking about all these things, I'm thinking, okay, let's say I were to go and and pitch any of these ideas. I think I I would probably look back. So like I'm thinking someone who maybe doesn't know what ideas to to go with. I would look back at my content on LinkedIn and see what are the posts that have really taken off, that really, and not taking off as in like impressions, but taking off as in like

Comments or in people saying, like, yeah, that that's true. That happened to me, or like sharing stuff like that. I think that's where I would start to figure out like, huh, what topic do I want to talk about? Because, like you said, having the personal story thing and being useful in in what you're talking about is really good. And I think social media is a great place to test out. So anyone thinking about disrupt HR.

Go back and look at your content. And if you don't have anything like that, start writing things and start like testing the waters and seeing what really resonates with people because most likely that's gonna be a better thing for you to talk about and pitch and be accepted, I would think.

Ashlynne Valdez (35:46.4)
You know, it's funny you say that because after I submitted my Gen Z talk, I had made a post on LinkedIn about, you know, I'm Gen Z and I don't care about the corner office and I don't care about this, and here's what I do care about. And it's one of my most popular posts. and I've made other posts about, you know, the entry level workforce and how we're eliminating that. And those are some of my most popular, you know, again, not just impressions, but people commenting and sharing their lived life.

you know, experience. And so that isn't really something I had cons I think in the back of my head I knew that those were topics that seemed to generate engagement on LinkedIn. And so I knew that, okay, I can make, you know, presentation submissions on this. But you're so right that, you know, you have this wonderful audience on LinkedIn to be able to test things out and to embrace the, I guess, cringe of hosting. because yeah, at the end of the day, if it's not a popular topic, you'll know. You'll know. And you'll know if it is a popular topic.

Rhona Pierce (36:45.506)
I wish I would have thought of it that way while preparing. So this has been super helpful because it's like thinking back just a few months ago, some of my most popular topics have been about, yes, they're still tied to personal branding and EGC, because that's what I talk about. But it's like, a company that left my photo on their careers page for years after I was laid off because I was the only black person in management. So

and they didn't hire anyone after that. So they just, you know, it looks good. So like that every so many stories and so many things, I could a hundred percent make that a disrupt HR thing because that has to do with not lying on your careers page and telling the truth and like everything that we've been talking about. So yeah, that's that's what I'm gonna do if I decide to pitch, I would go back and be like, How did this thing that I always talk about?

When did it resonate the most? And that would be my angle for for a disrupt talk. So

Ashlynne Valdez (37:50.486)
Think that would be a great angle. Let's stop the performative DEI, you know, and and again get real voices on your social media. one other thing that I just thought of is, you know, if you're thinking about giving a disrupt HR presentation, I would highly recommend attending a disrupt HR. I don't think you can fully understand just how quick the format is and everything until you've actually seen it.

you know, I look back when I did my first disrupt HR. I I've never been to it again. My mom had invited me and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. And I and I wish I would have been able to see exactly what the format is because one, you just you understand, you know, the presentation and everything, but two, I think you get really good ideas and you kind of see what you like that speakers do, what you would want to do differently. and I and I just think it it makes it so much easier to come up with that presentation once you've already seen a few.

and been in the space where there's kind of that energy going on.

Rhona Pierce (38:49.912)
So what's next for you? Are you doing any more talks or are you focusing on the next, the upcoming Vegas disrupt?

Ashlynne Valdez (38:58.218)
Yeah, so I'm focusing on the upcoming Disrupt HR Vegas. I have a few applications submitted to some different Disrupt HRs. So we'll see if any of those pan out. But certainly, you know, I I think the dangerous thing about Disrupt HR is you do it and you just wanna do more and you wanna do more speaking engagements and it's so fun and energetic and it's a little addictive. So that's the the that's the danger of getting involved with it is you might kind of fall in love with it. So

Certainly kinda working on that speaking engagement opportunities in the future.

Rhona Pierce (39:29.802)
Amazing. And I could totally see how that could get addictive. how can listeners connect with you?

Ashlynne Valdez (39:37.74)
Yeah, so they can connect with me on LinkedIn. my username is just Ashlyn Valdez.

Rhona Pierce (39:44.514)
And I'll add all of that in the show notes as well. And I can't wait to see if I decide to apply or not, or if I even go to the disrupt Vegas or anyone any of the cities close to me. thank you so, so much for being on the show today. I really enjoyed this conversation. Yeah.

Ashlynne Valdez (40:06.926)
Thank you. Hopefully I'll see you on a disrupt HR stage soon.

Rhona Pierce (40:10.638)
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