HR Conferences

The HR conferences worth knowing

HR conferences split by the part of the job you do. A generalist, a head of recruiting, a compensation manager and an L&D lead could sit in the same HR team and still pick four different events. Here are the main ones by type, with who each is built for. Dates for all of them are in the list above.

Generalist HR

• SHRM Annual Conference & Expo (Chicago, June). Best for: HR generalists and HR leaders who want one event covering the whole function, from compliance to leadership. The Society for Human Resource Management runs it, with keynotes, hundreds of education sessions and an expo hall.
• HRWest (South San Francisco, March). Best for: California and West Coast HR professionals. Founded by NCHRA and now produced by HR.com, it covers talent management, California employment law, leadership development and HR technology.
• HR Florida Conference & Expo (Kissimmee, August). Best for: HR professionals in Florida and the Southeast. SHRM Florida presents it at the Gaylord Palms, with an education program and an expo of HR products and services.
• ASHHRA Annual Conference & Exposition (San Antonio, May). Best for: HR professionals working in hospitals and health systems. It's run by the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration.
• CIPD Annual Conference & Exhibition (Manchester, November 2026). Best for: HR teams that work in, or with, the UK. It's the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's annual conference, at Manchester Central.

Talent acquisition & recruiting

• SHRM Talent Conference (Aurora, April). Best for: recruiters and talent acquisition teams rather than the whole HR function: sourcing, screening, AI in hiring and candidate experience. It's at the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, Colorado, near Denver International Airport rather than downtown Denver.
• Talent Acquisition Week (San Diego, February). Best for: sourcers, recruiters and employer-branding specialists who want hands-on workshops. GSMI produces it around its Talent Sourcing Strategies Conference.
• ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit (San Diego, November 2026). Best for: talent acquisition leaders looking at recruiting strategy and TA technology. It was formerly the ERE Recruiting Conference.
• Indeed FutureWorks (Charlotte, September). Best for: talent acquisition leaders hiring at scale. Indeed builds the program around hiring data, employer trends and job seeker behavior, and runs a virtual option for the wider HR team.
• RecFest USA (Nashville, October 2027). Best for: in-house recruiting teams who want a festival format: talks and technology showcases on several outdoor stages at The Fairgrounds Nashville.

HR tech & the future of work

• UNLEASH America (Miami, April). Best for: HR leaders shopping for workforce technology, and the vendors and analysts who serve them. The 2027 conference moves to Miami.
• Transform (Las Vegas, April). Best for: HR leaders, founders and investors in work technology. Formerly HR Transform, it's at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
• IAMPHENOM (Philadelphia, April). Best for: HR and talent acquisition teams that use, or are evaluating, the Phenom platform. It's Phenom's user conference, on applied AI and automation in hiring.
• Workday Rising (San Diego, September). Best for: HR and finance teams that run on Workday, or are evaluating it. It's Workday's annual customer conference.

Total rewards, recognition & culture

• WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference (Nashville, April). Best for: compensation and benefits leaders, and the consultants and vendors who work with them. WorldatWork is the field's certifying association, and the program covers pay strategy, pay equity and transparency, benefits and equity compensation.
• Workhuman Live (Nashville, April). Best for: HR leaders working on employee recognition and workplace culture. It runs the same week as WorldatWork, at the Gaylord Opryland.
• WorkPossible, formerly CultureCon (Madison, August; Las Vegas, November 2027). Best for: executives, managers, HR professionals and consultants working on workplace culture, leadership and change.

Learning & development

• ATD International Conference & EXPO (Boston, May). Best for: L&D, training and organisational development professionals. The Association for Talent Development runs it at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center, and the education program is the main draw. More on the education and training page.
• DevLearn Conference & Expo (Las Vegas, November 2026). Best for: L&D teams focused on learning technology and e-learning design.

Staffing & contingent workforce

• SIA Executive Forum North America (Miami Beach, March). Best for: staffing-firm executives. Staffing Industry Analysts runs it at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
• CWS Summit (Arlington, Texas, September). Best for: the people who manage contingent workers, contractors and SOW consultants on the buyer side. Also run by Staffing Industry Analysts.