For HR professionals, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is more than a conference.
It’s where thousands of people responsible for hiring, onboarding, employee engagement, culture, and leadership gather to share what’s working, what’s changing, and what challenges remain.
For BlinkSwag, participating in SHRM events has become a tradition.
Since 2023, our team has attended SHRM events across the country, including the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo in Las Vegas and Chicago, as well as SHRM Ohio in 2025. Along the way, we’ve spent countless hours on expo floors, attended educational sessions, and had conversations with HR leaders from organizations of every size.
Those conversations have given us a unique perspective. We’ve watched workplace priorities shift from rebuilding culture after years of disruption to creating stronger employee experiences and preparing teams for a rapidly changing workplace.
What makes SHRM valuable isn’t just the keynote speakers or the packed expo halls.
It’s the people.
Every year, thousands of HR professionals arrive with real questions, real challenges, and real stories. Listening to those conversations has taught us as much as any session ever could.
But we’re not there just to listen and learn.
Each year, we arrive with new features, fresh ideas, and a better understanding of the challenges HR teams are facing, much of it shaped by the conversations we’ve had at previous SHRM events.
As we prepare for SHRM26 in Orlando, we’re looking back on the journey so far, the lessons we’ve learned, and how those conversations have influenced BlinkSwag’s growth alongside the HR community.
Why SHRM Matters
The SHRM Annual Conference & Expo is one of the largest gatherings of HR professionals in the world.
For a few days each year, people leaders, recruiters, HR executives, workplace experts, and solution providers come together to discuss the realities of managing and supporting today’s workforce.
For BlinkSwag, SHRM is more than an event on the calendar.
It’s an opportunity to listen, to learn, and to understand what HR teams are experiencing today and what they expect tomorrow.
It’s also a chance to show how we’re helping organizations solve some of those challenges.
There’s a moment every exhibitor recognizes.
The expo hall opens, thousands of attendees step onto the floor, and suddenly, the workplace trends you’ve been reading about become real conversations happening right in front of you.
Over the years, we’ve seen priorities change. We’ve seen new challenges emerge.
We’ve watched organizations rethink how they approach culture, engagement, recognition, and employee connection.
SHRM has given us a front-row seat to those changes and the chance to adapt our platform based on what HR teams actually need.
SHRM 2023: Rebuilding Culture and Driving Change
Walking into the Las Vegas Convention Center in June 2023, as SHRM celebrated its 75th anniversary, there was a noticeable sense of change in the air.
Organizations had spent the previous few years adapting to new ways of working. Some were bringing employees back together. Others were figuring out how to maintain culture across distributed teams.
Nearly everyone was asking a similar question:
How do we create workplaces where people feel connected, supported, and motivated to stay?
The conference theme, “Drive Change,” reflected many of the conversations taking place throughout the event.
More than 20,000 HR professionals gathered in Las Vegas, bringing with them a shared question: What does a successful workplace look like after the pandemic fundamentally changed how people work?
Topics included:
- Talent acquisition and retention
- Workplace flexibility
- Leadership development
- Employee engagement
- Organizational culture
- Diversity and inclusion
Another topic was also beginning to gain momentum.
HR leaders were starting to explore how new technologies and generative AI tools could influence recruiting, workforce planning, and employee experiences in the years ahead.
At the same time, conversations about belonging were everywhere.
Organizations sought to build stronger connections among employees, especially as hybrid and remote work continued to reshape workplace relationships.
What We Heard on the Expo Floor
One challenge kept coming up at our booth.
HR teams wanted to create better employee experiences, but many were still managing onboarding kits, recognition programs, company swag, and gifting initiatives through spreadsheets, email chains, and multiple vendors.
The problem wasn’t finding products.
The challenge was to create a consistent experience for employees without adding more work for HR teams.
Those conversations reinforced something we’ve long believed:
Employee experience isn’t built solely through policies.
It’s built through moments that help people feel welcomed, recognized, and connected to their organization.
At our booth, many attendees were looking for ways to simplify those processes. We spent a lot of time showing how centralizing swag, gifting, and onboarding could reduce administrative work while creating a more consistent employee experience.
Our Takeaway from SHRM 2023
The strongest lesson from Las Vegas was simple.
Human connection matters more than ever.
The organizations that stood out were intentionally investing in their people and seeking meaningful ways to strengthen culture beyond office walls.
The conversations we had also highlighted opportunities to improve our platform, particularly around onboarding, recognition, and employee engagement programs.
SHRM 2024: Employee Experience Takes Center Stage
By the time SHRM arrived in Chicago in 2024, the conversation had changed.
Organizations were no longer focused solely on attracting talent.
The focus had shifted toward creating workplaces where employees wanted to stay and grow.
SHRM24 drew more than 26,000 attendees and quickly became one of the largest conferences in the organization’s history.
The event also sparked significant industry discussion following SHRM’s announcement that it would shift its terminology from “DE&I” to “I&D,” emphasizing inclusion as the foundation for workplace diversity efforts.
Across educational sessions, keynote presentations, and expo hall conversations, several topics appeared repeatedly:
- Employee wellbeing
- Mental health
- Leadership effectiveness
- Workplace culture
- Recognition programs
- HR technology
Conversations around artificial intelligence continued, but they felt different from the year before.
Instead of asking what the technology could do, HR leaders were discussing practical questions around implementation, trust, and employee adoption.
Workplace civility also became a major topic.
SHRM research reported that many employees had experienced workplace incivility, prompting discussions around leadership, communication, and organizational culture.
Many organizations were trying to strengthen communication, improve collaboration, and build healthier workplace cultures.
What We Heard on the Expo Floor
The conversations felt different in Chicago.
HR leaders weren’t just asking how to send swag.
They were asking how onboarding, recognition, gifting, and culture initiatives could work together as part of a larger employee experience strategy.
There was a growing understanding that employee experience isn’t one program.
It’s the collection of hundreds of moments employees have throughout their journey with a company.
Organizations wanted those moments to feel intentional.
Many attendees stopped by our booth looking for ways to connect these programs rather than manage them separately. Those discussions reinforced the growing demand for automation, consistency, and a more unified approach to employee engagement.
Our Takeaway from SHRM 2024
Chicago reinforced an important lesson.
HR teams don’t simply want vendors.
They want partners who understand the challenges they’re trying to solve and can help create better experiences for employees at every stage of their journey.
It also became clear that employee experience initiatives were becoming more strategic, requiring tools that could support programs across the entire employee lifecycle.
SHRM Ohio 2025: Looking Ahead While Staying Human
While smaller than the SHRM Annual Conference, SHRM Ohio brought together HR professionals facing many of the same workforce challenges being discussed across the country.
When our team attended SHRM Ohio in 2025, many conversations focused on what comes next for the workplace. HR leaders were thinking beyond immediate workforce challenges and asking bigger questions about skills, workforce readiness, leadership development, and long-term growth.
Although the audience was more regional, many of the themes mirrored conversations happening throughout the HR profession.
Popular topics included:
- Skills-based hiring
- Workforce development
- Upskilling and reskilling
- Leadership
- Employee engagement
- Emerging workplace technologies
Artificial intelligence was no longer a future possibility; it had become an active part of workplace strategy.
Many organizations were focused on questions such as:
- How can employees adapt to new technologies?
- What skills will be most valuable in the future?
- How can organizations maintain strong cultures during periods of rapid transformation?
Sessions explored how organizations could prepare employees for future changes while maintaining strong workplace cultures in the present.
Throughout the conference, one message kept surfacing:
The future of work is not only about technology. It is about helping people adapt, learn, and succeed.
What We Heard on the Expo Floor
At SHRM Ohio, many organizations were thinking on a much larger scale.
Discussions centered around workforce development, automation, HR technology, employee engagement, leadership effectiveness, and creating consistent experiences across growing teams.
The conversations had become far more sophisticated.
In 2023, many attendees were discovering swag management platforms for the first time.
By 2025, HR teams were discussing integrations, automated recognition programs, global gifting initiatives, and scalable employee experience strategies.
The expectations had changed.
And the opportunities had grown with them.
Many of the conversations at our booth focused on scale, how to support distributed teams, automate repetitive tasks, and deliver consistent experiences across regions without increasing administrative burden.
Our Takeaway from SHRM Ohio 2025
Throughout SHRM Ohio, one message appeared repeatedly:
Recognition, belonging, and employee connection are not side projects.
They’re becoming core business priorities for organizations focused on attracting, engaging, and retaining talent.
The companies creating great employee experiences weren’t treating culture as an afterthought.
They were making it a priority.
Three SHRM Events, Three Different Perspectives
Looking back on the past three SHRM events, what stands out isn’t how much the events changed. It’s how quickly workplace conversations changed.
In Las Vegas, the focus was on rebuilding culture, improving retention, and helping employees reconnect.
In Chicago, discussions shifted toward employee experience, well-being, recognition, and belonging.
At SHRM Ohio, many conversations focused on skills, workforce readiness, emerging technologies, and what organizations needed to do to prepare for the years ahead.
The topics changed. The concerns changed. The buzzwords changed.
But one thing stayed remarkably consistent.
The organizations that attracted and retained great people invested in employee experience and made people feel connected to their workplace.
For BlinkSwag, those conversations have been equally valuable, helping us better understand where HR teams are headed and how we can continue supporting them.
What Keeps Bringing BlinkSwag Back to SHRM
Every year, SHRM allows us to connect with people who care deeply about the employee experience.
We attend to learn, listen, share ideas, and showcase new solutions.
And the conversations at SHRM often shape workplaces over the next several years.
The relationships built through SHRM continue long after the conference ends. Many of the conversations that begin during the event lead to valuable partnerships, fresh ideas, and a deeper understanding of the challenges facing today’s organizations.
What keeps bringing us back is the community itself.
Year after year, we’re inspired by the creativity, resilience, and commitment of HR professionals who continue to find new ways to support employees through change. SHRM provides a unique opportunity to learn alongside them and contribute to the conversations that matter most.
Looking Ahead to SHRM 2026
As we prepare for SHRM 2026 in Orlando, we’re excited to continue the journey.
Every year brings new ideas, new conversations, and new perspectives.
We’ll be returning with the same goals we’ve had since our first SHRM event:
Listen carefully, learn continuously, keep improving, and find better ways to help organizations create memorable employee experiences.
We’re looking forward to reconnecting with familiar faces, meeting new HR leaders, sharing what’s new at BlinkSwag, and participating in the conversations that will shape the future of work.
From Las Vegas to Chicago to Ohio — and Now Orlando
Looking back, SHRM has been more than a conference series for BlinkSwag.
It has been a front-row seat to one of the most significant periods of change in today’s workplace.
From the national stage of the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo in Las Vegas and Chicago to meaningful conversations with HR leaders at SHRM Ohio, each event has provided valuable lessons about where the workplace is heading and what organizations need to support their people successfully.
We’ve seen conversations evolve from rebuilding workplace culture to strengthening employee experiences, preparing employees for change, and creating stronger connections across increasingly distributed teams.
Those conversations have also influenced the direction of our platform, helping us focus on the challenges HR teams are actively trying to solve.
Yet every year, the most meaningful discussions return to the same question:
How do we create workplaces where people feel valued, connected, and supported?
Three years later, one lesson continues to stand out above all others.
Great workplaces aren’t built by policies, platforms, or processes alone.
They’re built by people who care deeply about the employee experience.
That’s a conversation we’re proud to be part of, and one we’re excited to continue at #SHRM26 and beyond.
Heading to Orlando for #SHRM26?
We’d love to hear your story, swap notes on where your culture is heading, and show you how we’ve turned three years of collective HR wisdom into our newest platform features.
Find the BlinkSwag Team:
📍 Booth #3565 | Orange County Convention Center Expo Floor
🗓️ June 16–19, 2026
