The HR Life Podcast

Tony Benjamin (00:15.131)
Welcome to the HR Life Podcast, a podcast about the work-life experience of those of us in human resources and business leadership. Your hosts are fantastic Tony Benjamin, owner and founder of the Grange, Strategic HR Consulting, and Stephen Big Deal Smith, who is so important that every time he makes an appearance, we have to make a special announcement about it. Hey Steve!

Steven Smith (00:39.378)
That's right. That's what this is all about today.

Tony Benjamin (00:42.811)
There you go. Well, Steve, I I feel like I've been talking to you all morning because the Rebecca Bradford episode dropped this morning and I and I listened to it and I gotta say, man, Rebecca's awesome. She's just she's fantastic and and incredible. Yes. So may

Steven Smith (00:56.328)
Yeah. She's humble. Like like you look at what she went through, she totally downplayed it. I'm with you on that. Yeah.

Tony Benjamin (01:06.205)
Yeah, yeah, no, let's matter of fact, let's point this out. So for everyone who just barely listened to that episode, I hope you notice that what she said was in her second Olympic trial for 2014, when she was going there, she was on blood thinners and had just had blood clots in her lungs. And she missed the Olympic team by one one hundredth of a second, and didn't and she'll tell you it's because she didn't kick her skate.

Steven Smith (01:18.579)
Mm-hmm.

Tony Benjamin (01:35.133)
It was the yeah, I was listening to that episode again. I'm like, holy crap, she just did it again. Like she just takes personal responsibility for that. She owns it and said it and I just tip of the ha to me, that's probably what makes her an Olympian. That trait. Really cool. And and just

Steven Smith (01:42.77)
Yeah. She owns it.

Steven Smith (01:50.675)
Yeah.

She absolutely owns it. She she doesn't fall victim to circumstances that sh are beyond her control, health, whatever. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. She it was the kicking of the skate. It was an action that she did in her mind that caused the issue there. Which, you know, kudos for being on those types of things and having the health issue and still pushing through it like she did. It's amazing. It's amazing to me.

Tony Benjamin (02:18.547)
Yeah. Anyways, I just as I was listening to that again this morning after it dropped us. I see that. That's anyways. That's why I decided to hire. It's cool. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. And just my admiration for Rebecca. And I know I said that about two hundred times in that episode, but the truth is I really, really do respect her. It's impressive. I respect her. She's awesome. A lot to learn from her. Okay, so the reason that we're here today is we need to make a few announcements so that

Steven Smith (02:24.316)
We want we wanted to point it out. We wanted to point it out. So

Steven Smith (02:35.006)
I feel like you need to say it at least one more time.

Steven Smith (02:46.833)
Yes.

Tony Benjamin (02:47.825)
Everybody can can set their calendars and stuff. And this will come out before those other episodes drop. So we didn't want to just put it in the normal rotation. But here we go. Breaking news.

Tony Benjamin (03:09.023)
Breaking news. That's right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, right. Okay. So just for everybody, the Via Ferrata, we and our guests that have been on there, and I think a listener or two will go on the Via Ferrata on September eleventh. It is we're recording this on the first and we'll release this on the third. And when we do that, if you have not yet signed up for it or whatever, you can email me

Steven Smith (03:10.398)
Boom. I love the hit right at the end. It's so fun.

Tony Benjamin (03:37.851)
me at the podcast the hrlifodcast at gmail dot com or you can reach out to dyno outfitters in vernal and they can't and you can tell them that you're with us and that you you want to be added to the group. It might be easier just to call dyno outfitters

Steven Smith (03:54.812)
Is it the HR Life Podcast? Is that the official name on on the account or whatever? I I I I guess I failed to ask about that.

Tony Benjamin (03:59.239)
Yeah, the HR Life Steve's never emailed us. So The HR Life podcast.

Steven Smith (04:05.618)
Ha no, no, I'm not talking about I'm not talking about the email. I'm talking about if you call Dino Outfitters directly, how do you indicate that I'm here for the podcast? Do you just tell them the HR Life podcast? Okay.

Tony Benjamin (04:11.015)
On the group.

Tony Benjamin (04:18.067)
Yeah, yeah, ask to speak to Amber and if she's not available, tell them that you're part of the podcast group going on the eleventh. and we're s yeah, yeah, so we're

Steven Smith (04:27.24)
Cool. That that that was my question. It it's like it's like Sherm, you know, when I w need to get a hotel and I tell them I'm from Utah Sherm and they're like, What's that? And then I spell it out S H R Shroom? Okay. And then they get it.

Tony Benjamin (04:38.921)
Yeah, yeah.

We don't do shrooms in shrimp so just saying That's right. That's right. That's why you're in HR people is cause you do shrooms. but anyways, so just call it there, tell Dino Outfitters that or you can email us and and we'll get you on the list. I am gonna give her a list today of the estimated numbers. but I think we can probably add you within this week if you're if you're hearing this. So just

Steven Smith (04:44.208)
Nope. But apparently everybody thinks we do 'cause that's how they want to pronounce it.

Steven Smith (05:10.588)
Yeah, 'cause don't we have kind of a general idea of a group number? So yeah. Yeah.

Tony Benjamin (05:14.131)
Yeah, yeah, we do. Yeah, yeah. And and we we are still a couple under the number that we originally estimated for it. And so she's got the the stuff reserved. Yeah, that's right. Okay. So

Steven Smith (05:20.84)
Correct. Yep. So we have room. Yep. We have room. So if you so want to come last minute it's Friday. It's really just the morning, eight thirty to eleven, right?

Tony Benjamin (05:32.253)
Eight thirty about twelve thirty, yep. Mm-hmm. So yeah, about half a day. Yeah, yeah. And that means we're probably down and grabbing a bite invernal to eat afterwards, you know, and you're out of town by two ish or something like that. So I don't know. That's an excellent question.

Steven Smith (05:33.64)
Twelve three, okay. So

Steven Smith (05:43.09)
are we gonna eat?

I really I wanna try some triceratops or stegosaurus, so just let me know.

Tony Benjamin (05:51.955)
Those are frowned upon. Just so you know, the scientists don't like us to do that. If they find dino meat, they want us to turn it over to that amusement park thing they're producing in South America with all the DNA. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, anyways, I don't know. We'll pick a place though. That there's some really, really good Italian. It's a little expensive, but there's some really good Italian here. And there's also some great barbecue. There's a a microbrewery here, and I don't know, there's some good food in.

Steven Smith (05:53.54)
darn.

Darn.

Steven Smith (06:01.086)
Isla Nublar, I think. Yeah, yeah. Darn. Well, it was a nice thought.

Tony Benjamin (06:21.51)
shockingly enough. So anyway, so we'll do that. We should be done right around two ish and hedge back. That gets you back into the Salt Lake Valley or whatever by five ish. if you like to come. Or if you want to book a last minute flight, I know there are flights twice a day in and out of Vernal. So although phenomicon is that same are those same days. So hotels might be a little bit difficult if you're booking last second. So okay. that's

Steven Smith (06:45.532)
Yeah, yeah. FYI. 'Cause everybody's coming for phenomicon. And you know, if you're really lucky, you find one of the hotels that has ghosts because that's what we're there for. So

Tony Benjamin (06:50.515)
That's right. That's right. Even Steve and I will be there. We're gonna try and interview some people.

Tony Benjamin (07:01.245)
Right. Or an alien living in the basement. Either one works.

Steven Smith (07:03.39)
You know, you know what I wanna know? I I wanna know, are there any haunted tours in Vernal?

Tony Benjamin (07:10.023)
I don't know that they do tours in Vernal, but there have been some haunted places. at least according to my daughter who Yeah.

Steven Smith (07:12.262)
Mm-hmm.

Steven Smith (07:17.95)
Dude, somebody that's a business idea, Tony. How are you not becoming a tour guide already? Just saying. I would do that. Like when I get old, I want to be a tour guide for haunted stuff like that because I would love telling the stories and taking people all over the place and just totally making stuff up because that's what I do. So, you know.

Tony Benjamin (07:24.159)
Okay.

Tony Benjamin (07:30.729)
Right, right.

Tony Benjamin (07:36.633)
Okay. So for anybody listening to this in the future, just realize that Steve didn't mean makeup. He meant he meant unverified. So that's what it meant. Okay, so

Steven Smith (07:45.598)
There we go. There we go. I appreciate when Tony brings out his legal side of him. So there we go.

Tony Benjamin (07:53.457)
Right. Well that's the official voice of the HR line.

okay, so next is w the Work Elevated Conference. We will be there and we're presenting on the afternoon of Tuesday, right? the twenty second. And I'm hold on, I'm gonna look this up really quick. that's right.

Steven Smith (08:03.005)
Yes.

Steven Smith (08:09.138)
The twenty second.

I don't think it's the afternoon. I think it's the morning actually. It the it's the morning. Yeah.

Tony Benjamin (08:19.843)
let's see, work. it'd be nice if I could type around mic around my mic here. Work. Holy crap, never mind. I'm gonna do it here.

Steven Smith (08:29.838)
Do you want me to tell you the time? I already know it. Okay, so Tuesday, the 22nd from 9:30 to 1145. And if if you're planning on attending that particular, it is a two-hour workshop. So you'll notice I said 9:30, 1145. There will be a break in between. We'll have like a 10-minute break, but you have to reserve your seat because we're limited to 50 people. and and

Tony Benjamin (08:31.367)
Elevated good, yes, tell us.

Tony Benjamin (08:50.377)
Case you have to go potty.

Tony Benjamin (08:56.027)
And we are one of the most popular sites, or the descriptions, so if you wanna do it if you wanna do it, do it do it soon. Yeah, yeah.

Steven Smith (08:59.676)
Yeah, the traffic on the website right now. Yeah, people are gonna and and what we're doing in that particular session is is we're we're obviously gonna show you how artificial intelligence is changing HR, but we're gonna talk about the ideal framework, show you how to move beyond, you know, the trial and error prompting that you're probably used to right now for those who you have kind of dug into to to AI a little bit.

to create repeatable processes and stuff. But we're also going to talk about not only prompts and workflows, but doing it responsibly and some really cool tools that you can have access to even if you don't have access at work. And we can even show you how to create a bot or two. So there we go. So yeah. And there is a difference between a bot and an agent.

Tony Benjamin (09:40.809)
Da dum ba dum yeah, we're gonna have some very practical applications of this stuff. And

Steven Smith (09:46.91)
So guys need to understand that there's a very big difference. If you don't know the difference, all the more reason to come. And you it is required. You have to have your laptop with you because we're gonna be doing live stuff. So yeah. Yes. Yes.

Tony Benjamin (09:47.305)
Yes. Yes.

Tony Benjamin (09:57.255)
And it'll be very, very helpful if you have a subscription. I think we're gonna use multiple formats as well. So I think I'm gonna do my initial stuff in chat GPT. And Steve, are you using Claude?

Steven Smith (10:04.766)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I can use Claude. I can also use Copilot if we need to. I know I know a lot of organizations have access to Copilot. The the cool part is there's a lot of similarities between the programs. Sometimes they just have a slightly different name to it. and so yeah, we'll we'll cover all of those. So yeah. Correct. Correct. So that way you can follow along and and not feel lost. So

Tony Benjamin (10:12.786)
Okay.

Tony Benjamin (10:16.201)
Yeah. Yep.

Tony Benjamin (10:23.999)
But that's part of the reason why showing multiple formats and stuff. So anyways, okay

Tony Benjamin (10:31.399)
Now right after that, and I think it will be sometime around noon or something like that, during the exhibit hour time when you can go around and visit different people, we will be recording live from the conference. So

Steven Smith (10:46.268)
Yeah, that's from eleven forty five to one, so it's during lunch. Yeah.

Tony Benjamin (10:49.561)
Uh-huh. Yeah. So in that in that period sometime in there we'll be recording about thirty minutes worth of the podcast. and then if you would like, we're gonna have our mics and everything set up there and you can come and talk to us. So just like last year, if you want to come by and stop by and say hi and be on the podcast for two minutes or five minutes, that'd be awesome. yeah, we promise not to tell everyone about your mullet in the eighties this time. So just saying

Steven Smith (11:08.306)
Yeah, come and do it. Come and do it.

Steven Smith (11:15.548)
I don't know, Sterling really owned that. Like he owned it. So

Tony Benjamin (11:19.495)
I don't think he was very happy when he told that story, but there you go. Or no, he was fine with the story. He just wasn't happy with the picture. No, he was he just yeah. So anyways. Go ahead.

Steven Smith (11:22.844)
What he's the one that told it. the come on, the picture was the best. Yeah, yeah. But now, now that I understand AI a lot better, I should totally redo that picture using AI. I bet we could really get a solid one. I man, I'm excited about that. So there we go.

Tony Benjamin (11:38.034)
Even if he doesn't talk to us about it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. There you go. Sterling's awesome. We love you, Sterling. You're cool. anyways, just want to make sure that everyone's aware that we do want you to come cheer loud, be part of the studio audience for a change, right? I don't know if we'll have a velvet rope, but we will try. you know, just in case you want to rush the stage. Yeah. anyways, so that that will be that will be that.

Steven Smith (11:53.51)
Yeah. Yeah, live.

Steven Smith (11:58.403)
where what do we where do we find one of those?

Tony Benjamin (12:07.075)
during lunch that time and like I said we'll probably only do about thirty minutes so you can still go and visit exhibitors and all that sort of stuff. And I think that'll I haven't Joey Glenn hasn't given me the exact location yet, but I think it will be upstairs. I think that's where we're gonna be on the north side of the building where there's like a a lobby area out there. So I think that's where we're gonna be. But you'll find out when you get there for sure. Okay. Now the last thing that we want to make sure everyone knows about is the HR awards.

the the the ex the excellence awards. so this is so back in the day, Utah Sherm sponsored awards with Utah Business Magazine. And these were the HR I don't remember what they called them. the HR Awards and and U Utah Business Magazine would publish the winners and all that sort of stuff. there were some complications to that relationship after COVID and things became kind of complicated and stuff.

Steven Smith (12:40.626)
Yes.

Tony Benjamin (13:05.385)
so Utah Sherman's decided to take that over itself and it will be doing the awards a separate event, a separate gala. And that will be on Tuesday, the fifth September fifteenth at the Hell Center Theater in Sandy. it'll be up there on the second floor and I'm I think what do they call that? They call that the legacy room, I think is what it's called. but anyways, you want to

Steven Smith (13:22.034)
Yes.

Tony Benjamin (13:33.103)
if if you can attend that you really want to go. There's some really cool things there. we're gonna make some announcements about some of those awards and different awards. So there's, you know, of course HR Professional of the World of the Year. We're also going to announce the Emerging Professional of the Year. we have a lifetime achievement award and a very special person and that award's going to be named after and we'll announce that and everything. It's going to be a a really, really cool event.

at maximum if you're not a Sure member, it's only 60 bucks. if you're a short if you're a Sure member, it's only fifty dollars. and of course the nominees and all that, they get some discounted tickets. But just if you can make that, I would highly recommend you go to that. you know you're gonna be there a couple of hours. I think we're gonna have a light meal. I don't think it's gonna be, you know, quote unquote dinner for you, dinner, dinner, but it'll be a light meal and it will be a gala. You want to come there.

Steven Smith (14:18.035)
Yeah.

Tony Benjamin (14:30.309)
And look, if you're a leader on an HR team, bring your team with you too. there is th the tables are kind of arranged in a weird way, but if you want to purchase eight tickets with p your people sitting together, you can do that as well. And it gives you a slight discount on all those, whether they're members or not. So of Sherm or not. So anyways, the point is is if you get a chance, it's a great event, come recognize the best and the best and you know, take some notes on what it took to win this year and nominate people next year.

Steven Smith (14:58.802)
Yeah, absolutely. Mm-hmm.

Tony Benjamin (14:59.433)
We will be doing this on an annual basis now going forward. if you've noticed that we've we've been doing experiments with some of the chapters, Salt Lake chapter did an incredible version of this a couple of years ago. just to see how that process would go. Bridger Land, I think, did it this year. I think theirs was this year, right? And anyways, it was really it was a really cool process and we want to encourage everybody to come and support, you know, your profession and get in there and like I said, recognize the best of the best.

And if nothing else, like if you can't afford to go to the conference, definitely come to this. Definitely come to this and participate in this. All the network of things are gonna be there. And I will be there. I don't know, Steve, are you gonna be there? Are you able to make that night?

Steven Smith (15:33.98)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Steven Smith (15:43.865)
yeah, it should be there. So yeah.

Tony Benjamin (15:45.106)
Okay. Okay. Excellent. We'll do a little recording from there then and an interview and say hi to a few people. So anyways, please, please check that out as well. I think you're gonna like it. you know, going forward in the future, if you think about it, there's an entire week set up around HR in the state of Utah and the events are just getting bigger and better and more important. So anyways, there you go. Anything else we want to tell them, Steve?

Before we let them go from this special edition.

Steven Smith (16:15.614)
These special announcements. I think that's it. I those are kind of the things we just wanted to cover. Make sure you're aware of it because it's coming up very quickly. And we just want to throw out a reminder there. And obviously, you know, put it a plug-in for both the conference and the achievement awards. So

Tony Benjamin (16:30.783)
That's right. That's that's right. Okay, there we go. I think we did pretty good today, Steve.

Steven Smith (16:34.822)
Yeah, yeah. Really quick.

Tony Benjamin (16:36.733)
The mini studio audience. Yeah, that's right. That's right. You know, normally we're not even done with our our introductory banter by sixteen minutes in, so just saying whoa. That's right, that's right. No, they like the long form. I they whatever they say. They like it. okay, well there you go. I guess if if that d anything else you want to mention, Steve?

Steven Smith (16:39.635)
Yeah.

Steven Smith (16:44.702)
This is impressive. People are going to be like, man, these are the ones I want to listen to.

Steven Smith (17:01.092)
No, no, I'm solid, so

Tony Benjamin (17:03.615)
Okay. Well there we go. The breaking news, you needed it. We're we're grateful. And we want to say thank you to our sponsors again, Dino Outfitters and Megastar HR. Thank you for what you've done. and again, if any of you are looking for a charity to support from your company this year, during Christmas, we highly, highly recommend Pucks for Autism and Thrive Life Project. Please support those. even if you just call up or whatever and say, Hey, we heard about you, that helps. anyways, but anything you can do there.

Steven Smith (17:30.066)
Yeah. Yeah it does.

Tony Benjamin (17:32.947)
We really appreciate it. Okay, and with all that said, I guess we're going out the same way we came in.

Steven Smith (17:36.734)
Dunter alone.

Tony Benjamin (17:41.265)
Thank you for listening to today's podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a five star review. That's a five star review on your favorite podcast app. Comments or questions for us? Email the podcast at the HRlife Podcast at gmail dot com. And we'll talk again soon.

Steven Smith (18:04.882)
Ha ha.