Speaking and HR Meetings

If you need a speaker for your conference, event or internal HR meeting on the following topics, I would be happy to help!

Speaking Experience

I am a frequent speaker at regional HR and mobility conferences, having spoken publicly over 40 times in the last seven years throughout Asia, including large public events (by HRM, Lighthouse, Worldwide ERC, KeyMedia, Ministry of Manpower and others), and private client events, such as Global HR leadership meetings, Ayala HR Conference (Philippines) and for various HR associations. I have spoken in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Shenzhen), Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, as well as Belgium and the U.S. My U.S. speaking experience is extensive, having presented to national conferences such as WorldatWork on several occasions on rewards topics, as well as client teleconferences.

As a Principal with Mercer (June 2011 – Dec 2012), I spoke at over a dozen client events and received consisently high/highest evaluation scores. I prepared and presented several webinars, including global mobility trends, health and retirement benefits for globally mobile employees, localisation and local plus approaches and others. I presented and discussed trends and insights at private Global HR leaders meetings, for several large multinationals.

In early 2014, I received an Advance Certificate in Training and Assessment, through Singapore’s Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) the “gold standard” ACTA programme in Singapore. I am qualified to teach Singapore’s Human Resources Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) framework courses through the Approved Training Organisations. For more on ACTA certification, click here.

Speaking Formats

I can deliver presentations in most formats and durations, ranging from 1-3 hours:

Keynote speeches
Workshops
Breakout sessions
Breakfast seminar
Roundtable (facilitator)
Planning primer (facilitate annual HR planning beginning with a presentation of key challenges and trends)

Fees and Expenses

For most conference presentations, I only require coverage of travel costs, if any. For keynote presentations, workshops or facilitation where additional preparation of materials or follow up actions are needed, I require an honorarium of SGD $1,500, in addition to travel costs.

HR Leadership Meetings

For HR leadership team (HRLT) meetings/workshops/planning sessions, I can provide the following services:

Travel Costs only:

Presentation on trends, etc. as described above
Preparation and research on the company, industry, relevant geographies, legal developments and trends

Additional (optional) Fee based services:

Deep research on the company, its business cycle, growth initiatives, mergers/acquisitions, cost issues, etc.
External research on the industry, competitive practices in HR, trends or factors relevant to your company/scope
Solicit and icmpile input on company HR challenges and priorities, via interviews with key HRLT members
Custom online survey of HR leaders or entire HR team (or line managers, expatriates, etc.), with optional preparation of results for presentation at the event, or results may be provided to the HR leader only, for reference and further action),
Correlation of online survey results with company engagement scores, competency assessments, staff turnover data, performance or compensation data, or other HR metrics
Analysis of HR performance indicators, vendor performance, etc.
HR Budget related analysis and recommendations
Facilitation of HR team planning/prioritising and any follow up actions
Summary reports, for your use in supporting HR budget requests for coming year, and/or as basis for setting coming year objectives, KPIs, etc.

Fees are determined case by case, depending on the scope of services provided.

Delivery Style

I have suffered through “Death by Powerpoint”, speakers reading from their slides, rambling, excessive storytelling, too many numbers, small fonts, you name it, I’ve seen it. My style therefore aims to avoid those mistakes. My style is lively, focused, engaging, fact based and will always have a bit of humour. I mix data with insight to make the data meaningful, trends with implications to help the audience understand how to manage the trends. I use a mix of words, numbers, quotes, photos and charts to get the point across the right way. Bullets may be the default slide format in PowerPoint, but I pick the best format to make the point. My goal is to reach minds and hearts, giving my audience/learners key knowledge, skills and attitude (desire) to go back and make a difference.

My style is engaging. I spend more time considering my audience–who they are, what they are dealing with at work, what questions they will have–as a guide in preparing my material. And during the presentation, I am constantly observing my audience to check their interest, their understanding and whether there are questions, etc. I check pace, ask for questions, invite contributions. Adults want to learn from each other, not just the “experts”, so I normally insert a “show of hands” poll on various points to validate that people have had to deal with the issue I am talking about. If a lot of hands come up, I treat the topic more strongly; if no hands come up, I touch on the topic then move on.

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2013 Public Speaking Schedule

Housing Considerations for Foreign Talent — Far East Organization HR Seminar, Singapore, January 2013
China Domestic Relocation: Panel Discussion — Worldwide ERC Asia Pacific Mobility Summit, Shanghai, March 2013
Managing Talent Across Borders: An Exclusive Briefing on Global Talent Mobility — Imperial Consulting Executive Forum, Manila, 6 May 2013
What’s Next in Global Talent Mobility? — Key Media’s 2nd Annual HRM Talent Mobility Congress, Singapore, 16 May 2013
Aligning Rewards with Talent Mobility–UNI Strategic’s World of Compensation and Benefits Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 27/28 August 2013
Brainstorming Session on Managing Healthcare, Asian World Summit on Employee Health and Wellness, Kuala Lumpur, 24/25 September 2013
Leveraging Global Mobility to Maximize Talent Management Outcomes — Crown Leadership’s Talent Management Innovation & Employee Engagement Asia Masterclass, Singapore, 7/8 October 2013
Communicating Employee Benefits: Panel Discussion — Benefits Asia 2013 by HR Magazine, Singapore, 24 October 2013
How to Manage and Compensate International Assignments — Exclusive presentation to the Ayala Family of Companies’ HR Leaders network, Manila, 5 November 2013

2014 Public Speaking Schedule

SFIC-Hay Group SME Forum Series 2014 | Venturing Beyond Borders: So We’re Going Global, Now What? Singapore, 28 March 2014
Building Organizational Capacity: Purpose, Principles, and Performance — Greenleaf Centre for Servant Leadership Annual Conference, Singapore, 23/24 April 2013
What is Talent Mobility?, Hay Group Forum 2014: Sustaining Organisation Effectiveness in An Ever Changing Business Environment, Singapore, 23 May 2014
The Complete Total Rewards Professional, Asia Institute of Management Conference Center, Hosted by HRMBSi, Manila, Philippines, 9 July 2014
ASEAN 2015: Its Implications in the Healthcare Industry, 3rd Annual HPMA Convention, Hospital Personnel Management Association, 11, July 2014
Game Changing Trends in Expatriate Compensation, Global HR Excellence, Hosted by Marcus Evans, Sinagpore, 14 October 2014
Global Mobility Roundtable, Benefits Asia, Singapore, 15 October 2014

2015 Public Speaking Schedule

Total Rewards and the Employer Value Proposition: A Two-Dimensional Perspective, Compensation & Benefits Conference 2015, Clariden Global, Shanghai, 23-24 March 2014
Talent Management Asia, HRMagazine, Singapore, 23-25 April, 2015 (topic pending)

For more information on speaking engagements, email me at tfarmer@freelancetotalrewards.com.

Freelance Total Rewards

Effective Rewards for Global Talent