Event category: Breakout

Managers sit at the pressure point between executive expectations and employee capacity. They are being asked to deliver more, faster, with fewer resources  – and burnout is rising. This session explores how to reset norms, clarify priorities, and create sustainable performance systems. We’ll examine how to support managers without lowering standards or sacrificing results. High performance should be demanding, but it doesn’t have to be destructive.

Tactical Takeaways:

• A workload audit method to identify hidden manager overload
• Clear performance expectation frameworks that reduce ambiguity
• Coaching tools to build resilience in frontline leaders
• Early warning indicators of burnout before productivity drops

In tighter markets, every headcount decision faces scrutiny. CPOs must translate talent strategy into financial, operational, and risk language that resonates at the board level. This session focuses on elevating HR’s credibility through data fluency and strategic storytelling. Learn how to quantify workforce investment, articulate trade-offs, and defend long-term capability building. Strong boardroom presence is now a core leadership skill for People executives.

Tactical Takeaways:

• Core metrics boards expect when evaluating headcount
• A template for linking talent initiatives to revenue and risk mitigation
• A cost-of-inaction model for underinvesting in people
• Executive storytelling techniques that elevate HR credibility

The annual review was designed for a slower, more predictable era of work. In today’s tech environment, performance can’t be evaluated once a year – it must be enabled continuously. This session shifts the conversation from appraisal to enablement: how leaders create clarity, remove friction, and ensure employees have what they need to deliver results in real time. We’ll explore how to align expectations, feedback, capability-building, and accountability into a system that drives outcomes without administrative overload. The goal isn’t to eliminate rigor –  it’s to replace outdated reviews with a performance engine that actually works.

Tactical Takeaways:

• A framework for shifting from performance evaluation to performance enablement
• Practical ways to embed real-time feedback and coaching into weekly workflows
• A goal-setting structure that ties individual contribution directly to business priorities
• Metrics that measure performance momentum — not just past results

Remote hiring and AI tools have opened the door to new forms of candidate fraud. From deepfake video interviews to proxy test-taking and fabricated work histories, deception is becoming more sophisticated. This session exposes emerging threats and the vulnerabilities many organizations overlook. We’ll explore safeguards that protect hiring integrity without damaging candidate experience. Proactive prevention is now a critical component of talent risk management.

Tactical Takeaways:

• • Red flags that signal AI-assisted candidate deception

• • Process controls to reduce risk in remote hiring

• • Verification tools and checkpoints that protect brand reputation

• • A response protocol if fraudulent hiring is discovered

Everyone is “doing AI”,  but what’s actually working inside HR teams? In this candid panel conversation, People leaders share real-world applications of AI across recruiting, performance, workforce planning, employee experience, and analytics ( including where they’ve seen meaningful gains and where it fell flat). Expect honest discussion about implementation challenges, internal resistance, legal and ethical concerns, and the pressure to move fast without breaking trust. No hype. Just practical insight from leaders testing AI in live environments.

Tactical Takeaways:

• Concrete examples of AI tools currently delivering measurable HR impact
• Lessons learned from pilots that underperformed — and why
• Governance guardrails to reduce bias, privacy, and reputational risk
• A practical roadmap for experimenting with AI without overwhelming your team or budget

In today’s tech landscape, strategy pivots are frequent and often sudden. Talent plans built annually are quickly outdated, forcing leaders into reactive workforce decisions. This session introduces a clear, defensible framework for evaluating talent when priorities shift mid-cycle. We’ll examine how to identify mission-critical capabilities, invest in reskilling where it matters, and make exits with integrity and transparency. Protecting performance while preserving culture requires structure — and this session provides it.

Tactical Takeaways:

• • • A prioritization model for identifying mission-critical roles
    • A reskilling decision tree tied to future capability needs
    • Risk indicators that signal when a role should be redeployed or exited
    • A transparent communication structure for workforce changes