At a recent PCMA Leadership Conference, Block had heard about Walt Disney's Year of a Million Dreams promotion, where Disney staff awarded a million gifts to randomly chosen guests. For Disney, the "dreams" they handed out to lucky visitors included a night's stay in Cinderella's castle or a chance to skip to the front of the line.

The possibilities of that idea struck Block - random gifts could provide the kind of personal interaction she wanted amidst a sea of attendees. She took the idea to the society's communications team, an interdepartmental group of staff, to see how random acts of kindness could become a successful campaign. One staff member came up with a name, "Random Offers of Conference Kindness" or ROCK.

High Touch, Not High Ticket

Block and the rest of the staff set out to develop a program that touched and impressed attendees without a hefty price tag.

"I didn't have a budget for it, but I did have some ideas about what we could do for little cost that would delight our members," she said.

Planning for the initiative happened to coincide with a new branding campaign involving the launch of a new logo. So the remainders of an internal brand launch - 30 leftover mugs, assorted T-shirts - worked well as ROCK gifts. Then there were $5 Starbucks gift cards with SHRM stickers, free cab rides from the airport, and a dozen or so room upgrades. Staff passed out conference survival kits with water, mints, foot spray, and anti-bacterial gel Band-Aids. One of the most popular perks was front-row seating at the general session featuring Lance Armstrong and the closing concert with Michael McDonald. The upgraded seats were so popular that the society expanded the VIP section at the final event, passing out signed Michael McDonald CDs as well. The society gave away free mail lists to selected exhibitors and also comped the fees for shipping (though not total shipping costs).

Getting in on the Giving

From out of nowhere, with no rhyme or reason, staff appeared bearing gifts. They came, they delivered, they disappeared. And they left their mark on the chosen attendees - an "I got ROCK'd" ribbon to commemorate the occasion.

By the end of the conference, 1,000 different people had been targeted at random. Though only a fraction of the total attendees were directly touched by the campaign, the effects of the gifts reverberated through the convention. The thousand ribbons were floating around, reminders of the gift-giving frenzy. People shared anecdotes and firsthand reports. SHRM covered the campaign once in the convention paper, highlighting a human interest story about an attendee from Germany who'd had a horrible trip overseas and was then surprised by a staff member offering a free cab ride. But word-of-mouth generated much more publicity than the formal coverage.

"With 22,000 people, we wanted to create a buzz," Block said. "I think most of the attendees were aware of what was going on even if they'd just heard about it."

The campaign cost under $5,000 in total, including the ribbons for all the recipients. "The good will was worth every penny," Block said.

SHRM staff members did the ROCKing on site, with a different set of staff passing out the prizes each day so no would recognize the gift-giving team. There was no set pattern: Ten people gave out premium seating at the general session, but sometimes the numbers were much smaller, depending on the specifics of each time and place. Staff volunteered to participate, with Block's only parameter being that she wanted a departmental cross-section represented.

"I'm sure I got more enjoyment out of it than the folks I ROCK'd," said Project Manager Gayle Dahlman, who helped pass out gifts. "I've been working the SHRM conference for years, and this just made the whole experience seem new to me again."

The good feelings extended to staff interactions. Registration opened on a Sunday, which meant a difficult day for the member care team. So after the general session, with registration still going full throttle, government affairs staff carried baskets filled with bottled water and candy behind the registration lines to the membership staff.

The prize givers discovered, unexpectedly, that the process worked more smoothly if a woman gave women gifts and men gave men gifts. To give a gift to someone of the opposite gender created occasional awkwardness.

"It's HR people - they're conservative and careful," Block said.

Since the conference, she's heard from SHRM chapters that want to implement a similar program at their state conferences, and planners from other associations have contacted her after hearing about the effort from their human resources personnel who attended the meeting.

SHRM plans to continue the campaign at future annual meetings. "It's a lot harder to do anonymously at smaller meetings," Block said, "and things we could do for free like VIP seating don't translate at small meetings. It would burn out immediately if we did it at every meeting. When you do something a lot it lessens the impact, and we want to keep it special."

Contributing Editor Ginny Phillips is a freelance writer in Birmingham, Ala.