It’s nearly that time of year again. The time when the great and the good of HR converge upon Manchester, hungry for learning and seminars and speakers and workshops and masterclasses and case studies and keynotes and networking. And maybe a mug and a pen or two along the way. I’ll confess to being ever so slightly excited.

My HR pom poms are on standby. And here are the ten things that I’m looking forward to the most, at CIPD14.

1. Hearing Peter Cheese say that there has never been a better time to be in HR. Because he usually does. And I like it.
2. The free learning timetable. I love a bit of bite size learning, and there is plenty of it this year. Workshops and full day training courses are great, but sometimes all you need is a little fresh inspiration, one new idea you can take straight back to your place.
3. The conference swag. Because you haven’t really been to a conference unless you come away with a bag full of free stuff. Who needs a stationary budget anyway when you can grab all those promotional pens?
4. The speakers. I’ve got my blogging eye on hearing from Susannah Clements on driving change in organisations through HR, as well as plenty of future focused stuff. The future of HR, the future of the labour market, the future of learning, the future of work in general. But I’m probably going to skip the one on employee engagement.
5. The cupcakes. Exhibition stands with cupcakes will receive my priority attention. Exhibitors please note that I am also partial to a Strawberry Cream Quality Street.
6. Networking. I always enjoy meeting new HR folk. Especially when it includes a glass of wine.
7. The fringe stuff. As well as the main conference, there’s a variety of meet ups and additional sessions taking place, like this breakfast unconference by Meg Peppin and Doug Shaw on the morning of day two.
8. Not hearing too much about millennials.
9. Listening to other HR practitioners. One of the things that I value most about conferences is hearing about what other HR folk are doing, at their place. Their successes, challenges and achievements. Shared experiences.
10. Hanging out with some top HR bloggers and tweeters. I’ll be tweeting and blogging from the conference, along with this fine lot of HR folks, below. If you are not following them already, make sure that you are by the 5th November!

I hope to see you there. I’ll be the one eating the cupcakes.