When people talk of the Manchester scene, they tend to be thinking, with a nostalgic tear in their eye, of The Smiths, New Order, maybe even The Inspiral Carpets.
Chances are they probably aren't thinking about HR. Or payroll, or employee engagement, or reward and benefits, or ... you get my drift.
But perhaps all that has changed, with the CIPD's decision to move its annual conference from Harrogate to Manchester Central conference centre.
With the conference at the halfway point, can it be judged a success? Well, the exhibition certainly looks smaller than in the past, but this could be down to a number of factors. The seminars and workshops seem as popular as ever.
As for the venue, HR practitioners are used to following one another, sheep-like, from one Harrogate lecture theatre to the next, so some confusion was to be expected. No more so than earlier today when 20 or 30 attendees were unclear as to whether they were queueing for the ladies' toilet or a session on performance-related pay.
In the same session, a delegate was overheard saying that she'd found the event rather 'hit and miss', but others have said that while the presentations themselves are patchy, the networking opportunities are as good as ever.
My main caveat would be that the content remains vague - even the much anticipated 'Next Generation HR', announced with such a fanfair yesterday. The younger delegates, new to the profession, don't seem to mind, but it's worth nothing that those with more experience - of both HR and this event - were playing hookey and hanging out with their mates, instead.
