Live from the Daytona 500: HR Meets NASCAR

There are times in life that you will never forget. Today is one of them for me. I was invited to live blog at the "HR Meets NASCAR" event by Mike VanDervort of The Human Race Horses and Roger Lear of OrlandoJobs.com at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) during the 52nd Annual Daytona 500.

There were over 200 human resource professionals and their guests in attendence, including some of my colleagues from Bernard HODES Group: Carol McDaniel, Steven Walesch, Suzy Jackson and Robin Lash-Warde. We enjoyed an exclusive party in the Pit Road Patios, which gave us a perfect seat to view all of action in the Daytona 500. At Daytona's Midway, we checked out the sponsor giveaways and kept running into the film crew from Inside NASCAR. During the pre-race festivities, we walked down pit road, oversaw inspections and watched a concert by Tim McGraw. It was wonderful to see so many new and old NASCAR fans have fun before and during the race. Due to the restrictor plate changes, the cars drove by at unbelievable speeds.

I'm always looking for creative team building ideas. At the Daytona, DIS created "Race Rewards", especially for organizations to use their location and amenities for incentive programs or other company activities. Just like a successful corporation, a winning NASCAR team must work well together and under stressful circumstances.

Thank you again to Mike Van Dervort, Roger Lear, Orlandojobs.com and GreatInsuranceJobs.com for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live blog from NASCAR's Super Bowl, the Daytona 500.