I'm at the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas this week, and it's the HR industry's best show. Led by Steve Boese (the co-chairman of the conference), the show is basically the intersection of talent problems and how technology can be used in the solutions for those problems.

Nerds. Everywhere. But the cool kind, because tech nerds are cool these days, right?

One of the things that became apparent to me on Sunday at the show is that some people can be disappointed by what the show provides.

I wanted to meet Marcus Buckingham, and didn't.

I hosted a dinner, and the turnout wasn't great.

I was lost in the expo hall - it's just too much.

I was a speaker and the turnout to my thing wasn't great.

Jakob Dylan from the Wallflowers looks like he's 76 years old.

As it turns out, you don't have to be at HR Tech to learn from the disappointment that's sure to occur at times here.

I call it the AUDIENCE OF ONE lesson. The morality play in this lesson is the same for everyone in HR. You want the respect, the big audience and the attention that goes along with it. You don't have to be at a show to have that happen - it happens everyday at your company.  

So the attention/respect/audience doesn't automatically come. A lot of people pout.

What all of us should do is try to be a world-class performer with the person in front of us.  A lot of times that is one person. Feels small time, but it's not.

It's the Audience of One.  If you want to big lights, you have to perform in the smaller venues. Sometimes no one comes in the big venues as well.

How you deal with the small audience is as important as what you do in the big audience.  Think of it as training ground for you to become as good as you think you are.

So if you're at home this week, treat the next conversation with that troubled soul that walks in your office like the most important thing in the world. If you're at the #HRtechconf, treat the salesperson in the small booth at the back of the expo hall like a human.

My role model for this - Jack Black and Tenacious D doing open mic nights (check out the crowd) FTW (email subscribers click through for the video below):