Last week I was amused by this post written by Greg Savage on the 10 words you must NEVER use to describe yourself. You know the sort, words like guru, legend and ninja.

That same day I was followed by someone on Twitter whose bio contains the words guru, expert, strategist and PhD. Oh, and he ALWAYS delivers more than expected. I mean, how much self-aggrandisement can one man get away with? I didn’t follow him back.

On Friday, I was invited to attend this years’ Sourcing Summit (SOSUNZ) in Wellington courtesy of Philip Tusung, the organiser. Work commitments meant I was only able to attend for the afternoon session but it was certainly memorable.

I liked the format. Just three presenters all day who basically did two one hour slots each. So plenty of time to get in depth with their subjects.

And what a line up! The great mind of Gad Weinbach from Sydney, the brilliant Irina Shamaeva from San Francisco and the legend that is Bill Boorman from the UK, all MC’d superbly by our very own Paul Jacobs. It’s probably OK for me to describe Bill as a legend and I don’t say that lightly.

Unlike the session in Auckland two days previously, the SOSUNZ Wellington audience seemed to be entirely in-house recruiters. Where were the agency recruiters who are looking to do something different or learn about emerging sourcing and talent acquisition practices and technologies? Baffling.

I was determined to get along to see and hear Bill in particular. I have followed him on social media for 5 or 6 years and, while we have spoken once or twice in the past and interacted, have never actually met.

He’s a unique individual. Outspoken, honest and way ahead of the pack. I don’t agree with everything he says by any means, but with over 30 years industry experience he’s probably deserving of all three descriptors – guru, legend and innovator.

Having already described him as a legend, I’m sure Bill won’t mind my saying he raises a few eyebrows also with his “dishevelled chic” look. Apparently Auckland’s Koru Lounge found themselves suddenly full when Bill turned up asking for entry!

But it’s what comes out of his mouth that counts and he is both a passionate and engaging speaker.

How lucky we are in Australasia to have someone like Phil Tusung bringing recruiting events and speakers of this calibre to NZ on a regular basis. And thank you Phil for bringing it to Wellington in addition to Auckland. It always makes me wish we had similar one day HR summits here.

#NZLead are trying to break the mould in that regard. NZ’s first HR unconference is being planned for Auckland in October by Amanda Sterling. Bill, of course, has already made a mark with his pioneering recruitment unconferences held around the world under the #tru banner.

Funding for this NZ initiative is being crowd sourced and we need to raise $10,500 by 8 September to get this event on. So if you fancy attending an unstructured, free-form, disrupting type of conference all about the future of HR then pledge some money here. A $120 pledge includes a ticket to the event. There are also three $1,000 sponsorship packages up for grabs (go on HRINZ, I dare you). This will probably be an absolutely unique and PowerPoint-free day so get in behind it.