Beginners Guide To Presenting at SourceCon + Day One Highlights

(TLDR Method for SourceCon success = bring gifts to bribe the audience)

It’s amazing how quickly an hour flies by when you’re terrified. Now that it’s done and dusted I can’t believe I was that scared, but a few minutes before I was set to present, I was no nervous I struggled to hold a pen to write my name. Hell, I was so nervous I nearly forgot my own name: The name’s Marren, Wartin Marren.
Thank goodness that once I got started, it all played out how it had in my head – minus the crowd in their underpants. I started off like a kid at show-and-tell, giving away a few Aussie icons (TimTams, VB and Vegemite) and slipping in a few Australianisms. The recipient of my jar of Vegemite was so overwhelmed with excitment, she nearly jumped onto the stage; I wonder if she will be that excited once she tastes it.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I only had one can of VB to share with the 300+ strong group, take a sip and pass it on.
Oh, so back to my presentation- Optimize your Sourcing Strategy by Building a Mind Map.  

Based on the interaction and the questions from the audience, they really got into the idea of not only having a strategy, but formalising your strategy on paper. By being able to present a visual representation of you strategy and market intel to your key stakeholders, you gain greater credibility and influence with hiring managers and candidates alike, vital for being a successful modern day sourcers. My overarching theme was that sourcing is both a SCIENCE and an ART, you need both for success.
Highlights from Day One
There were so many highlights from Day One. Here were my key takeaways:

• Sourcing 2.O is here now- where sourcing has evolving into marketing
• Engagement is king! Be different. No broadcasting, be authentic and personal
• Many of the repetitive sourcing tasks are either being automated or have been automated
• Sourcing leaders are getting better at demonstrating the ROI to their stakeholders
• Current sourcing technology, if used productively and executed correctly is a game changer
• Metrics are critical to demonstrate your ROI
• Sourcing leaders are still trying to figure out what are the best metrics to measure sourcers and what defines success
• More sourcers are now undertaking the engagement piece of the recruitment process, with more and more closing candidates
• In some teams, where sourcing and recruiting functions were separate, they’re now merging and leveraging off each other.
• LinkedIn remains dominate, as the no. 1 channel / tool being used
• The hard core sourcers are even more hard core doing amazing things to scape data from the net (all legal of course!)
• Watson knows everything about YOU!

If you’re interested in learning more about sourcing2.0 and gaining enhanced sourcing, social media and engagement skills, join me at SST2014 in, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland