So to Brighton then for the annual Public Sector People Managers' Association (PPMA) conference. New president Stephen Moir had strong some words for delegates in his opening address.
The conference theme is 'Evolution or Extinction' for public sector HR. Moir chose his keynote speech to attack the HR dinosaurs that roam across the public sector landscape and said HR professionals bucked their ideas up, extinction was a real possibility.
New ways of working, technology, outsourcing, efficiency targets should not be seen as threats to public sector HR teams willing to get to grips with them.
HR in local government, the police, civil service and wider public sector is at a crossroads, he said. Down one path lay extinction, down the other evolution.
Moir had some tough words for those in the room with regards to HR's reputation. "I'm sick and tired of being part of a profession that wallows in self-pity," he said, to gasps of disbelief from delegates, who were probably expecting an easy ride.
HR was turning itself into "self-obsessed naval gazers" and must stop feeling sorry for itself, he insisted. Fair point, Stephen.
In his day job, Moir is director of people and policy at Cambridgeshire County Council and was supported by members of his HR team, his PA and his chief executive. Have they not got enough to do in Cambridgeshire or is it that the local authority is so well run that no-one there will notice the HR department and top man are missing for the day.
Moir's speech got the conference off to a strong start and hopefully set the tone for what will be two days of debate and discussion.
