By Seth Fineberg
“We didn’t realize how hard accountants party and we had a difficult time keeping up. We’re also still recovering from the ‘socializing’ and contemplating having a recovery section at our next booth.”
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This was just one of the many quotes from vendors who attended the QuickBooks Connect event in Las Vegas for the first time. It was not surprising to me; I’ve been attending QBC and other accounting events for over 20 years. But with live accounting events only really just “returning” this year, the idea of socializing with accountants took more of a spotlight.
Moreover, it highlighted the simple fact that despite the myriad methods of obtaining CPE (which, of course, live events do offer), the real pull is the connection and how apparent it is needed now more than ever. Having personal experience with putting on a live event in 2022, I can say that I was witness to the effect being in person at an accounting event has and can have.
Certainly, event creators need to consider content first and foremost as a “draw.” You need to have something on paper or in a plan that creates a “what” and a practical purpose. But live events will survive on the simple fact that accountants need each other. That’s the “why.”
Put on all the webinars and podcasts for CPE that you want throughout the year. Pack agendas with known “thought leaders” and topics of true interest to an accountant, which may even cause them to rethink their practice or teach something they truly did not know about an application or process. At the end of the day, the “why” in a live event will always be about who you are targeting to attend and the prospect of those individuals connecting with one another.
Yes, a good mix of rising stars and known and respected names in the profession (and even a bit outside of it) will attract who you want. It is still the promise of the conversations and learnings from outside of breakout rooms and main stages that will keep accountants attending an in-person event.
COVID-19’s impact on all business, live events of course, was no small thing. And accounting professionals, already witness to much of the same kinds of things at the live events they were going to before, are going to be wary about attending anything “new.” But this is beside the point.
The natural pull – that need to be around your fellow professionals, that human need – will always win out. Why? Human nature aside, what brings accountants together year in and out, and will going forward, is personal connection. I saw it at Intuit’s recent QB Connect event, which has not been live for over three years.
I also bore witness to it at the AccountingWEB Live Summit, which while it will never exactly exist again, was a brand-new, untested event on the heels of COVID-19. We asked ourselves, why anyone would want to attend a live event given the givens of that event? This is coupled with the fact that as I mentioned, there are more ways to earn CPE and essential learning than ever before. The answer, in my view, is clear.
In over 20 years of overseeing the profession and attending live and digital/virtual events, I’ve discovered that accountants tend to respond better to being spoken with rather than at or to. If they see people who look like them, have familiar issues and stories to share, or even want to learn similar things, they will come. And yes, they do love a good party. In short, keep the live events coming. But be mindful, be inclusive and create opportunities to connect.
