Get out of town: Conference season is here!

IMGCAP(1)] Conference season is in full swing! I just returned from the AICPA Practitioners Symposium and Tech + Conference in Orlando (check out the cool video from our CPA Glow event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX0Opj2seF4). My suitcase isn’t even unpacked and I’m thinking about Sage Summit in July, (ping me for a special coupon code) and looking ahead into the fall with CCH User Conference in October.   

I don’t understand why so many practitioners don’t invest in national conferences for themselves or their team. Conferences, although exhausting, are phenomenal places to reinvest in your firm, your team, and yourself.  Every time I go to a conference, and in the off-season I speak at quite a few, I learn something new.  And usually, it is not from the presenters, though many have some pretty cool PowerPoints. 

It’s really about the attendees and making connections with those who are just as invested as you in making their firms better.

You see, there is something special about a national conference attendee. They are usually a fairly progressive bunch as they want to make their firms better by investing in the “how” that is learned at national events. They value learning. And who doesn’t want to hang out with fellow firm owners who are as smart or smarter than you? If you want your firm to grow and your employees to succeed, you’ll have to agree – national conferences are the place to be.

So without further ado, I have put together a list of “Top 10 Reasons to Get Out of the House and go to a Conference This Off-Season.”

10) Earn CPE.

9) Learn something new from a speaker.

8) Meet a peer who is doing something similar or different from you and build a new ongoing relationship.

7) Get out of your office and see your team handle a couple of days without you.

6) Connect with a vendor you currently purchase from, who you normally don’t engage with.

5) Get your team out of the office and engage with them in new surroundings.

4) Procrastinate to avoid September and October 15^th.

3) Travel to a new city and see the sights, the day before or the day after.

2) Discover new software to improve your practice.

1) Meet some of your social media friends in irl, (in real life) or meet up with your favorite blogger, i.e. me.

Need I say more?

Jody L. Padar, CPA, MST, is the CEO and Principal at New Vision CPA Group and author of The Radical CPA at theradicalcpa.com