I thought I'd write this article to give you a feel for AccountEx 2017 in comparison to SleeterCon of years past. Last year was clearly a year of transition and the fading of the Sleeter Las Vegas era. There was an entirely different feel this year in Boston, where AccountEx will remain for the next three years.
AccountEx announced that it would return to Boston through 2020. It did not go as far as to say the show would remain at the Hynes Convention Center, but given the size of the show, unless there's a substantial influx of attendees and vendors, a larger venue isn’t likely.
Personally, I liked the feel of this year’s show. It wasn’t as fast paced and glitzy as some of the later Vegas Sleeter-years, which was okay by me. After all, this is a trade show for accountants, bookkeepers and consultants. A little fan-fair is one thing, but too much turns me off. Heck, I’m one of those people who change the channel during the Super Bowl halftime performance.
Unfortunately, the hurricane plowing through the Caribbean and Florida forced many of this year’s participants to head home early. Of those I have since talked too, they all fared better than others in the storm’s path.
Educational Sessions
Most of the breakouts were just one-hour sessions designed to meet the CPE criteria (50 consecutive minutes). In most cases, that was sufficient, at least for the sessions I attended.
Instructors didn’t seem to have any problem fitting their material into that time frame, although in a couple of sessions it might have been nice to have 15 more minutes for Q&A.
I guess one reason I like this conference is that I’m never asked to instruct. That means I can take in several breakouts taught by some of my favorite people. I not only get to educate myself, but give a few of my buddies like Charlie Russell a hard time during their presentations (all in good humor, of course).
It also means I can spend more time in the exhibit hall searching out new and interesting products that may turn into a "First Look" or "Product Review" article for Insightful Accountant readers.
One thing that seemed to slow things down was the scan-in process for CPE credits. In some cases, long lines developed at the door of sessions because of issues scanning badges. I don’t know if this was from poor badge design, poor scanning equipment or an inadequate number of door monitors in relation to the number of attendees.
I noticed some instances where the speaker had to start his presentation to get done on time, even though there were still people lined up to get scanned.
Exhibit Hall
While the exhibit hall was only open two of the three conference days, it was open all the time from early morning through evening hours.
Some vendors I spoke with liked this approach. A few told me they would have preferred to have some breaks each day and have the floor open all three days.
In addition to the rush periods where a large crowd came into the exhibit space right after breakfast, just before or after lunch, or at the end of the last break out, there was a steady stream of people seeking vendors while others were in a session. I personally took advantage of the slack-time to spend as much as an hour or longer with a few different vendors.
Several vendors said they received more worthwhile contacts and sales at this show compared to other conferences. If you have more one-on-one time with attendees, you can educate them on your product and potentially make a sale.
I saw quite a mix in terms of attendance in regards to the "Expo Tech Theaters" within the exhibit space that allowed vendors to schedule presentations to a seated audience. I know a few vendors like Core by BQE, which had a packed house during its presentations. I’m also aware of several vendors that only had a handful of participants during their theater presentations.
Unfortunately, one of my target GL vendors didn’t show up this year, even though they were prominent at last year’s AccountEx USA. I’m talking about Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials (at least that is what it is called now.)
Fortunately, my good friend, Mario Nowogrodzki instructed an outstanding breakout session on Dynamics 365, where he outlined the functionality and implementation challenges.
Still, I had hoped to spend an hour or more with the product to get to know it. Your loss Microsoft!
I regretfully didn’t get to spend any time with Xero this year, even though my good friend and guest host for the "Xero Zone," Amanda Aguillard worked in the booth part time. You may recall I wrote about my Xero certification experience, which Amanda instructed during last year’s conference in preparation for our expanded Xero coverage.
But there is only so much of Murph to go around. And while I didn’t get any one-on-one time, I observed several occasions when the Xero booth was inundated by the crowd.
I intentionally spent a lot of time at the Sage exhibit, because I'm intent on bringing you more content about its offerings. I feel like it has a lot to offer cloud lovers, especially when it comes to a truly robust product.
I was introduced to a few new product leaders this year, too. My plan is to get some meaningful content out of them. In years past, getting down to the meat and potatoes of Sage products has been like pulling teeth. Sometimes, you only get a press release of new product details.
As always, another booth to be ‘inundated’ by crowds was the TSheets clan. This year, it was passing out TShirts. Gone were the flip-flops and warm-n-fuzzy socks that I relish from past conferences.
Another noticeable absence was Intuit for the second year in a row. Despite its no show at the conference, this year marks another year that it had won the "AccountEx 2017 User Favorite Awards" for Accounting Software (QuickBooks), Point-of-sale software (QuickBooks POS) and Field Service Management (Intuit Field Service Mgmt. powered by Corrigo).
In the next few weeks, look for a few articles regarding other vendors I spent time with at AccountEx. Some of these vendors will be new, while others boast revitalized product offerings that you should find of interest.
Keynotes
While I can appreciate the insights by industry leaders like Sage's Jennifer Warawa and Xero's Amy Vetter on how the trends are changing in our industry, the ever-expanding role of technology, and the result, I wonder if attendees would rather see a roundtable where they could shoot out questions to these industry titans – and others.
Of course, when only two of the GL players are in attendance, a lot of questions attendees want to ask simply are not applicable.
The audience consensus seemed to be that Randi Zuckerberg’s keynote on “10 Exciting Trends Impacting Your Business Right Now” was a winner. Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, and former marketing director at Facebook. also stuck around to autograph copies of her New York Times bestselling book "Dot Complicated," which examines our wired lives.
I wonder which other Zuckerberg can be at least partially blamed for wired lives?
I personally thought that Daymond John’s laid back, yet inspiring, keynote near the end of the conference was better than the two other presentations I have heard this "Shark Tank" member make.
His five ‘Shark Points’ were right on:
- S – set your goal(s)
- H – homework, research and analytics
- A – amore (love) for what you're doing
- R – remember "you" are the brand
- K – keep swimming
As part of this later point, he emphasized the importance of early detection (health prevention) to take care of yourself, so that you can take care of your family and your business.
He also took time to autograph copies of his New York Times bestseller, The Power of Broke.
I must say that I'm never sure at these things who's so celebrity that you can’t, or can, take photographs of them on your own, so I just don’t. Unfortunately, that means no celebrity pictures for you.
The Food
I usually don’t include a food critique with my conference overviews, but I decided I had to say something about it this time. I know my mother always told me, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything,”, but there is also something to be said for "well-intentioned criticism.
Unfortunately, with one exception, I thought the food at this year’s AccountEx was among the worst conference "rubber chickens" I have ever had.
From the first morning (way too dry to way too wet) scrambled eggs, to the burnt bacon and the mid-day stale sandwiches, the food was not good. And let's not forget about the last day’s soup-like breakfast entrée, which featured uncooked apple and lumps oatmeal (I’ve heard of better served on death row).
I ended up eating the snacks I brought from home or a sandwich in the mall (which really wasn’t much better).
On the other hand, the charcuterie offered up at the first evening’s reception was very good, well presented and well received by those in attendance. The antipasto of assorted cheeses and pickled vegetables and olives, along with the breadsticks and garlic toasts were a welcome variation for the remainder of the meals this year.
It’s always a balance of conference dollars spent on food, drink, facilities and program offerings. Regretfully, it seems food lost out this year in terms of the balance.
Attendance & Expectations
I saw a lot of people I knew at this year’s conference, including Doug Sleeter. I also realized that a lot of people who attended SleeterCon events in the past were absent. I think some people may have been waiting to see how this year’s conference, now under AccountEx leadership, would fare in comparison to Doug’s shows where he personally took so much delight in being the good host.
I met a lot of new people though, like many of the 20-plus Aussies that were in attendance. Think about it, 20 great people from Down Under came all the way to Boston for an accounting conference.
Based upon some of the tales that were told, they had quite a tea party during more than one evening while they were there.
This is, in my mind, is an important show, because it is not centered around just one GL product and the ecosystem surrounding that product. Let’s face it – the Sage Summit is all about Sage, QuickBooks Connect is all about QBO and Xerocon is about Xero.
Doug was in the process of transitioning his show to provide a platform where attendees could get a first-hand look and feel about all the GL offerings in the SMB space, and more.
AccountEx is attempting to do the same thing. And the fact that some of the GL players have chosen to take their toys back home and no longer play in the sandbox with the rest is really their loss.
At the same time, those of us attending the conference lose the comparative opportunity Doug sought to provide. It would be nice if those players could see their way back to broadening the field in future years. But even if they don’t, I see no reason why accountants, bookkeepers and consultants shouldn’t attend AccountEx in the years to come.
In the one or two years I have left of attending these conferences before I hang my "Gone Fishing" sign on the front door, I hope to see all the players back at this conference, along with new and old friends, and, oh yes, better food, too.
So AccountEx USA, I will be back to Boston next year – if you invite me.