Why you should come to Xerocon London 2017
Sitting on the fence about whether or not you should attend this year’s Xerocon London? Or trying to decide how many members of your team you should bring? Perhaps you’re not sure if it’s worth it?
Here are some things you should consider before you make any decisions. Attendees from all over the world share some nuggets of wisdom on the value of Xerocon.
It’s not all about Xero
First and foremost it’s not Xero centric. Sure there are cloud accounting experts, but this year’s speakers also include inspiring leaders including journalists, small business owners and the future-gazing professor Richard Susskind OBE, who studies the impact of the internet on professional services with some jaw-dropping predictions.
But most of all, says Jon Dudgeon of North Shield’s based Blu Sky Chartered Accountants, Xerocon’s diverse ROI metrics speak volumes about its value.
“When Xerocon launched, we were booking the tickets and weren’t sure where to categorise the event,” Jon says. “Is it a measured as marketing, business development, or retention and staff engagement? Or all of these?
“We’re a team of 17 and if we can help to engage our team and retain them, then we don’t have to go through the pain and expense of engaging a recruiter to find a replacement, and go through the entire onboarding process. Straight away this gives us ROI. And if the team are more efficient because of one, two or five things that they learned at Xerocon, then that is brilliant.”
You could pick up extra business
Xerocon presents excellent networking opportunities, because you never know who you might meet. Heather Smith bestselling author of Xero for Dummies said a chance encounter at Xerocon netted her 70 new clients!
She asks, “How much would you have to spend on advertising to gain 70 new clients? Xerocon is certainly a better place to direct your marketing budget.”
Meet millennials where they’re at
Networking aside, other benefits take precedent says Jon, such as the opportunity to engage a young and enthusiastic team.
“Apart from our two founders, the average age of our team is below 30, so we are working with a team of millennials,” he says. “We’ve done a lot of work around this engagement piece and retention. It’s all about progression, development, being listened to and understood. Xerocon is a really good fit with these goals.
“So we’re closing the office for two days and hiring some apartments [to bring our entire team]! Being cloud based it means we don’t have to be out of contact with our clients.“
Give your thinking a shake up
While time out of the office can align and bond a team, it’s the shakeup of knowledge that settles in the days and weeks afterwards that really sticks.
“Your entire thought process across the two days is driven toward what’s happening next. That’s an incredibly rare and motivating feeling,” says Edward Sandford of Chaddesley Sanford. “The opportunity to stop and ask questions of the solutions servicing the accounting industry translates to immediate value.”
Elaine Lim, founder of Singapore-based Agere Accounting & Advisory agrees, saying, “Last year’s speakers opened my mind and brought me up to speed on the latest technologies, industry and even how to grow my practice.”
So whether you’re looking to immerse yourself in opportunities for team building, cross-generational engagement, new industry and product knowledge, or just a few days out of the office to refresh and take stock – Xerocon London 2017 is what you make of it.
Xerocon London will be held at ExCel London, 4-5 October. Register for tickets today.
The post Why you should come to Xerocon London 2017 appeared first on Xero Blog.
Source: Xero Blog
