ACCPAC

Conference Favorites

by Geni Whitehouse, CPA

When you attend as many conferences as we do, you can't help but draw comparisons between them.  Every good conference attendee knows that what really matters are the following things:

Of course, there better be some great educational sessions sprinkled around the above, but that's a given. 

So here are my opinions on the above items at the ACCPAC conference:

Giveaways

Call me a geek, call me a nerd, call me what you will but I love a nice portfolio with a zipper.  ACCPAC did not disappoint on this score.  At initial check-in they provided a nice portfolio with a three-ring binder format containing conference materials, pads, and my personal favorite - a digital calendar/calculator.  What more could any accountant want?  Well maybe a mechanical pencil, but I don't want to sound too demanding.

The portfolio came inside the requisite cloth bag for carrying all of that other stuff that you accumulate at every conference.  (Or should we say walking billboard for vendor sponsors?)

Food

I am big fan of a hot breakfast.  Again, ACCPAC came through on this key factor.  The bagel and pastry thing just doesn't cut it anymore.  Eggs, juice, coffee and the requisite carbs were available every morning in a buffet setup. (Anyone heard of the Atkins diet?) There's nothing like starting the day off right. 

One nice touch was multiple buffet lines.  All meals were served in a long room (to handle the more than 800 attendees).  There were four or five separate buffet tables setup up at various locations in the room - both on the left and right hand side of the room between the tables.  This helped to eliminate the long lines that normally accompany a buffet setup. 

Location

No complaints here either. There is no place like Las Vegas. ACCPAC selects entertaining destinations for their conference rather than their home city.  This is great for the attendees but probably means that many of the ACCPAC employees don't get to attend. 

I kept an eye out for people sporting logo wear at the craps tables, but the conference sessions were good enough to keep that to a minimum.

The Venetian is a top notch facility.  They have an interesting conference setup.  The star venue was the C2K facility (called a Mega Club by the Venetian). When not in use for conferences during the day, this functions as a night club/bar. The facility has excellent acoustics and the latest and greatest in sound and light instrumentation.  Every presentation made on the main stage (and there were many) was enhanced by these instruments. The C2K is also a two story facility so everyone had a good view, which was enhanced by numerous video screens.

Networking Opportunities

Having been on the vendor side of things myself, this is one of the areas where attendees would give ACCPAC high marks.  They resisted the opportunity to cram events into every evening and rather provided free time both evenings.  From my own experience, resellers  often benefit as much from informal, spur of the moment meetings with their peers as they do from attending the formal sessions.  Kudos for providing time for this and time to enjoy the sites and sounds of Las Vegas. 

The Entertainment

I have to admit that I missed the star attraction of the conference, Jay Leno. I am sure he provided a great show for the Event Night/Awards Banquet.  I also missed the great food and drink that often accompany this part of the conference, but there's always next year.

Brian Tracy provided a wonderful main stage presentation that provided a combination of information, motivation and entertainment.  His session was about selling and he didn't miss the opportunity to sell his CD's and tapes at the end of his entertaining presentation.  Call me a bad salesperson, but I probably would have toned that down a tad.  (That's why he's a millionaire and I'm still buying my shoes at Target.)