Will this be your first time at a Xero Roadshow? I attended my first Xero Roadshow as an accountant a few years ago, and it absolutely blew my mind. I was so excited and re-energised about opportunities and changes that were arising in the industry that when I got back to the office, I had too much on my mind to know where to begin!
This year’s Xero Roadshow Asia 2017 in Hong Kong (7 March) and Singapore (9 March) are going to be the biggest Xero events to hit Asia. If you’re joining us, you’d want to arrive back at your office with a clear vision of how to turn inspiration into action.
Here are ten ways you can make the most out of attending Xero Roadshow Asia 2017:
1. Bring everyone from your team
The Xero roadshow provides a great platform to bond, share knowledge, and network with the industry. It features great content that businesses of all levels can enjoy, engage with, and benefit from. The fresh eyes of a junior member will see things from a very different perspective and might offer an surprising insight from unexpected places. After the event, have a team debrief to share thoughts and feedback on the day. Use the momentum of shared inspiration to prioritise and action your practice’s next moves.
2. Tell your clients that this is for them
Taking the whole day away from the office? Use your Out-of-Office automatic email responder to demonstrate you’re a tech-savvy leader in your field who recognises the value of staying up-to-date with technology and industry movements. Explain how this will help you look ahead to the future and provide them a continually-improving service. Continue to follow-up with your clients within the same week of the event. Let them know how it was, who your favourite speaker was and why, interesting discussions about their industry, or modern business in general.
Uploading a short video on YouTube is a quick and fun way to share your key takeaways (like this partner from Bangalore that just attended the Melbourne Roadshow) – add it into a little email or EDM and share it directly with your customers, or try posting your video with a short article on LinkedIn – a great way to give yourself exposure to a wider audience.
3. Always keep your clients in mind
During the roadshow, keep your clients on top of mind as you learn about new technologies, releases, or add-ons. Make notes as relevant things come up. This will help you personalise your follow ups with them (see point 2 above). If you discover something new that might be relevant for specific clients, give them a call or meet up for a coffee to discuss in more detail what you’ve seen.
4. Be prepared for an info-dense day
Be presentation-savvy so that you can take in all the new and fascinating info on the day without succumbing to information overload. Take pictures of title screens. Write questions as you think of them. The reason you think something is useful or interesting is often more important to record than exactly what was said. Use Evernote, fetchnotes, Google Keep or Google Docs to take notes and remember what you saw by taking photos of slides as you write those notes. Combine everyone’s notes into the same folder to refer to and compare later.
Make end-of-session notes and consider capturing your thoughts on video. Not only is this a quick way to get down all your thoughts and feelings in the moment, it’ll also help you retain more of what you heard. If you record a video after each session, they might make for some great clips to share with team members that were not able to make it in person. You can also share your learnings with customers in a blog or on social media.
5. Know the Xero ecosystem partners before you meet them.
There will be some great ecosystem partners coming from all over the world. Get in ahead of the crowd and do your research on who you want to talk to and why. Familiarise yourself with products of interest before the big day so that you can ask them the more challenging or customer-specific queries in person. Be ready to sign up on the day, give them a whirl and test them out, and hit the ground running when you get back to the office.
6. Don’t miss Rod Drury, Xero founder and CEO
In the last 11 years, Rod grew Xero from a start up in Wellington, New Zealand, to a multi-million dollar MNC. This is a not-be-missed session where he’ll uncover how the shift from accounting to cloud technology is evolving the accounting and bookkeeping industry, and small businesses alike. From Double Entry Accounting to Artificial intelligence, Rod will share his thoughts on how accounting will continue to innovate over the next 5 years. Join Rod’s couch session later in the day to hear more about his personal inspiring journey from Xero to infinity.
7. Book in time to see your Account Manager
The whole Xero team is coming on tour and we’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. Don’t be shy, come and say hi!
8. Meet Xero partners from all around the world.
Make sure you bring plenty of business cards for the wrap-up networking drinks at the end of the day! It’s a great time to share experiences and knowledge with other accounting partners in attendance. There are going to be partners from 23 countries in attendance from all around South East Asia and beyond. This means lots of opportunities to build connections and broaden your network. Seek out the Xero Gold partners in attendance – if you’re new to the Xero world, these are the experts who can help you make the most out of Xero, grow your practice, and best serve customers.
9. Learn from the past, look to the future
The theme of this year’s Asia Roadshow is the future of business. It’s the perfect time to reflect and take stock of where our industry is now and how it’s changed since the beginning of your career. You can also think about what you might see throughout the rest of your career. What does a millennial workforce mean for businesses? Will the robots take our jobs? I’ll be addressing all this and more during my keynote session. Together we’ll challenge the purpose and potential of the accounting industry as we enter the age of automation.
10. Have an action plan
Get your team together after the roadshow to agree on clear action items after the event, and brainstorm about how you’re going to achieve these goals as a team. Invite your Xero account manager who can assist you in putting an implementation plan together. Stay in touch with your account manager and Xero partner consulting team. They can assist with strategies and help you take continuous steps to becoming a more connected advisor.
It’s now easier than ever to get started with Xero in Asia. We have a great line-up of speakers, and we can’t wait to meet all of you. See you there!
For details on the roadshow venues and agendas, visit the roadshow landing page here.
This is your last chance to register for the roadshow as seats are running out! Registrations are at no charge for you and your staff, so book your places now.
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Source: Xero
