Donna Genie (presenter) gives practical advice on choosing conferences—especially accounting conferences—focused on getting useful knowledge and valuable connections. In this segment she frames the yearly process of picking events, warns about "pay-to-play" (paid) speakers who may not be the most qualified, and emphasizes attending sessions led by genuine experts rather than paid-placement presenters.
As the new year approaches, it's time to check out where you're going to get some new knowledge this year and where you can get a burst of energy to help you move your business to that next level. Every year I look at conference lineup. There are a lot of accounting conferences out there, and there's some that I really love and some that I would never go to. But when you're looking at places to go meet with your people and gain industry knowledge and make good connections, I want to give you a few tips on what to look for to make sure you're getting the best bang for your buck. Now, an example here is I was looking at some accounting conferences I was interested in trying that I'd never been to. They are looking for speakers to speak at the conference, and those are pay to play. Now, you may not think much of that at first, but let me give you a little insight. I, as an attendee at these conferences, I'm paying a fee to go to the conference. So I'm going to make sure I'm getting really valuable information. Which would you rather attend? A speaking A person speaking on the stage who has knowledge to share because they're a specialist, they're an expert, and they're the best one to talk to you about that piece of knowledge or somebody who paid $5,000 to be a speaker at that conference?
