More “Takeaways” from the Conference Trail, Day 2 in San Jose
I hope you are enjoying my photos and takeaways, please do send feedback if these tips have resonated with you. Please share in the comments if and how you have implemented them in your firm/business/practice, but do not judge me by my “selfie” taking ability, I do feel I am getting better.
Conference Day 2 takeaways started as soon as I finished my morning workout:
Take advantage of opportunities to try new things. As I was ready to leave the hotel gym this morning, I ran into Matthew, one of the new members of the Intuit Tax Council. The room was really busy but the Peloton spin bike was sitting idle. I related my “take the opportunity to try something new” story and he finally agreed to try it out. My first ride was at a hotel gym on the annual trip I take to D.C. with the National Council of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) two years ago. My bike was this year’s after tax season bonus. I can’t wait to hear his reaction when I see him at breakfast.
Invest in your staff and your business will thrive. As I chatted with my staff vowing to bring them along next year, I could tell Elizabeth was excited. My team had all watched the live stream of the keynote speakers that day. Elizabeth questioned me about the other sessions I had registered for and urged me to swap out one for a session she would have loved to attend. I promised to do so and take great notes to share with her when I return on Monday.
Thought leaders are people/professionals just like us and are happy to have feedback about their presentations and to serve as a resource in the future.
I sat in on Hector Garcia’s panel yesterday and shared his takeaway about QBO ecosystems. Today we met, posed for a selfie and connected on social media.
Pay it forward. It’s such a good feeling when you can help a fellow professional in an area that is not even your specialty. This afternoon our lecturer was giving advice and examples of proper website formats. During the Q&A the participant next to me asked a technical question regarding embedding her YouTube videos on her website. Lucky for her, I was able to email her some coding tricks I had learned from another practitioner after mentioning the same issue in a “chat” during a webinar presentation earlier this year. Credit given to Gabrielle Fontaine for her great tip.
Less is more, especially on your website home page, and make sure to include a clear “call to action”. Intuit again provided one-on-one appointments with technology, branding and marketing experts. I took advantage of their offer and spent a fruitful morning with James Ong a website specialist. Best practices for your website home page: be aware of the “fold”; the top portion of the page is prime real estate. Use it to convey a short statement about your firm’s offerings with a clear “call to action”. Other landing pages can give more detail. Thank you Intuit!
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