By Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk

Accounting marketers can throw down!

I just returned from the Association for Accounting Marketing National Conference in Chicago, and what a trip it was! This is the fourth one that I’ve attended and each time I come back with great ideas and wonderful new contacts. This year was no different. If you ever get the chance to attend, I encourage you to do so. If you have a hard time justifying the time and expense to your partners, AAM typically provides a handy “this is why I should attend” guide when they post information about the upcoming event. It’s a worthwhile investment and I say that as someone who has to pick up the tab myself. So what did I learn? Tons of stuff! Here are a few nuggets I pulled that you may find interesting.

Pick your sessions carefully. The concurrent sessions are where the real nuts and bolts of accounting marketing are shared. Most are taught by well-respected leaders in their respective fields, and the ones I attended were great learning opportunities, by and large. I generally enjoyed the ones that encouraged audience participation the most, because we got to learn from each other as well as from the speaker. When picking your sessions, get input from your colleagues, so you are sure to get the most from your investment.

Meet as many people as you can. Because this was my fourth conference, there was  the temptation to spend lunches and breaks with people I already know. I tried to avoid this inclination and intentionally sat at tables populated with strangers. It was a great deal of fun. I met people from all over the country who worked at firms of all sizes. It was fascinating to hear their different perspectives and concerns as well as share what we had learned in the sessions we attended.

We are part of a much larger community. I wrote two blog posts (here and here) earlier this year where I interviewed solo marketing directors at accounting firms, with the goal of highlighting the unique plight these talented people face. Being the sole right-brain in a sea of left-brains is challenging. Justifying social media to people who are  numbers-oriented can be maddening. But at this conference, everyone is in the same boat, and willing to share what has worked at their firms and with their partners. I’ve seen table conversations turn into support groups in no time flat, and everyone walks away feeling like they are not alone in the world. It’s an incredibly valuable outcome of the conference, and I’d be willing to bet it’s one of the main reasons many people attend in the first place. 

Twitter makes it more fun! This was the first year where people were live Tweeting from sessions. I’m sure it may have been distracting for the speakers to see so many people typing on their smart phones, but for those of us participating, it was fantastic. Attendees would Tweet key points from the presentations they were attending. So if there were three concurrent sessions, you could read the best of the others on Twitter while learning from the speaker in your session at the same time. Or you could go back and read through the live Tweets at a later time if you prefer. It created a sort of special online community, and it was fun to meet fellow Tweeters in person.

All in all, it was a worthwhile way to spend time and money for me and the other attendees. I’d love to hear what you got from it as well. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.