Aly & Andrews All Aussie Accounting Adventures
Aly & Andrews All Aussie Accounting Adventures
On the Road: The Power of Roadshows in your Backyard
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There’s something special about gathering with your professional crew right in your own backyard. When vendors pack their bags and roll into your city, they’re not just saving you the hassle of airport security and bad airline snacks – they’re investing in local connections, bringing the brainpower to you, and proving that professional development doesn’t have to mean jet lag.
This season, Aly and Andrew are diving deep into industry gatherings, starting with roadshows – those traveling treasure troves of thought leadership, product updates, and networking gold. We’re peeling back the curtain on what makes these regional events tick – from the logistical chaos organisers face to the classic no-show problem at free events (seriously, folks, just show up if you register!).
Our case study? The Xero Summer Series – a fresh take on professional development that skips the sales pitch and goes all-in on thought leadership. Economic forecasts, tech trends, and wellbeing strategies? Check. But let’s be real – the real magic happens in the margins: over pre-event coffee chats, post-event happy hours, and those in-between moments where local accountants swap war stories and wisdom. Whether you’re a solo accountant craving community or a firm leader looking to invest in your team, roadshows serve up top-tier professional development without the cross-country trek.
So, are you ready to hit the road with us? We’ll be exploring events big and small all season long. Tell us your favourite industry gatherings and let’s talk about why accountants really come together (spoiler: it’s not just for the CPE credits or is it!). 🚗
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MUSIC
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PRODUCTION
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Episode Introduction and Accounting Jokes
Speaker 1Hey, Ellie.
Speaker 2Yes, Andrew.
Speaker 1Why did the accountant love attending conferences on the road?
Speaker 2Because I got to travel.
Speaker 1Because it was the only time travel expenses and networking over drinks were legitimate business strategies yes.
Speaker 2Oh, you've got a good tax deduction joke in there.
Speaker 1A good tax deduction joke.
Speaker 3I love it.
Speaker 2Oh, the tax account in me is just thriving.
Speaker 1I know right, and so I know that I might not do heaps of tax stuff these days and I might not do heaps of direct accounting stuff. But I tell you what it's in my blood.
Speaker 2Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1It's never going away.
Speaker 2It's like a dad joke. No, you're born that way. Born that way Born that way Can't help it. I know I was born with more hair, sorry, what way were?
Speaker 1you born. I was born with more hair than I have now though, Were you though. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I have absolutely no hair. You're going for the bald on top Working on it.
Speaker 2Beard on the yeah, I love it. I'm used to it now. It's just part and parcel of who you are.
Speaker 1Great, well, we talked about my balding hair. David, can you hit the theme soon and we'll come back in a second with a theme tune. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2So the joke is related to what Andrew.
Speaker 1I mean, you know, the jokes are always related to the topic of conversation.
Speaker 2They're so closely aligned all the time.
Speaker 1Absolutely.
Speaker 2And I actually given.
Speaker 1This is like other than our Valentine's Day episode. This is our first episode that talks about the theme we're trying to have.
Speaker 2There is a theme.
Speaker 1Well, we always try to have a theme.
Speaker 2Do we always roll with the theme, though? I don't know. Yes, no, we do.
Speaker 1We do, we agonize about a theme, we plan it and then we go to execute it. We go, jeepers, we've overcommitted ourselves. You might have noticed that from seasons gone by, where you're like, geez, this was a lot, these guys did Welcome Welcome to our world. The theme this season, what we want to do over the next 10-ish months or so. We want to be unpacking why, how, where, when, what our industry gathers. So we're talking about the connection of souls.
Speaker 2We're talking about one accountant and another and people within our industry. No, we're not in the Valentine's Day episode, but yes, it's the connection, the community, the networking.
Speaker 1Absolutely.
Speaker 2All of the things that we get from all of the events and what type of events there are.
Speaker 1It's in person, it's online, it's small stuff, it's big stuff, it's vendor-led, it's industry-led.
Speaker 2So we really want to, we go there.
Speaker 1They come to us, so we're thinking like, if we can spend the next 10 or so months visiting a bunch of stuff, if we think we can be talking about a bunch of stuff, then hopefully you and I, ali, actually understand this better. But also hopefully we can share back out to our community and say, hey, here's a stretch of stuff you could be thinking about, and then when you go to these kind of things, maybe you're better prepared for it.
Speaker 2Yeah, and what I love is that obviously that means that we get to go to all these conferences and events, but all of the thought leadership and all of the gold stuff that comes out of it, we can talk about it.
Speaker 1The bloody gold, mate the gold, it's them, gold in them heels. But specifically today, to kind of kick off the idea of gathering together, we want to talk about conferences that hit the road.
Speaker 3Ooh and the world.
Speaker 1Because we always kind of joked about, you know, ali and Andrew's all-osier can adventures like it's time to hit road. We were thinking maybe one day we'll hit the road, so we're kind of doing it.
Roadshow Logistics and Attendance Challenges
Speaker 2We're doing it as best we can with the limited resources that we currently have, which the limited resource being time, yes, and so we're talking about roadshows. We're talking about.
Speaker 1So the roadshow is where the vendor, whomever comes to you, yeah, so effectively it's the same thing or a very similar thing that's delivered a handful of times over at different locations. Yes, and so now, when I say it might be slightly different, as in like, depending on the location it might have a different speaker or a different slightly time run. That fits, but theoretically it's the same content delivered multiple times over in person in different locations.
Speaker 2Yep, yep, yep, and they'll usually go to the majors like a Sydney Melbourne Brizzy. They might do a regional like an Adelaide-Perth.
Speaker 1I, like you, said Adelaide-Perth regional.
Speaker 2Well, that's how people usually classify it.
Speaker 1When I was at Deloitte, that's what they used to classify it you know, melbourne, sydney, brisbane, and then, if they want to do more, they do Adelaide, and then if they want to do more, they do Perth.
Speaker 2And then they might do like some subsections of Melbourne and Sydney too.
Speaker 1Correct. So what I do find is and sometimes Tassie, but never really Tassie.
Speaker 2The only one I know that goes to Tassie is BTO.
Speaker 1Yeah, I agree, I was going to say there's definitely even sometimes Perth misses out because it's the travellers there and you might find they might do two in Sydney, two in Brisbane two in Melbourne before they go to Perth, and definitely before they go to Hobart.
Speaker 2Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1Unless you're BGL and you do seven in Tassie and 12 in Melbourne and eight in WA. They hit everything.
Speaker 2They know where their people are, and I think that's the wonderful thing about BGL is they want to. Their whole purpose is to go and connect with their clients.
Speaker 1Oh, is they want to? Their whole purpose is to go and connect with their clients. Oh right, Get off the BGL. Sorry, tutu, you know me but yes, but it's true, and the whole idea of a roadshow is to go to where the people are, as opposed to make them come to you.
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 1And so I can imagine, as a vendor, putting a roadshow on is not the cheapest thing to do. It is way more expensive, way more logistical nightmare.
Speaker 2It's the cheapest thing to do. It is way more expensive, way more logistical nightmare, like you've got to get everything from state to state to state. You've got to find every venue, organise the food, the times, everything. It's way more intensive and so I think that is more actually client-led. Like this is the vendor trying to engage the client, rather than, say, a conference where everyone's kind of flying into that one experiential place and they can just throw money and gamify and make it fun.
Speaker 1And with a roadshow.
Speaker 2There's way more logistics that they've got to work through.
Speaker 1But I think as well as if you think of that, if they're going to locations and they're traveling around because of the costs they're incurring and it's potentially having to be on a slightly smaller scale because you can't just have a big stuff offering, it's also time consuming.
Speaker 2It's potentially having to be on a slightly smaller scale because you can't just have a big stuff offering. It's also time consuming.
Speaker 1But you have to really be quite particular about the content you're going to be bringing and why you're going to a particular place and why people would want to come and listen to you. Now, I know that our industry loves it when we don't have to go anywhere. Oh, it's in my backyard Great Like for me. I'm an hour away from Melbourne.
Speaker 2Anytime someone's like, oh, let's do something in Melbourne, I'm like eh, and this is the thing, that is the other thing, right? So let's just say, oh, we're going to have it in the region. Say Melbourne whatever, what tends to happen is people enroll and then they don't rock.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's very true.
Speaker 2And so then there's this other question, and look, I'm not sure whether it's for the podcast or not, whether you charge people or not, or whether you're the service or whether you're the one paying for the service, you know, but which is like we will go there later.
Speaker 1I reckon we should have. That's a great, yeah, yeah it's definitely. Make it look like we planned that.
Speaker 2I know absolutely. It was definitely on the list. It's a thought process, right. So there that need to be considered before you know going out and doing it. But there is risk in a roadshow and going to a region and for people not to actually roll in.
Speaker 1Yeah, because if you think about that as well, like if you're attending a roadshow and you're like, oh, there'll be, like I don't know, 50, 100, 200, you might have an expectation of the number of people that are going to be there. And if the number of people there are dramatically less than what you expected, one of two things is probably going to happen. One, you're like sick, don't have to talk to people, and I get all of this to myself, fantastic. Or two, you'll go. Hmm, this is odd.
Speaker 3Why is?
Speaker 1nobody else in this room Are the people that are putting this particular experience on not as good as they should and you might get that because I know if I'm ever in a room that's like two thirds empty.
Speaker 2But in my mind, because I've been involved in quite a few roadshows, there's so many things like people question when no one comes and listens to you speak? No, lots of people do. There's the question on did we market it right? Do we have the right time? The weather, what are other people's experiences? Are there lodgement deadlines? They'll go through this whole huge list before they'll go. Is it my content?
Speaker 1or is it me? It's interesting. It's interesting you talk about the lodgement deadline, so dates. So when you do a roadshow. It's not one date. You have to find three to 12 kind of dates.
Speaker 2Within a row within a consecutive period of time, usually over a month.
The Value of Local Community Connections
Speaker 1So one or two or three of them might work, but the others might actually really be bad, and so you have to be super mindful of like great. Are we going to do this June, July? Are we going to do this like November, December? Are we going to do this Feb, March, and in each of those.
Speaker 2Then you have to consider school holidays, lodgement deadlines, you know.
Speaker 1What else is going on around?
Speaker 2Yeah. And so there's like weather, there's so many things that you actually need to factor in. And sometimes I think we just roll in and we take for granted that people vendors have put an enormous amount of time and effort and money and grit and determination into putting these roadshows on. And there's a call out I actually want to make If you say that you're going to attend, please attend. Bloody show up, mate. Yeah, and that's, I think, something that I've.
Speaker 1Don't do it to get the bloody slides at the end and be like oh, get me sleep. No, show up.
Speaker 2No, like be respectful, because, as we've just discussed, these are actually logistical nightmares and they're actually doing it for you. They've got no other. You know they are. They're wanting to engage with you, to connect with the community, to find out what's going on, to get the heartbeat and the pulse of the community, and that's one of the reasons why they do these things.
Speaker 1And sometimes they might not have locked a venue down, they might have had an option, or it might be there and they go cool. All right, we've had, you know, 200 registrations. We'll get the extra room next to the one that we've booked, so we have more space, and then only 100 rock up. I mean crap, we need it now. So it is. I think it's really important.
Speaker 2Some statistics that I'm aware of, across the spectrum, not just particular vendors is 50% attendance if there's no cost attached to the registration?
Speaker 1I remember when I Can you imagine that. When I did the little UK tour thing that I did to the millions of people in the UK Thank you, UKians. It was where I got dramatically sick for the last two, oh, that's right I remember that. It was so I could hardly talk and that kind of stuff. But I do remember we tossed and turned on a bunch of stuff because theoretically it was a road show. It was three venues.
Speaker 3We did.
Speaker 1Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham. Starting in Edinburgh was amazing. We even had like a last minute venue change, because we rocked up to the venue and we were like, nah, this is a bit shit and they're like oh you can use our sister venue around the corner, and we did that.
Speaker 1But then the other two were just not as impactful, but it was challenging. We did have a small fee, we charged and we had a small group of people and it was designed for small, 15 to 20 kind of things. But even then that was challenging. It is, what are you putting on and we would have it like cool. So we've got 25 people rocking up and if five of them don't rock up, the room feels dramatically different.
Speaker 1So amplify that too. If we've got 100 people rocking up, and 25 to 50 of them don't, there's a lot of vacant space and I just pull this down to even at a local level.
Speaker 2for me, when I run workshops, which I do a lot, it's really hard to get bums on seats and in my mind I'm like, well, I have to kind of double the numbers. I actually want sitting in that room to actually enrol, to get the right number of people in.
Speaker 1And that's where I go back to this. So you're overbooking your flights, is what you're doing? Yeah, 100%. Hopefully no one else rocks up.
Speaker 2But 100%, because a lot of times if it's a free event, people just don't roll, which is why sometimes people put a nominal amount on it. Yep, they're like why am I being charged to go? Well, honestly, sometimes it's just so that you will actually do what you say that you're going to do.
Speaker 1But I feel like you've got to charge enough where they're like it's going to hurt roadshow. What I really like about the roadshow environments is there's a sense of local pride that I find comes with them Absolutely. I've seen that there's a huge amount of value in like cool, they're in Melbourne and all the Melbourne crew go, let's gather together.
Speaker 1And you get to see the bloke who probably runs the accounting firm, like 20 minutes down the road that you could probably catch up with every week if you want to, but you don't see him for another 12 months. And you see them again and that's local crowd.
Speaker 2There is pre and post event stuff. That happens quite often around a road show Catch up for brekkie.
Speaker 1do the thing. Catch up for dinner.
Speaker 2Yeah, and that's really another point. Like this is another tip. There are things happening. If you want to engage with your community and connect, try and find out where they are and actually go. So actually, you know, make it a day thing. Or if you can't figure anything out call up a bunch of mates and say hey, let's grab brekkie.
Speaker 3And if you know anyone who wants to come hang along.
Speaker 1Let's just rock up here, because the thing starts at nine, and let's go for a break at seven.
Speaker 2And we speak about this so often, andrew but the power of the community and the power of the connection. It fills your cup, it does. It gives you that diversity of thought, it allows you to remove yourself from the silo and to feel like you're in a community, and that is so incredibly important when we are so weighed down with our day-to-day lives or work. And see it as an opportunity. Take the opportunity. Take it bloody.
Speaker 1So the other thing I find with roadshows that are interesting, so we've got a sense of local pride, we can gather together, which is awesome We've got. It's a touring kind of thing. So often they have to be quite specific on their content. Sometimes numbers can dramatically change if people don't rock up. Those are really interesting. But what I find interesting with that touring is that sometimes it's not a full day. I struggle with the ones that aren't a full day sometimes.
Speaker 2Oh really.
Speaker 1Sometimes Not all the time. And here's my tip If it's not a full day, don't book client meetings for the afternoon. No, don't assume you're going to return to the office when it's done.
Speaker 1Don't rock up five minutes before it starts because you could be like my tip is block the whole day out. Yeah, get there an hour beforehand to have, you know, catch up with someone here and there, hold the conference, go to learn the thing, take the notes, and then one of two things when it finishes either there's a group group of you, hopefully, that you've connected with whilst you're there, and if there's not, and you're brave enough and you see a bunch of people talking, looking like they have fun, just be like oh, can I hang?
Speaker 2out with you guys, which which is awkward but you can also use that time to implement after that's what I was gonna say.
Making the Most of Roadshow Experiences
Speaker 1So if you, don't have that, then go cool. I'm gonna go and take my notes and I'm going to just process through what I've learned. I'm going to maybe challenge some of my initial responses to things that I might've heard or seen, that may be negative or positive, to understand why, like, let's dive into why am I feeling and thinking that way? And then what am I going to bring back to the world that I came from?
Speaker 1So, if my role is as a leader of a business, what am I bringing back to share with my team and to try and empower them If I'm someone who's more of a doer within my business all right what actions are we going to take that we're going to start implementing? And I think that's so important, because I fall foul of this a lot. Sometimes, too, it's like, oh, it's two o'clock, sick, I'll just like bail and go home, and then I'll find myself working. But what also happens is because your mind is thinking like that, you're looking at emails during the day.
Speaker 2You're looking at your Slack messages during the day. Actually turn it all off.
Speaker 1Yeah, turn it all off. You're not about. I mean this would be for any conference. If you can, and I appreciate that it's hard to you're just not available. Block it out If someone can't wait 24 hours. They've got to be on death's door.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, they're going to wait 24 hours. It's fine. Yeah, Turn your notifications off. And it really is. I see it as a time to invest in myself and I've said I think this before when I was at a big four. You don't tend to go to the road shows and conferences so much. Maybe they might now because you had all this national stuff being fed down to you and so you were kind of being fed, whereas with these road shows, you, when you're a solo writer, you know you don't have the ability to have national, you know, kind of directing you you. This is your opportunity to invest in yourself and to go eat at the buffet, to eat this really high quality five-star food that you couldn't get yourself, and get your grub on.
Speaker 2yes, get your grub on, yeah you know, with those shrimp places or the big meat places, and they have the big oh yeah, I did one in columbus um in sri lanka. It was a crab joint and we had a giant bib for all the yeah bib right, like put your bib on and get to the road show because you're gonna be fed and investing yourself we should make.
Speaker 1All of you can get a bunch of bibs. Imagine that hand out.
Speaker 2We're here to eat. This is two creatives in a room, so I'm saying yes.
Speaker 1Feed me, Feed me with the goodness, but it's good and I think I would be encouraging you out there. If you're looking at you know where do I want to go to learn this year. You know, look for things that are going to be visiting your place in your town and even if it's a little bit left of center, find ways to go you know, what I'm going to open myself.
Speaker 1I'm going to come and eat and I'm going to learn what it is, and I'm not going to just switch off at two o'clock when it's done. I'm going to invest that whole day into the growth and then tomorrow I can get back to work, or tomorrow. I might bring the things, but if you, I think creating that space is so important and once.
Speaker 2one thing I've seen recently actually is I'm involved in a lot of WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups, et cetera is that if you're frightened or scared or don't know anybody, just post in the group a little bit beforehand. Hey, this is my first time. Does anybody want to catch up? I'm going to be in this space and you'd be amazed at how many people will connect with you and come around you and support you, and so don't let fear be a barrier to connecting.
Speaker 1And I might not respond in the social media groups because I typically don't engage in the social media world all that much. I'm trying to disconnect from a bunch of Facebooky stuff. But my encouragement is if you see me, I would love to hang out with you Absolutely.
Speaker 2You love a chit chat. You love a chin wag. You love it? Yeah, please, it would be great. You love a chat?
Speaker 1You love a chinwag. You love it. Yeah, please, it would be great. I was actually chatting with Amar earlier.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1And I remember catching up with him at a conference for the first time. Never knew he was up there.
Speaker 2And he reached out to you, right? I was like let's hang out. I'm like sweet let's do it, and I've had that too. I've had people reach out to. There are always people that are so willing to connect and share, and so, don't be fearful, give it a crack.
Speaker 1You know who should give it a crack.
Speaker 2The sponsors, the sponsors Good leap we're going to head to a couple of moments from them.
Spotlight on Xero Summer Series
Speaker 1We're going to let them tell us, or us tell you about why we think they're amazing, and we'll come back in a moment to talk about a particular travelling thing that happens in our industry. We'll chat soon. Okay, ali, I'm sure you get asked all the time, just like I do. Who do you use for digital signatures? And I know we use the same team the crew at FuseSign, right.
Speaker 2They're the absolute bomb. Yes, I get asked that all the time. It is digital signing done. Simply, my friend, it is amazing.
Speaker 1It's so simple. I love it. It gives you great control, heaps of flexibility, and the experience for clients and team is quite exceptional too, right.
Speaker 2Super easy to use on both sides.
Speaker 1Bloody amazing, excellent. Get amongst it, friends. Fuse your signatures today with FuseSign. You know what, ali Whilst? I love building and growing Illuminate my accounting business, there are definitely times where I get stuck in my own head and I can doubt what it is that I'm doing, and that's where I think the value of having someone external to come and support you within your business.
Speaker 2Do you agree? Absolutely, and that's where Rob Pillens from Planet Consulting comes in. Their purpose is to enrich the lives of professional firm owners and managers and the people that they work with. How good is that.
Speaker 1Absolutely mate. Whether it's workshop facilitation, professional coaching or mentoring, Rob Pillans and the Planet Consulting crew are where it's at. So, no matter where you are, get on the planet consulting. All right, Ellie. So roadshows, we know there are a bunch of different ones that are out there and we could talk about any that we do. I probably should flag that. I believe that most of the time throughout this series, what we're going to be talking about is what we chose to go to, not what we were asked to go to.
Speaker 2Oh hey, and if you've got something coming up, let us know, Hit us up. We'd love to know about it.
Speaker 1Absolutely so. I just wanted to flag that none of this is like a sponsored no, this isn't paid or sponsored.
Speaker 3We're going to talk about this particular thing.
Speaker 2This is us just going personal choices.
Speaker 1Here is a thing that has happened, and we think it's worthwhile to use that to highlight the idea of a roadshow. Yes, so what we're going to talk about for a moment is something you spent a bit of time on recently, which was the Xero Summer Series.
Speaker 2I know which is a new series. It was the second year that they've run it, so obviously I'm not sure around timings moving forward, but previously Xero used to run a Xero Roadshow which was very content-driven, lots of apps. But two years ago, when Xerocon was moved to a more biannual event, they decided well, what are we going to do, kind of, in the mid-time? So they created something called the Xero Summer Series and the Xero Summer Series if you haven't been, oh my gosh, please go.
Speaker 1It is one of the best conferences, oh my, and I can't believe that at all.
Speaker 2Well one the mcs are freaking amazing. I mean, that's me, um, and it is purely thought leadership it is. It is content and delivered by some amazing people so well we did talk about dates, and so the reason I haven't attended both of the times is because I run a couple of different businesses.
Speaker 1And the other one that I run last year and this year the date of it was on a day that I am focused and invested in there and I could not get out of what I was doing. So I was like you know what. It's only here for a day and I guess I'm going to miss it, and as much as I would have loved to have jumped on a plane and headed somewhere else for it.
Speaker 2And it's called the Summer Series for a reason.
Speaker 1So it's usually over late Jan early.
Speaker 2Feb. It's in summer. That's good to know, yes, and so there's a summer theme. It's actually about preparing you for the year ahead, and so they'll give you either economic content Bernard Solt talked about Oddly interesting guy, very, very clever and then we have James Bergen, who talks about the tech and you know the cloud and AI and all those other things that are coming.
Speaker 1Blows, minds Blows minds.
Speaker 2Yeah, professor James Bergen, who we've interviewed before, I actually go reference that podcast from last year and then they usually have some type of psychologist or mental health and well-being type segment to really round that out. So it's an afternoon and they'll throw on the food and the drinks and it's at a really great venue. It's super well done and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1It's a bit of a unique roadshow now because what they used to do what they used to do was like cool, we're going to rock up, we're going to sit in a room and we're going to have, effectively, a bunch of awesome zero humans. They're going to have, effectively, a bunch of awesome zero humans. They're going to kind of share some content back to us.
Speaker 1And often the content is Product-based, it's heavily scripted. This is what we want to say, how we want you to say it. We need to talk about the product, we need to talk about the thing, and there's elements here and there of other bits and pieces, but typically it's like 95% product-based content.
Speaker 2It's very product-based. And what's coming? What are the enhancements?
Speaker 1What do we want people to know which isn't a bad thing, and then it's often there's a lot of vendors there that are also kind of out there, and one because those vendors help to pay for that to be free, right, and this is ABE recently was run right and that's a free event.
Speaker 2But what you'll find is, once you've signed up to that free event, you get hit up by the vendors because you are the product.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, we all know that by now, right?
Speaker 2No, some people don't understand that If you don't pay for a roadshow conference, whatever you're the product.
Speaker 1You'll find in the T's and C's. When you go to apply and get a ticket, you click a button and it's like we're going to share your shit everywhere and then you are just going to be absolutely spammed everywhere.
Speaker 2The Zero Summer Series way you don't get spammed, it's just they've just given it to the community and it really is about the whole community.
Speaker 1If you don't want to be spammed, give them an incorrect email address. Well, no, you can still give them like an alias. So andrewpluszerosummerseries at illuminatecomau means that I'm going to get an email that's sent to andrewplusthat, but it still comes into my andrewatillumin. Yeah right, so then I know who shared my information.
Speaker 2Ah, that's such a great idea.
Speaker 1Oh, xero is. No, I'm not saying Xero does, but I know that this group has done that. But I think what's interesting? So Xero used to do this very heavy content, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2It was called the Xero Roadshow. It was actually done in Feb as well.
Speaker 1And for years and years and years, iterations of how it works.
Speaker 2And in fact last year it was actually when Xerocon was meant to be in September, october, so they kind of pushed that date back Actually.
Speaker 1I went to that one, yeah, but didn't go to the summits. But I think what they used over the years they were working out how it works, because if you have, you know, 500 people rock up. Do we just talk to them about the whole same room, about the same thing?
Speaker 2And I think that's always challenge whenever it's product and content, and especially with the life and the length now of how long Xero has been around.
Speaker 2You've got these early adopters that are, like you know, 15, 20 years into their journey, that know that product inside out, and then you've got those that are literally just finding out about it now, and this is their first roadshow ever, and so it's very difficult to cross the traverse of the education and how to talk about the product to that many people at that many varying levels of expertise. And so that is the issue with talking about product to a room, and I have my thoughts on I think it needs to be more education days, but that's my personal opinion and I'll get down to the effort now. But I think that's the difficulty, whereas where the summer series is very, very different is it is purely thought leadership. It isn't about product. They don't talk about product at all. They don't talk about apps, they don't talk about other vendors. It is literally we want to give you content that you can use for your clients and for yourself, to set you up for success as we move forward, and that was actually the theme for this year's success.
Speaker 1I think it's a really smart like you know what I'm always like with like content, like I want to be inspired, I want to be challenged, like how to do what I do. My assumption is that people know how to do their jobs and that they would go to the likes of like universities or bodies or peers to get more of the technical side of the learning.
Speaker 1But I look at bigger organisations like AZERO to do more of that inspirational style stuff, because I look at that as that is a relationship building activity that is investing into my well-being and I think that's really valuable. But I always wonder, because I know that you and I, ali, we're unique humans.
Speaker 2I'm learning that Some might say that we don't fit the fold of the standard accountant.
Speaker 1Some might say that there is no such thing as a step, but there is also a large need and a large component within our industry who say, yeah, it's all well and good to have the fluffy bullshit stuff. Give me the hard stuff. I want to know how to do the thing. You're a tech company. Talk to me about your tech. Stop dancing in rare areas.
Speaker 2But isn't that where you can just go to the webinars and actually do your own training and you know? That's where you know, the institutes, you know and the bodies kind of do that? Technical Could be Like? I think there is a play for content and thought leadership and I think that's why Zerocon is so successful. I mean, that's a play, isn't it, on thought leadership plus product, plus apps and they sorry, we'll talk about that in another episode, but it is another play on that.
Speaker 1Oh, you've just let them know we're going to do a Zerocon episode.
Speaker 2No, no, no, we could have done an episode on conferences in general.
Speaker 1It's not like we haven't done a Zero Con episode before.
Content vs Product Focus in Roadshows
Speaker 2We've done like many, but do you know what I mean? I know what you mean. It's kind of like when it was on the Pinterest board. It's a scaled down version of Zero Con given to the regions. So if you actually want to know what Zero Con is like, that's kind of like your flavour taster right.
Speaker 1It's like, oh, I'll have that taste of ice cream. It's a safe environment to go, where you don't have to like jump on a plane and book accommodation and spend all this money and take a bit more time off your business, like you can pop in here for a day, yeah, and you can get the bit of a vibe, with a feel, and hopefully there's like a space where you go ooh, this was different. This I really liked that. I liked this.
Speaker 2And you know, obviously I emceed Perth and Adelaide.
Speaker 1Did you now, yes, did you now?
Speaker 2Yes, I did, it was so much fun and I got to interview Angard, the new MD, but what I found from that was the networking after was so good, like the quality. The people stayed back. They talked, they talked about the community. They talked about what was happening in their businesses. They talked about how they were going.
Speaker 2They talked about the content that was delivered Like there was so much gold after and the feedback was so positive and I think it was because they saw that Xero had made an investment and wasn't wanting anything from it. They were just investing in the community.
Speaker 1So the roadshow, other than the MCs, I think it was. Sarah Lawrence, jason Robertson, yourself, kind of like, shared those duties around the country.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was the same people.
Speaker 1Everybody else, so they didn't have oh no, no.
Speaker 2So they had Jay and Chelsea Pottinger from EQ Minds, who Jay did, adelaide Perth and Chelsea did oh, they shared, yeah, so they shared.
Speaker 1It seems to me it was the same.
Speaker 2It was similar content but, to be honest, I'm hearing that it wasn't the same.
Speaker 1But it wasn't like often roadshows where it's like, okay, cool, andrew is going to talk on here and then Ali is going to talk at that one, it was the same people theoretically doing the same. So it's interesting because I mean I love that. It means it's consistent, it means the quality is going to be great.
Speaker 2It was so consistent. Production was all over it, yeah, yeah it was super consistent and that's what I really enjoyed about it was it wasn't that they threw everything at Sydney and Melbourne and Brizzy. They actually talk to me about the food, though.
Speaker 1It was good food. Any conference, any roadshow, anything that I go to, the food is important.
Speaker 2It absolutely is, and Lethal Lee will write a conference or a roadshow or training based upon food, and so I fully understand how important food is.
Speaker 1Those of you back in the day will remember Melbourne Zero Con 2017, 20, something like that. And it was cool vibe, but like free food trucks and hundreds of people in line, it took ages to eat.
Speaker 2Yeah, and then there was a brizzy one pre-COVID where there was just literally no drinks, yeah, and I was like where's the drinks? I'm really, really thirsty. I took them all, did you? Okay, I can understand that. So you've got to. It is something that you need to be conscious. I don't know how much money was spent, but I think there was a fair amount thrown at food because it was for like an hour and a half to two hours after the event.
Speaker 1I'd have a stab and say the amount of money they spent at that event was probably more than what our firms would probably generate in revenue.
Speaker 2Yep, and there was alcohol. There was like cocktail gelatos, like alcoholic gelati, you're making me jealous now, and it was like people loved it and literally they threw good quality food at good quality venues.
Speaker 1Was every venue a little bit, because my understanding last year Every venue was a little bit different. Every venue had a slightly different vibe about it.
Speaker 2Yes, it does, and it did this year as well, and so Adelaide had the same venue. Perth had a different venue because we were in the Perth the first time around it was 40 degrees in a shed with no air conditioning. It was disgusting, but it did have sand. That was exciting. And so they've got lots of little gamey things as well. They didn't have as much of that this year, but definitely there's a different vibe. It's kind of cool and stylish.
Speaker 1Who should not go to something like this? So if we're talking about attending like a zero summer series or a road show, who should not go?
Speaker 2Well, look, I actually think it's for everybody, really, yeah, I don't think there's a particular set that wouldn't benefit from it because it is about you personally.
Speaker 1I've got a firm of 20.
Speaker 2Well, I would say that it would be great if the managers partners seniors, went, because then they could invest that back into the juniors potentially.
Speaker 1You wouldn't want a blend of experience, like you know, juniors potentially. You wouldn't want a blend of experience, like you know, junior, intermediate, senior.
Speaker 2Possibly. It depends on I guess you know hands up who really, really, really wants to go. And if you're going to go, come back and report back to us and give us some innovational content back. That's how I would play it. Okay, because I want those people to go that are really eager, that really want to invest in it and are going to put their time into it. What about you?
Speaker 1Who's going to go to that? I definitely think there's an element of how you put it together is like who maybe the wrong turn of phrase, but who has earned it. So you know, hey, you've been doing such a great job, I'd love you to come along. So, like using it as a reward, as an excitement, as something like oh wow, that's a privilege, not a right, Because when we send team members and ourselves to these things, we have to be very mindful that it's not just the couple hundred dollars of a ticket, it's the time of the day no-transcript a different perspective on stuff and I remember at various different things we've gone to.
Speaker 1I'll come back and be like this is what I learned, and someone will say this is what I learned. I'm like, oh, that's cool, I didn't even think of it that way, but I think with roadshows you do need to be. I mean, as with anything, you have a diary of shit you're going to go to. You have to make sure that you're not doing one thing every week otherwise you're never going to actually do your job.
Speaker 2Well, that's where boundaries are, and just being really strategic about where you spend your time, which is what I do, and I think that's super important and actually let's flag that Like just You've actually got to get something from that and I think that that's the key is making sure that you're going to the right things. But the content delivered at the Summer Series for Xero it wasn't to any particular age group or experience group, it was just thought leadership. Good, we have people that travel the country to watch it.
Speaker 1So like I went and watched a band recently and they've just played around the country, and there are people who have gone to every single one of the gigs, oh wowee. Imagine if there was an accounting conference where people travelled just to keep going to it because it was that bloody good.
Speaker 2Well, maybe there are people that do do that. There might be a couple of cray-crays out there that think it's such a great ride Could be.
Speaker 1You don't know, but I wonder, people obsess about different things. Is that what we're aspiring to with a roadshow, or is it simple? My two cents is the roadshow is just getting back to community, I think Get into the community, get into their backyard show them that you care about them and it means for the people who are coming that you're rocking up and you've got pride and you're grateful and you're going to take that time to learn, and it's less intrusive than I have to travel and think more.
Speaker 2Yep, that is the best roundup. I think that we could have done. I think we just we should probably finish it there.
Speaker 1I reckon I, I think we should, because that's a great roundup.
Speaker 2That's a great roundup.
Who Should Attend and Final Thoughts
Speaker 1Fantastic. I wonder what the next type of conference or gathering or thing we will talk about. If you have ideas, listeners, millions of you out there if you sit here and you say you know what. What I would love to actually potentially find myself in a room with is if you're like mate, I've been going to the same tax group. The four of us have been rocking up every Wednesday at 7.30 am for 25 years. I want to rock up to one of them and I want to understand those up because we want the whole breadth of it. So if you've got something that you go to and you have for ages, let us know. If you've got something that's brand new, that's happening and you think that this would be valuable for us and our community, let us know. You think that this would be valuable for us and our community, let us know, because we know of a bunch of stuff that's happening but that only just touches the surface.
Speaker 2So let us know Absolutely.
Speaker 1Ali will go.
Speaker 2No, no, that is not what's going to happen.
Speaker 1We'll do our best.
Speaker 2But at the same time, if it's in Adelaide, ali will go.
Speaker 1Yes, you might see us on the road, we might jump on planes this year. I think we've got a couple that we are definitely going to go to.
Speaker 2We are jumping on planes this year. I'm super excited we might have a 90th birthday to celebrate 90.
Speaker 1It's because you're turning older than me.
Speaker 2They're 5-0 and you're turning the 4-0,.
Speaker 1my friend, so together we make 90. We do Yep. Thank you everybody. You're amazing. Thank you, andrew.
Speaker 2You're amazing. Have a great day everyone.
Speaker 3Bye. Wasn't that a fun adventure, my friends. Thank you so much, so incredibly much, for hanging out with us today. Ali, you've been amazing. Andrew, you've been all right. How good is it to be able to have adventures together.
Speaker 2It so is, and you know what. Keep following us. We are all over the socials at accountingadventures. Check us out on the website. Give us a bit of a like.
Speaker 3You know how much we love that stuff the best thing about the adventure is the people that we do it with. So thank you so much for listening, thank you so much for hanging out with us, and please bring all the ideas keep bringing becoming. We can't wait to share more cool adventures with you we love you guys.
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