Here’s a shout out to my Canadian accounting and bookkeeping friends. After over two years of lockdowns and back-and-forth mandates, are you ready to rejoin the land of in-person events? Are you looking to earn CPD (Continuing Professional Development) credits?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, do I have an event for you.
CPB Canada (Certified Professional Bookkeepers of Canada) has announced that its annual IGNITE conference will be live and in-person this year in Calgary, Sept. 20-23. The event will take place at the newly-renovated Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre.
And get this: The hotel is offering attendees a special room rate of $129 per night (plus taxes and fees) if you book online by the Aug. 25 deadline.
Wait, there’s more: Both Air Canada and WestJet are offering discounted fares for registered attendees.
Sponsored by Xero, Intuit QuickBooks and Ignition, and supported by many other event partners and exhibitors (see below), this is the perfect way to dip your toe back into the world of F2F professional development.
Other event partners and exhibitors you can expect to find at the tradeshow floor include:
The Opening Keynote speaker is Michelle Cederberg, the Calgary-based powerhouse who moves people to “Dare to Live it Big” and create the life and career they want.
So, what does all this mean for you?
On one hand, you have time to plan for this. You can arrange for that long-overdue haircut, get used to wearing something other than yoga pants, and maybe work off some or all those COVID-19 pounds (someone told me he gained exactly 19 pounds; how prophetic is that?).
Oh, and make sure you are vaccinated.
That’s right: Only those with a minimum of two vaccine doses will be eligible to participate onsite. In fact, attendees, event partners and speakers may be required to show proof of vaccination along with government-issued identification. And to make sure everyone is comfortable and safe, there will be health and safety protocols in place.
On the other hand, while you plan ahead to be presentable, you will want to move quickly, as the $675 Full Conference Pass fee for CPB Canada members is discounted to $575 for the first 200 registrants.
There are other prices for non-members who wish to attend the conference (with or without becoming a member).
Also, don’t forget the discounted hotel rates are available for online booking only until Aug. 25.
If you’d love to attend, but cannot be there in person, fill out the Virtual Interest Form.
COVID threw a wrench into the world, but bookkeepers who have been on the cutting edge of technology and business practices have thrived through it all. Learn from these experts who have turned their businesses into goldmines and keep up to date on both tech and techniques that you can incorporate into your practice immediately.
And, of course, cozy up (safely) to colleagues from across the country.
On the last night of the event, there will be a social event. While there are no continuing professional development credits for social connections, there ought to be. Many attendees have found the connections they have made at these conferences to be just as valuable as the workshops.
Learn, earn CPD credits, make new friends and/or reconnect with old ones and have a blast. And, as a bonus, it is a legitimate business expense. This could be just what you and your practice need to replenish yourselves.
For more information, check out this site or email CPB Canada at conference@cpbcan.ca.
Esther Friedberg Karp is an internationally-renowned trainer, writer and speaker from Toronto, where she runs her QuickBooks consulting practice, EFK CompuBooks Inc. Consistently in Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisors, she has been named to the Top 10 twice.
A ProAdvisor in three countries, she has traveled the world with Intuit, spoken at QuickBooks Connect in San Jose and Toronto, among other places, and has written countless articles for Intuit Global.
Esther has been named one of the “Top 50 Women in Accounting,” a “Top 10 Influencer” in the Canadian Bookkeeping World, and is a repeat nominee for the “RBC Canadian Women’s Entrepreneur Awards.” She counts among her clients many international companies, as well as accounting professionals seeking her out on behalf of their own clients for her expertise in multi-currency and various countries’ editions of QuickBooks Desktop and Online.
She can be reached at esther@e-compubooks.com or 416-410-0750.
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