I have blogged before about the advantages of going to conferences – particularly if you work on your own.

As my professional conference is just over a week away I thought it was time to revisit the topic.

I have been to the CIMA Members in Practise conference for years and have always got key benefits from going:

1. The conference is excellent for CPD, which as a professional management accountant, is vital. Although I don’t do tax or compliance myself I do need enough knowledge to help point clients in the right direction and conference is a good place to top up my knowledge.
2. As well as specific CPD on accountancy issues we also have great key note speakers who motivate me to have the best business I can.
3. Finally on the CPD front, sales and marketing is always a challenge for me and we have great workshops on how to get our messages across.
4. For me, though, conference is about much more than just getting CPD. Because conference is full of like-minded individuals it is a great place to build relationships, which can carry me through the year. Working on our own can be a lonely place and these relationships help me to keep a balanced view of my world.
5. And let’s not forget the gala dinner, disco, and the ‘craic’ at the bar! We have such a good time and, as I don’t get out very often, it is one of the few evenings in the year when I feel like a grown up!

I am really excited about what I will learn from this year’s conference but there is a sting in the tail.

This year I am one of the co-chairs (no pressure!!).

I am already having the pre-conference nightmares. In one I forget the speakers’ presentations and there is an auditorium full of delegates but no slides. Another nightmare scenario is that a key speaker doesn’t turn up and I have to come up with something myself!

Nightmares aside I know it will all be OK because we have put many hours of preparation into it and we know we have a great programme.

So, if you are cogitating about whether to go to your professional conference (especially if you have not gone before) my advice is ‘give it a go’. You will probably get much more out of it than you ever imagined!

Fiona 🙂