Xerocon London 2019: Why you should make it a team affair

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We can’t wait for this year’s Xerocon London, running from 13-14 November 2019 and promising to be the best yet.

You and your team will hear from our headline speaker, Eurpean Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake and be the first to learn about new Xero products.

Last year Nikki Adams, Director, and George Bruce, Cloud Business Manager at Ad Valorem, took a third of their large team to Xerocon London.

Here they give us the lowdown on why they make Xerocon London a team affair and how the conference has helped strengthen their company culture.

Establish a culture of innovation

Nikki has been working in accounting for, in her own words, “more years than I care to admit” – first in accountancy recruitment and then running a small practice which has now become a mid-size firm.

“My first Xerocon [London] was in 2016 and today, it’s the one event on our work calendar that I look forward to the most.”

After attending her first-ever Xerocon London, she recalls: “I came away feeling that Xero was going to be the key to a Pandora’s Box that will enable us to work with our clients in the way we always wanted.

“We did realise, however, that to be proactive and make the necessary work changes, we would first need to get buy-in from the next generation of accountants. Our feeling was that you cannot expect change if the people doing the work can’t see why they should do it.”

At first, they tried to relay the Xerocon London learnings to the team themselves, but soon discovered that they could only achieve full buy-in by taking team members to Xerocon London.

“Going as a team has made a massive difference to the overall mindset of our practice. Different team members enjoy different elements of the event,” says Nikki.

Divvy up and share key learnings

George, also a passionate Xerocon London advocate, asserts that accounting can be a little “isolated” at times.

“It’s easy to get bogged down in transactional elements on a day-to-day basis. With such an open community feel, Xerocon [London] gives us the ideal opportunity to break that isolation, meet like-minded people, and truly bond as a team. In fact, if I could sum up Xerocon in three words, it would be visionary, dynamic and community.”

For the team to get the most out of the conference, George recommends that you plan each day and breakout sessions well in advance.

“It’s good if you can divvy it up across your team but also allow them to select the sessions they’d like to attend. Take advantage of the social aspects of the event too.

At Ad Valorem, we always meet up for dinner after the first day to discuss the key takeaways. Leaving it until everyone’s back at the offices leaves too much time to forget. Stay in the moment and avoid the urge to check your emails.”