On October 20, Sage Intacct will kick off its first-ever virtual Advantage conference. Even though this year’s event is entirely online, attendees can still look forward to a jam-packed schedule of keynote talks, breakout sessions, expert panels, and learning labs.
Although the conference-goers don’t actually have to “go” anywhere to join the event, there are still a few ways you can prepare for Advantage 2020 to ensure that you get the most out of it.
1. Plan your agenda
You could be forgiven for thinking that no preparation is required to join a virtual event. While it’s true that you don’t need to coordinate transportation and accommodations, thinking through your game plan in advance is a must.
Advantage 2020 will feature both live and on-demand sessions. That means there are some presentations you’ll need to tune into at a specific time, and some that you can watch at your convenience (though we recommend setting time aside to view these as well).
Here a few sessions you won’t want to miss:
Best Practices for Managing a Remote Finance & Accounting Team & The Close
- Time: Oct 2011:45 AM-12:10 PM PT
- Speakers: Mike Whitmire, CEO and Co-founder, FloQast; Jerry Raphael, CFO, Stack Overflow; and Brandt Kucharski, CAO, Grubhub
- About: Especially in the new virtual norm, employee collaboration, task management and ensuring completeness are essential. Join this panel discussion where they’ll share best practice to speed and streamline the close in a remote environment and how their teams have adopted a new way of working to create stronger and more effective accounting and finance teams going forward.
A Holistic Approach to Streamlining and Scaling Global AP
- Time: October 21, 10:05-10:30am PT
- Speaker: Anand Misra, Director of Product & Partner Marketing, Tipalti
- About: Accounts Payable is the #1 most time-consuming function in finance today, so a holistic approach to automating it is an essential element of any CFO’s strategy to modernize the finance organization and focus on enabling business success. In this session, we will share best practices on how you can effectively modernize the finance operation for lasting gains by putting a scalable payables automation solution in place that maximizes efficiency across your end-to-end global payables workflow.
Building a Finance Tech Stack to Enable Remote Work
- Time: On-Demand
- Speakers: Tim Kitching, Controller, Volusion and Juliana Anduckia, Customer Success Manager, Teampay
- About: Tim Kitching, Controller at Volusion, was used to working remotely long before COVID-19. Armed with a suite of modern finance tools, his team seamlessly transitioned to 100% virtual operations. Learn how Volusion’s finance team was set up for success, and get actionable tips on how you can do the same.
Schedule breaks
Even if you’re sitting in your living room, attending a conference is tiring! Make sure to schedule time in between sessions to step away from the screen, go for a walk, or get a coffee.
Make calendar events for these breaks—just as you would for any other session at Advantage 2020—so you receive alerts when it’s time to get up.
Don’t have time for an extensive break? Try innovative ways to stretch your body and mind, such as chair yoga or meditation.
Get free stuff
Hearing actionable insights and learning about resources may be more primary goals of attending a conference, but walking away with some free swag doesn’t hurt. While you won’t receive the usual array of brand t-shirts and socks at Advantage 2020, there are plenty of opportunities to get something even bigger.
Many conference sponsors are hosting raffles for big ticket items, such as a Peloton bike. Visit vendors’ virtual booths and book a meeting to enter for a chance to win one of these coveted prizes.
Enjoy the post-event
You might not be in a Vegas nightclub like last year when Advantage 2020 ends, but you still deserve to celebrate! Organize a virtual happy hour with your colleagues, or simply pour yourself a drink and get ready to revolutionize your company’s finance function!
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