Women CPAs to Host Virtual Accounting Conference in May

The Second Annual Ultimate Accounting vCon will be held on May 16-17, 2013, in the comfort of participants' own offices. The all-virtual, Cloud-based Ultimate Accounting vCon (which is short for virtual conference) is the brainchild of Michelle Long and Sandi Smith Leyva, two popular accounting industry speakers. 

Michelle Long, CPA and owner of Long for Success, runs the 25,000-plus member LinkedIn group called Successful QuickBooks Consultants. Long is a popular speaker and trainer and the author of two books, including Successful QuickBooks Consulting. 

Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA and owner of Sandra L. Leyva, Inc., runs the popular practice-growth program, Accountant's Accelerator, where she is known for her teachings on value pricing and "On Millionaire Time" management techniques. 

Conference topics include:

• Escaping the hourly pricing trap.
• Handling sticky client communications.
• Assessing and monetizing client's accounting needs.
• Learning value-add services above and beyond compliance.
• Gaining estimating and pricing skills.

All sessions are filled with hands-on demos, case studies, and checklists. Top-tier sponsors include Xero, Personable, and Bill.com.

The First Annual Ultimate Accounting vCon, held in November 2012, was an overwhelming success, with 85 percent of participants saying they would "highly recommend" the conference. Over 350 attendees and thirteen exhibitors, including Intuit, Intacct, Bill.com, Xero, ScanWriter, Cloud9 RealTime, Avalara, and more, enjoyed the conference webinars, prizes, chat room, CPE, and exhibits – without spending money on hotel, airfare, meals, transportation, and even dry cleaning. 

Attendees participated, often from multiple monitors, PCs, tablets, and smartphones, in the twelve webinar sessions, chat room conversations, exhibit hall displays, and much more in the fully virtual event. A few accountants commented they liked this format better because their shyness did not work against them as in a regular brick-and-mortar conference. They can be the fly on the wall, listening in to every conversation and absorbing the knowledge of the participants, speakers, and vendors. Other appreciated the transcripts, which made the vCon accessible for hearing-impaired accountants.

The price for participants is $199, with discounts for early bird registration. Participants can earn up to twelve hours of CPE. For more information, visit the Ultimate Accounting vCon website.