Xerocon day 1 – highlights

Yesterday I travelled down to London to attend my first Xerocon – the accounting software giant Xero’s annual conference for it’s accounting partners.

Although we’ve only been in business as an accountant for a couple of months, our history with Xero goes back a few years. Last summer I delivered a webinar & Masterclass Programme on Customer Experience as part of their Summer Camp for accountants, and we’ve been using the product in our business for a couple of years.

Xerocon gets a lot of love on social media, so I was intrigued to see if it would live up to the hype.

The opening keynote address this year was from futurist Richard Susskind. I’ve been a fan of Susskind’s for several years, so for me it was worth the ticket money alone just to hear him. He didn’t disappoint.

In a thought-provoking talk, Susskind challenged the room to reimagine what we do and to focus on what it is that our clients truly value. The best way to predict the future, he said, is to invent it!

The other session that grabbed my attention today was a panel discussion on ‘Frictionless Finance’. We heard from a variety of speakers from the traditional (HSBC) to cutting edge FinTech firm Curve. This on the same day that Challenger Bank Starling announced they’d be entering the business banking market in 2018. I’ll be writing more about some of these companies, and the opportunities they open up, in the near future.

Apart from that, it’s been standard fare for a product conference – product updates, a glimpse of the future roadmap, that sort of thing. All good, and it I’m excited for the future as a Xero Partner.

And I mustn’t forget about the catering – it’s epic! Scattered around the Exhibition hall are, in no particular order, an ice cream van, several barista coffee stations, a couple of smoothie bars, heaps of great food, and tasty Kiwi juice.

Day one’s been good. Tonight is the fabled Xero Party – they say there ain’t no party like a Xero party! Guess we’ll find out soon…..