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"It's all about you!" Mike Goldsmith, Event Content Director lifts the lid on AccountingWEB Live Expo

31st Aug 2021
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How do you decide on the content for an Expo, asks Event Content Director Mike Goldsmith? Easy. Ask the people who are going…

Mike Goldsmith

Podcasts, white papers, newsletters, breakfast briefings, webinars, articles, listicles… In 2021, content comes in many shapes and formats. 

Here at AccountingWEB Towers, we make the lot, making sure our audience is able to enjoy the latest taxtechnology and practice strategy content no matter how they like to consume it. Whether it’s IR35 or practice automation, we’ve got it.

However, when it came to planning content for an exhibition, we needed to pause and think a bit harder. How could we ensure the content we programmed for the Expo would be right for a live audience? What works as a podcast might not work for an interactive panel. What was successful as a newsletter series likely wouldn’t translate to a keynote lecture.

We need a solution. We came up with two.

We asked our audience what THEY wanted from an exhibition. What didn’t they get from other live events that AccountingWEB Live Expo could deliver? 

The answers were clear. When polled, a staggering 81% of our audience said content, topics and speakers were the most important things about attending an event. 

Translated? “Talk about what WE talk about,” you said. “Talk about the things that keep us up at night, the challenges we face in 2022. Also use experts who we respect, people we can’t ordinarily talk to, the fellow accountants we can trust as they’ve been there and done it…”

It made sense - and that’s what took us to the second solution. How would we discover what accountants wanted and who they wanted to talk about it? Answer: we went digital. 

 

First, we looked at our own audience. AccountingWEB has been creating content for accountants for over 20 years. Our site gets 1.4m page views per month. Every month, our community leave over 2,500 comments and queries on our popular Any Answers platform. You told us what you wanted literally by your online activity. So we listened.

We quickly looked at our most popular content and writers, sense checked them for adaptability to the live stage and booked them - lots of them! - for the Expo. Whether it’s a payroll expert, an automation guru, an AML advisor or a MTD strategist, we have what you need. Watch this space.

Second, we launched our successful AccountingWEB Live Digital programme. For over twelve months, we have created webinars for you to watch live and/or on-demand. Speakers took questions on payroll, dispensed wisdom on working from home, asked tech giants about their latest software launches and so much more. 

In 12 months, we’ve broadcast 117 episodes across 17 shows (all with CPD credits), with 11 hosts putting audience questions to over 120 guest speakers. It’s been a massive success - and it’s told us exactly what you want from a live panel.

For the Expo, we will make sure the most popular shows – be that Tax TalkTech Pulse or People Matters – will all be there at the Expo in December in a live format, the hosts talking and taking questions from the live audience about the topics you’ve already told us you want.

What does all this mean? It means in September we will launch a content programme that’s second to none. It will discuss the things you need as you prepare for 2022. It will feature experts old and new, talking with authority and experience about the issues you need to know about. 

It will - and we absolutely understand people’s need for this as we inch out of lockdown - absolutely be worth people’s time and effort to travel for.

 

AccountingWEB Live Expo will be a lot of other things too. It will be interesting, surprising and tactile (don’t ask). It will be responsible, progressive and diverse. It will be educational, instructional and, yes, enable you to catch up on the CPD you might have missed throughout the year. 

It will also be different. No reveals just yet but it’s been a tough year and we all need some fun just before Xmas. So yes, we will 100% absolutely have the likes of Rebecca Benneyworth MBE on stage over two days to dispense their invaluable tax wisdom, but we might also have Receipt Showbox Jenga to play with and an AccountingWEB Craft Ale to sample while you do it…

Creating an exhibition is tough. Creating the content for an exhibition is just as tough. Creating the RIGHT content for an exhibition is even tougher. Thank you to everyone who’s ever read, watched, listened or downloaded something on AccountingWEB. You made our job easier - we hope you can join us and enjoy it in person this December.

Register now to attend AccountingWEB Live Expo and you'll receive priority access booking to seats at the conference, we look forward to seeing you there! 

Register Now!