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Today, Ted Callahan, QuickBooks Accountant Segment Leader, Intuit announced the resumption of QuickBooks Connect as an on-premises event.
This year's event will take place in Las Vegas from December 7-9. QuickBooks Connect will feature QuickBooks training sessions and customized content tailored to accountants, bookkeepers and ProAdvisors, presented by highly-skilled, well-known trainers and knowledgeable, forward-thinking industry leaders. More information about the event will be available in May.
Intuit also announced that the company will no longer participate in the Scaling New Heights® conference. However, according to Ted Callahan, "Our history with WoodardTM (hosts of the annual Scaling New Heights conference) goes back years and while we won’t see you at Scaling New Heights, we will continue to work with Woodard on other training-based projects going forward. Be on the lookout for more details soon."
When asked about today's announcements, Joe Woodard, founder of Woodard Events and host of Scaling New Heights, replied to the following questions.
1. What are your thoughts about Intuit resuming QuickBooks Connect on-premises?
I’m excited about this event on behalf of the accounting and bookkeeping communities. QuickBooks Connect is always a great experience, and I’m personally looking forward to being in Vegas this December.
2. In the past - pre-COVID - Intuit participated heavily in Scaling New Heights even while hosting QuickBooks Connect. Why the change?
Though Scaling New Heights has always contained a wide range of practice management and technology topics, our technology training focused exclusively on QuickBooks and products that integrate with QuickBooks. That shifted with our 2022 conference.
This year, some of our breakout sessions are presented by and many of our exhibitors are developers of accounting solutions. Examples include:
- AccountingSuite
- Acumatica (represented by one of their VARs)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (represented by two of their leading distributors)
- Patriot Software
- Sage Intacct
- Xero
- Zoho Books
Historically, Intuit has not participated in accounting shows in the U.S. where their competitors are present, and Scaling New Heights now falls into this category.
3. Why did you decide to broaden the show to include other accounting platforms?
Simply put, we are a vision-driven company. Our vision is to empower small business advisors to have a transformative impact on their clients. By diversifying the conference and by expanding our year-round relationships with other accounting solution developers, we enfranchise a larger number of advisors into our vision.
That said, this was a very difficult decision for us, given our long-term and extensive history over so many years working with Intuit on accountant training programs. In the end, though, our vision had to steer our course.
4. Is Woodard still working with Intuit in other ways?
Yes. Our relationship with Intuit is long-term and remains very strong. Intuit plans to engage with us on other training programs for accountants and bookkeepers going forward.
5. Did you anticipate Intuit would stop participating in Scaling New Heights when you invited other accounting solutions to sponsor?
We made our decision without knowing exactly how Intuit would respond, and we were prepared to accept whatever their response may be. Naturally, we hoped they would continue to be involved in the conference in some capacity. Ultimately, however, Intuit decided not to engage with us for this year’s event, and we respect their decision.
6. Will you continue to offer QuickBooks training at Scaling New Heights?
Yes. In fact, we will continue to do so in full force. Scaling New Heights is highly regarded for its advanced level training on QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, and that is a tradition we will preserve. For this year’s conference, one-third of the breakout blocks are dedicated to advanced training on QuickBooks, and we will continue to allocate a significant percentage of our breakout sessions to QuickBooks training in future years.
7. Will Intuit's announcement impact participation in Scaling new Heights?
Scaling New Heights has thrived over the years in a highly competitive U.S. accountant training market. Simply put, we expect Scaling New Heights 2022 to be the largest in the 13-year history of the show, especially with our conference now enfranchising a wider range of accountants and bookkeepers, including those who have built their practices around accounting platforms other than QuickBooks.
Do you have questions about this article? Email us and let us know > info@woodard.com
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