By Kristin M. Seeger, CPA

While the eight CPE credits are a nice bonus of attending the annual PICPA Leadership Conference, I truly get excited about this event for many other reasons. There are various topics that expand my professional development, and I always take away something great from the content offered by the different speakers. The update from Mike Colgan, PICPA’s CEO, raises my awareness of the top issues facing firms, as well as legislative updates and information on what the Pennsylvania CPA Foundation is doing. The year’s Young Leader Award recipients are honored for their achievements, too, but the most exciting aspect of all is getting to reconnect with the great CPAs I only see every so often and making new acquaintances with those who might not cross my path in my everyday life.

At this year’s conference I sat with two gentlemen who have a long tenure in accounting. One has a fourth-generation public accounting practice; the other now consults after spending many years in the manufacturing industry. They were both a wealth of knowledge and had a lot to contribute based on their considerable experience. Yet, they still had an interest in learning about other members’ individual career paths and goals.

Also at my table was an accounting professor who has devoted his career to educating the future leaders of our industry. I cross paths with him often, as we’ve been on a committee together and my firm has recruited some of his students. He is one of those outstanding professors who goes above and beyond to see “his kids” succeed. He’s the type to work long hours, and you know he’s not getting paid for the extra time and effort.

In addition to learning new things from my tablemates, I learned something new from each of program’s presenters – practical, real-world takeaways that I can immediately act on and benefit from. One speaker in particular wowed me. His topic was Networking Evolution. As an extrovert, I was probably one of the few in the room who was immediately engaged. In fact, I saw my colleagues at the table grimace a bit, and I figured networking is probably not something that comes naturally to them. Yet, this speaker introduced some incredibly simple ways to get to know someone and create a relaxed environment in which to do so. For example, at a networking event, instead of putting your name and company on a nametag, what if you listed “Ask me about…”? This then gives someone an easy way to start a conversation and get to know you as a person. It helps you go beyond collecting names to making more of a personal connection. He made it sound so easy that you wonder why everyone doesn’t do it this way. I can’t wait to try out his ideas!

Maybe the most rewarding part of the day was seeing someone I had invited to this event who had never been to it before share how excited she was about the things she took away from the day. Hopefully, this is just the first of many PICPA experiences for her.

If you’ve never been to the PICPA Leadership Conference, please plan to attend in the near future. If you’re like me and you really enjoy going, I highly encourage you to invite a colleague or someone you are mentoring to share in this experience and expand their professional knowledge. Remember, great leaders bring others with them.

Kristin M. Seeger, CPA, is director, talent acquisition, at Kreischer Miller in Horsham, Pa. She can often be found giving presentations to various organizations about a wide range of topics relevant to accounting careers and career decisions.

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