IAPA was delighted to welcome 66 global members from 39 firm and 24 countries across 6 continents and their guests to its 2018 International Conference, held in Miami, USA, 2-5 November 2018 at the Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami South Beach.
The conference connected senior managers and partners to network and strengthen new/existing business relationships around the world, to learn how to improve services to clients operating both nationally and across borders, to share the latest insights in the accounting, law and business environment and to understand how firms can expand their businesses into new territories.
The conference started on Friday evening with drinks in the famous Fontainebleau Hotel bar followed by dinner at one of Miami’s top venues Mango’s, allowing delegates to reconnect with old friends and get to know the many new faces IAPA has welcomed over the last year.
Are you ready for the future?
The delegate programme commenced on Saturday morning with a keynote speaker, Futurologist, Dr James Bellini, who gave a fascinating presentation 'Horizon 2025 and Beyond. Are you ready for the challenges of a future disrupted world?'. James discussed how as professional advisors IAPA members can harness the opportunities and avoid the threats of a new world of Fintech, Legaltech and other game changing innovations.
New IAPA CEO, Ozgur Demirdoven with IAPA Chairman, Martin Clapson then presented 'IAPA Progress and Plans' and were delighted to showcase all the latest developments in terms of strategy, recruitment and how IAPA plans to develop in the next 12 months. The presentations culminated by engaging all delegates with discussions on what they want from the membership and where they would like IAPA to be in 6-12 months. Ideas were supportive, creative and gave plenty of food for thought for developing global business relationships in the near future
The importance of your brand
We were delighted to welcome Michael Yormark, President & Chief of Branding & Strategy for Roc Nation who delivered an immensely engaging presentation showcasing his keys to success, highlighting the ROC Nation difference, their six-step Brand Building Strategy and how they prepare their clients for Post-Career Success. A fascinating insight with many top tips for members to consider
New Specialist Forums – adapting for the future
IAPA hosted 3 specialist technical forums in Miami and for the first time 2 new topics were introduced 1) Data Science and Blockchain, facilitated by Joe Homnick, CEO of Homnick Systems [bottom middle] and (2) IAPA Corporate Finance and Legal Forum, led by IAPA specialists Tom Manisero, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP and Adrian Corr, Miller Simons O’Sullivan covering law and Simon Blake, Price Bailey and Jan van Wijngaarden, Solid4U on the Corporate Finance side [bottom left].
It was wonderful to incorporate new Fintech discussion groups and to welcome a specialist forum that included the newly introduced law firms. Both forums were warmly welcomed and will continue at future IAPA events.
The third specialist forum was the ever popular IAPA International Tax Forum, chaired by Jay Sanghrajka, Price Bailey with a special presentation from James Cassidy, Schulman Lobel on US Tax Developments.[above right]
Taking control – coaching business advisors to success
On the second day, Lisa Tierney, Tierney Coaching & Consulting opened the conference with a highly interactive workshop 'How to Coach Business Advisors to Success' - empowering IAPA delegates by exposing them to tools and techniques to keep their business advisors focused so they can achieve their goals. Lisa offered a proactive way to solve staff problems and it was a great success!
Sponsors
As IAPA develops relationships with new sponsors and strategic partners, we were pleased to welcome IAPA sponsor Dave McKinlay, Director of Technology, Deloitte Australia. Dave gave a topical presentation on the client experience – onboarding & beyond, exploring the good, the bad and the ugly of client experience and understanding how successful firms are combining excellent soft skills with best of breed technology in order to deliver a world class experience for both new and existing clients.
The power of the membership
The final presentation was led by Margery Krevsky Dosey, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Production Plus – The Talent Shop along with colleague Ken Paul Smith. One of the most valued aspects of IAPA conferences are the member-led discussions where members learn from each other and share/discuss their firm’s or IAPA’s key issues, successes and areas to develop further. This year, with a new CEO and in light of the dramatic changes the professional service sector is experiencing, the group discussions focused on members’ needs from IAPA, how IAPA can better support its members and facilitate IAPA members working together. With the fantastic moderating skills offered by Margery and Ken Paul, discussions were extremely positive with specific action items generated for future planning.
Building valuable relationships
As always there was plenty of time to network with old and new friends during the day in the beautiful hotel and at the organised evening events. The IAPA community is full of warm and vibrant friendships with talented individuals who are keen to get to know each other, discuss business but also relax and simply enjoy each each others' company.
This is the IAPA Culture! With many thanks to Miami host firm Gerson, Preston, Klein, Lips, Eisenberg & Gelber who helped organise this wonderful conference and for hosting the entire group in their offices on Saturday night (above)well as the IAPA Latin American and IAPA US Regional conferences. The final farewell dinner took place in the Fontainebleau’s very own amazing StripSteak restaurant.
A big thank you to everyone that helped make this event such a success. The photos have been distributed – watch out for the video to come! We look forward to seeing members once again at our events scheduled for 2019.
