Chief Operations Officer’s Report—First Quarter 2021 | Getting Your Bearings in the New Normal
Getting Your Bearings in the New Normal: A Preview of NACVA and the CTI’s Hybrid and Virtual Super Conference
An Interview with Brien Jones, Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development for NACVA, and Dan Shiffrin, Editor, The Value Examiner (This article was previously published in The Value Examiner, March/April 2021.)
As the pandemic fog lifts, a new world is coming into focus on the horizon. For BVFLS professionals, like most people, it may take some time to adjust to this “new normal.” The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and the Consultant’s Training Institute’s (CTI’s) 2021 Business Valuation and Financial Litigation Hybrid and Virtual Super Conference is designed to help you get your bearings in this new environment and chart a course for future success.
The Value Examiner had the opportunity to discuss the conference—and the direction of the association—with Brien Jones, NACVA’s chief operating officer and vice president of business development.
TVE: NACVA has broadcast its conferences for years, but last summer it shifted to an exclusively virtual format. Now that you have experience with several virtual conferences, what would you say are the pros and cons?
Hybrid and virtual is what this year’s conference is affectionately termed, but the fact of the matter is we have been delivering our conference—the profession’s gold standard—and most, if not all our certification and training programs in a hybrid and virtual format since 2007. We pioneered virtual broadcasts, webinars, online learning, and CPE on-demand. 2020—“The Year of COVID”—was a landmark year in our history. With only 10 weeks’ lead time, we pivoted the in-person and virtual (hybrid) conference slated for Philadelphia to virtual-only. Not only did we master the production of the virtual June conference spectacularly, but we repeated it three more times—in August, November, and December—achieving record-breaking global attendance and successfully transitioning to fully digital methods for delivering training. Last year was like no other: Timely information was essential, and we delivered it in spades, providing more than 325 individual training programs.
As to pros and cons, virtual programs have several advantages, including time and cost savings (attendees avoid the need to travel), increased attendance, access to an expanded alliance of knowledge experts, quick turnaround of CPE certificates through digitized fulfillment, and an enhanced user experience (e.g., individualized customer service; digital attendee account management; 24/7/365 access to video and audio lectures, curriculum, and training aids). Disadvantages include reduced interaction between presenters and attendees, “Zoom fatigue,” limited “virtual” networking opportunities, workplace/in-home distractions that pull focus from training, and potential technology glitches on the attendee side that are beyond our control.
TVE: How will hybrid and virtual work and what are the advantages over a purely virtual format?
“Hybrid and virtual” offers the best of both worlds. As vaccination rates increase and states “reopen,” many of our members and credential designees are Zoom-fatigued and eager to return to the normalcy of traveling to in-person meetings. We also recognize that not everyone is ready to do that. So, we’re providing six ways to attend the 2021 conference: (1) full hybrid conference, June 21–25, Park City, Utah, (2) full hybrid conference, June 21–25, Houston, Texas, (3) full hybrid conference, December 13–17, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, (4) full virtual-only conference, June 21–25, (5) full virtual-only conference, December 13–17, (6) virtual-only ala carte sessions, June 21–25 and December 13–17. Learn more and register at BVFLSConference.com.
Registration for the hybrid conferences will be on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to in-person occupancy limits in compliance with applicable COVID-19 protocols. Registrants will be able to attend a combination of in-person sessions and virtual-only sessions (in viewing rooms provided by the conference venue). In-person luncheons, receptions, food and beverage breaks, and other networking opportunities will be provided for in-person registrants and broadcast to virtual-only attendees.
Full conference registration includes up to 40 hours of CPE, whether registrants attend one of the hybrid conferences or virtual-only.
TVE: In reviewing the agenda, it seems that “change” is an important theme. For example, Chris Mercer will discuss “The Future of the Business Valuation” and the opening keynote (by Daniel Hood, Bob Lewis, and Michael Platt) is entitled “Disruption, Opportunity, and Flashing Red Lights to Pay Attention to in Professional Service Firms.” Can you give us a preview?
Chris Mercer’s assessments of our profession have become conference standouts, starting with his 2018 keynote, “Our Profession is in Transition—Opportunities and Strategies for baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials” and continuing with last year’s “Vision 2020—The Future of Our Profession and Your Role In It.” This year, Chris will present the plenary session, “The Future of the Business Valuation Profession,” building on the themes, research, and topics covered in prior years. This is so important right now—looking at where you’ve been to better inform where you’re going. We’re honored to have Chris as part of our esteemed conference faculty and to have him present the “state of the profession.”
The keynote presented by Hood, Lewis, and Platt will complement Mercer’s session, with a focus on how the turbulent COVID-19 economy has been good for some businesses, while others held steady, and many others suffered. Dan Hood, editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, will provide perspectives on the daily news of the CPA profession. Michael Platt, co-founder of AccountingWEB.com and principal of the Platt Group (publisher of INSIDE Public Accounting), will provide insights into firm benchmarking and industry trends. And Bob Lewis, president of The Visionary Group and “chief growth officer” for CPA practices nationwide, will address growth implementation strategies.
TVE: As usual, this year’s agenda gives attendees a wide variety of interesting topics to choose from, some cutting edge and others that reinforce the fundamentals. Are there any particular sessions you would like to highlight?
We had a record number of proposals for this year’s agenda. Kudos to our Annual Conference Planning Committee and this year’s conference co-chairs—Glenn Block, Sarah Spelts Loebl, Nick Mears, and Kerrie Merrifield—for helping us assemble a strong program. I asked our co-chairs to comment on this year’s offerings.
TVE: How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic will affect NACVA’s approach to conferences in the future? Once the pandemic is behind us will conferences return to “normal” or do you anticipate that some of the changes made over the last year will become a permanent part of the conference experience?
We will never be the same. There is no way back, only forward, and we are still defining our “new normal.” The pandemic affected our CPE model in a positive way, however. Over the past year, by reallocating resources once paid to various event and travel vendors and investing them in the development of technical program content and cutting-edge online technologies, we escalated development and production of thirteen individual Certificate of Educational Achievement (CEA) programs—nearly 200 hours of CPE—in specialized areas of practice. We also invested resources to further support our global chapters, to launch the Around the Valuation World, International program, and to build a robust Mentor Support Exchange that will be launched in May. The “new normal” for NACVA|GACVA will see us continuing to pioneer and innovate while meeting the awesome opportunity we have to remain true to our mission: To maintain leadership in the U.S. and globally as the premier developer of training and resources for consulting professionals building their practices and expertise supporting privately owned businesses.
Brien Jones is a seasoned association executive with extensive professional experience in continuing professional education management, online/distance learning, business development, member recruitment/retention, operations management, conference and event planning, marketing, graphic design, public relations, social media strategies, copywriting, and supporting association governance. He has been employed with the NACVA and the CTI for over twenty years supporting the organizations and their industry partners in a leadership capacity. E-mail: BrienJ1@NACVA.com.
An Interview with Brien Jones, Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development for NACVA, and Dan Shiffrin, Editor, The Value Examiner (This article was previously published in The Value Examiner, March/April 2021.)
As the pandemic fog lifts, a new world is coming into focus on the horizon. For BVFLS professionals, like most people, it may take some time to adjust to this “new normal.” The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and the Consultant’s Training Institute’s (CTI’s) 2021 Business Valuation and Financial Litigation Hybrid and Virtual Super Conference is designed to help you get your bearings in this new environment and chart a course for future success.
The Value Examiner had the opportunity to discuss the conference—and the direction of the association—with Brien Jones, NACVA’s chief operating officer and vice president of business development.
TVE: NACVA has broadcast its conferences for years, but last summer it shifted to an exclusively virtual format. Now that you have experience with several virtual conferences, what would you say are the pros and cons?
Hybrid and virtual is what this year’s conference is affectionately termed, but the fact of the matter is we have been delivering our conference—the profession’s gold standard—and most, if not all our certification and training programs in a hybrid and virtual format since 2007. We pioneered virtual broadcasts, webinars, online learning, and CPE on-demand. 2020—“The Year of COVID”—was a landmark year in our history. With only 10 weeks’ lead time, we pivoted the in-person and virtual (hybrid) conference slated for Philadelphia to virtual-only. Not only did we master the production of the virtual June conference spectacularly, but we repeated it three more times—in August, November, and December—achieving record-breaking global attendance and successfully transitioning to fully digital methods for delivering training. Last year was like no other: Timely information was essential, and we delivered it in spades, providing more than 325 individual training programs.
As to pros and cons, virtual programs have several advantages, including time and cost savings (attendees avoid the need to travel), increased attendance, access to an expanded alliance of knowledge experts, quick turnaround of CPE certificates through digitized fulfillment, and an enhanced user experience (e.g., individualized customer service; digital attendee account management; 24/7/365 access to video and audio lectures, curriculum, and training aids). Disadvantages include reduced interaction between presenters and attendees, “Zoom fatigue,” limited “virtual” networking opportunities, workplace/in-home distractions that pull focus from training, and potential technology glitches on the attendee side that are beyond our control.
TVE: How will hybrid and virtual work and what are the advantages over a purely virtual format?
“Hybrid and virtual” offers the best of both worlds. As vaccination rates increase and states “reopen,” many of our members and credential designees are Zoom-fatigued and eager to return to the normalcy of traveling to in-person meetings. We also recognize that not everyone is ready to do that. So, we’re providing six ways to attend the 2021 conference: (1) full hybrid conference, June 21–25, Park City, Utah, (2) full hybrid conference, June 21–25, Houston, Texas, (3) full hybrid conference, December 13–17, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, (4) full virtual-only conference, June 21–25, (5) full virtual-only conference, December 13–17, (6) virtual-only ala carte sessions, June 21–25 and December 13–17. Learn more and register at BVFLSConference.com.
Registration for the hybrid conferences will be on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to in-person occupancy limits in compliance with applicable COVID-19 protocols. Registrants will be able to attend a combination of in-person sessions and virtual-only sessions (in viewing rooms provided by the conference venue). In-person luncheons, receptions, food and beverage breaks, and other networking opportunities will be provided for in-person registrants and broadcast to virtual-only attendees.
Full conference registration includes up to 40 hours of CPE, whether registrants attend one of the hybrid conferences or virtual-only.
TVE: In reviewing the agenda, it seems that “change” is an important theme. For example, Chris Mercer will discuss “The Future of the Business Valuation” and the opening keynote (by Daniel Hood, Bob Lewis, and Michael Platt) is entitled “Disruption, Opportunity, and Flashing Red Lights to Pay Attention to in Professional Service Firms.” Can you give us a preview?
Chris Mercer’s assessments of our profession have become conference standouts, starting with his 2018 keynote, “Our Profession is in Transition—Opportunities and Strategies for baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials” and continuing with last year’s “Vision 2020—The Future of Our Profession and Your Role In It.” This year, Chris will present the plenary session, “The Future of the Business Valuation Profession,” building on the themes, research, and topics covered in prior years. This is so important right now—looking at where you’ve been to better inform where you’re going. We’re honored to have Chris as part of our esteemed conference faculty and to have him present the “state of the profession.”
The keynote presented by Hood, Lewis, and Platt will complement Mercer’s session, with a focus on how the turbulent COVID-19 economy has been good for some businesses, while others held steady, and many others suffered. Dan Hood, editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, will provide perspectives on the daily news of the CPA profession. Michael Platt, co-founder of AccountingWEB.com and principal of the Platt Group (publisher of INSIDE Public Accounting), will provide insights into firm benchmarking and industry trends. And Bob Lewis, president of The Visionary Group and “chief growth officer” for CPA practices nationwide, will address growth implementation strategies.
TVE: As usual, this year’s agenda gives attendees a wide variety of interesting topics to choose from, some cutting edge and others that reinforce the fundamentals. Are there any particular sessions you would like to highlight?
We had a record number of proposals for this year’s agenda. Kudos to our Annual Conference Planning Committee and this year’s conference co-chairs—Glenn Block, Sarah Spelts Loebl, Nick Mears, and Kerrie Merrifield—for helping us assemble a strong program. I asked our co-chairs to comment on this year’s offerings.
TVE: How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic will affect NACVA’s approach to conferences in the future? Once the pandemic is behind us will conferences return to “normal” or do you anticipate that some of the changes made over the last year will become a permanent part of the conference experience?
We will never be the same. There is no way back, only forward, and we are still defining our “new normal.” The pandemic affected our CPE model in a positive way, however. Over the past year, by reallocating resources once paid to various event and travel vendors and investing them in the development of technical program content and cutting-edge online technologies, we escalated development and production of thirteen individual Certificate of Educational Achievement (CEA) programs—nearly 200 hours of CPE—in specialized areas of practice. We also invested resources to further support our global chapters, to launch the Around the Valuation World, International program, and to build a robust Mentor Support Exchange that will be launched in May. The “new normal” for NACVA|GACVA will see us continuing to pioneer and innovate while meeting the awesome opportunity we have to remain true to our mission: To maintain leadership in the U.S. and globally as the premier developer of training and resources for consulting professionals building their practices and expertise supporting privately owned businesses.
Brien Jones is a seasoned association executive with extensive professional experience in continuing professional education management, online/distance learning, business development, member recruitment/retention, operations management, conference and event planning, marketing, graphic design, public relations, social media strategies, copywriting, and supporting association governance. He has been employed with the NACVA and the CTI for over twenty years supporting the organizations and their industry partners in a leadership capacity. E-mail: BrienJ1@NACVA.com.
