Xerocon 2024 Nashville

By Sarah Pilling

Xerocon is an experience like no other. Nashville is a unique place. The combination was energetic, connective and decidedly musical.

Travelling to Nashville as part of the XPAC community was an opportunity to meet meet with Xero and accounting leaders on a global stage. Business is global. The barriers to international opportunity for our clients is lower than ever, and our software and our community need to keep up.

It’s never been easier to export Australian goods and Australian software are services to a global market, and as a result, navigating business (not just tax) landscapes are coming for small to micro businesses.

We can’t be experts in everything. Xerocon provides so much learning and development in soft-skills, software, leadership and personal growth, that one of my biggest take-always is collaboration is going to be even bigger in the next 10 years.

The best conversations I had was with an American accounting firm owner, and talking about inter-generational skill building for advisory services. A USA former XPAC member, they face the same challenges and opportunities as us, (but with a vastly different tax code).

The most profitable clients I’ve worked with, are those that aren’t serving a broad market. They know their customers, they know their business and they dominate their niche. Seeing Xero under the leadership of Sukinder Singh Cassidy (her interview was amazing) you can see Xero having increased focus on exactly who their customer is, and building to meet their needs. The streamlining of the plans and pricing are exactly on point when you consider who the target customer of Xero is.

The closed session for Global XPAC members with Xero leadership was a genuinely brilliant session to provide feedback to the leadership in a cohesive, positive and global frame.

What do I hope for Xercon next year?

Should the opportunity arise again, I would ask Xero to use us more heavily in the day/days prior to Xerocon. Looking at how the US market is less mature than the AU & NZ market, I would love to have the opportunity to mentor in person, or have small group Q&A sessions on practice change management, systems and advisory.
I’d love to have non-presenting Xero team members seeking global feedback, as many accounting business basics are global. Product feedback could be provided, with notes on any local requirements to be gathered later. It could speed up product releases from local to global.

And did every American ask about the breakdancing? Yeah.