The Conference Chronicles - Festival of Accounting & Bookkeeping

I went to my first ever conference today! Yay for firsts!

As an aspiring Bookkeeper, I saw the Festival of Accounting and Bookkeeping (FAB) and thought it looked perfect for my first one.

So I grabbed a coffee (Euston station, you need to up your coffee option game!) and settled in for a train ride up to the Birmingham NEC to check it out.

I was a bit dubious about going, being a massive introvert, and not yet being a qualified Bookkeeper (imposter syndrome, anyone?!) but it was of course a FAB day... I'M SORRY!

The main stage, the Circle Stage, had a bunch of great speakers for day 1, from Rob Law who invented the Trunki (a Dragon's Den reject would you believe!) and Jo Fairley, a pioneering entrepreneur who co-founded Green & Black's, the world's first organic chocolate brand renowned for its ethical and sustainable approach.

There were 4 other smaller stages to flit between too:

Accounting for AI - lots of talk about software which is disrupting the accounting world and making our lives easier

Bookkeeping Retreat - a corner especially for Bookkeepers which was perfect for me! Lots of advice on setting up and running a successful Bookkeeping business

Accounts Excellence Summit - a space for successful Accountants and others to tell their stories and share some advice

Any Answers Live - a space for your questions, lots of info on AML, tax, and HMRC were even there to answer questions direct from the source

All the talks were 20mins long, how great is that! I struggle to concentrate when someone is talking at me for much longer than that, so I was totally engaged with every talk I went to.

There were lots of stands to visit from software companies to business banking to accounting course providers and even live podcasts happening!

I'm definitely pleased with my first foray into the world of conferences and will definitely be back to this one next year, hopefully as a qualified Bookkeeper by then! #FAB25

There is still another day with a bunch of amazing speakers happening tomorrow (March 14th 2024) so grab your ticket here: https://www.fab.uk/2024-tickets

Oh, and if anyone's wondering where that huge coffee stain on the lovely bright yellow carpet where you immediately come into the event came from... Hi, it's me, I'm the problem.