Over the past 15 days I have attended and spoken at three national user conferences -- CCH, Thomson Reuters, and the Sleeter Group Accounting Software Consulting Conference. I’ve commented on the first two in earlier posts and now it’s time for the last.

The title of “grand-daddy” of user conferences in our profession goes to Thomson Reuters -- hands down. This conference has been held annually for 28 years. Originally called the Creative Solutions (CSI) User Conference, the name recently changed to match that of its owner company.

But, new name or not, the conference still has what it takes to attract a crowd and send them away enthused and invigorated. This week I attended and spoke at this conference for the 22nd consecutive year (yup, I missed a few at the the beginning), and for the 22nd consecutive time saw a whole raft of satisfied users at a conference that seems to always raise the bar in planning, organization and most importantly --- content.

This morning at the CCH User Conference in Palm Desert the keynote speaker was notable first in that he is less than half the  age of a great many of the attendees -- including me.

Mike Sabbatis, CCH President and self-proclaimed 50-something year-old, spoke before Sheahan and was not only comfortable and conversational in his delivery, but absolutely spot-on in his analysis of the state of the profession and his intentions for company’s role in the profession tomorrow.