Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) Features Innovative Technologies and Social Media to Increase Collaboration and Engagement at CPA Innovation Summit

MACPA prepares its members for the future by tapping the wisdom of the crowd using technology at upcoming Innovation Summit.

We are very excited to be able to use these technologies to enhance and accelerate collaboration and learning among summit attendees, sponsors and speakers - Byron Patrick, CPA - Chairman of the Board

Towson, MD (PRWEB) June 12, 2014

The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) will introduce three innovative collaboration technologies on June 16 at its Innovation Summit at the Baltimore Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor Hotel. The technologies include ThinkTank, Conferences.io, and social media structured for learning.

A recent IBM Global CEO study identified collaboration as the number one trait CEOs seek in their employees, with 75 percent of CEOs calling it critical. The CPA Horizons 2025 Report by the American Institute of CPAs also identified collaboration as one of the top five skills needed by CPAs in the future.

With a theme of Innovation, Connection, and Collaboration, the Summit is designed to showcase innovation in the CPA profession and will feature almost 20 of the top thought leaders in the profession, top technology vendors, and leading innovations in accounting standards, XBRL, health care, and more – all in an event designed to spark serendipity and innovation.

“We are very excited to be able to use these technologies to enhance and accelerate collaboration and learning among summit attendees, sponsors and speakers,” said Byron Patrick, CPA, chair of the MACPA’s Board of Directors. “These relationships will be instrumental in keeping our members ahead of today’s rapid pace of change.”

Here is how these exciting technologies will be used at the Innovation Summit.

ThinkTank is a powerful crowdsourcing, crowd-computing, and group decision support platform that inspires breakthrough thinking, accelerates alignments, and builds commitment across teams. MACPA will use ThinkTank to support the pre-event press conference on June 15th and in the closing session for the Summit to capture key insights and takeaways in six areas – leadership, tax, audit, government and non-profit, students and young professionals, and technology. In addition, collaboration designer Bob Dean will use ThinkTank is a special session, “Unleashing the Power of Collaboration in the Audit Profession”, to demonstrate the how properly used collaboration tools improve audit quality and enhance client relationships.

Conferences.io is an innovative, web-based audience participation application used to increase engagement and make learning more collaborative. Special polling and social Q&A features allow for constant participation during and after events and will be used in several sessions at the Summit.

Social media will be used extensively at the Summit as a connection and learning tool. A special social media guide has been created to connect people to our sponsors and speakers. Follow the conference at hashtag #MDSummit.

“Innovation requires collaboration,” said MACPA CEO Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA. “We are excited to see how these innovative technologies can help our members amplify their connections at our Summit and increase their ability to collaborate for years to come.”

About the Maryland Association of CPAs
The MACPA exists to help CPAs connect with each other in strategic ways, to be the organization to protect our members’ interests, and to help them achieve greater success. We provide the resources and services that CPAs need to excel in their profession. Since 1901, the MACPA has been a national leader as a premier professional organization in the CPA profession. Tom Hood, our CEO, was recently named the Second Most Influential Person in the CPA Profession by Accounting Today Magazine and as one of the Top 25 Thought Leaders in Public Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor. We’re honored that the Baltimore Business Journal and Washington Business Journal have named the MACPA as one of the top five largest networking organizations in Baltimore and D.C. for each of the past five years.