From London, to New Orleans, to Sydney, Xerocon and INVNT tell the story of global fresh perspectives, whilst driving 6,500+ attendees across three major cities.
INVNT, The global live brand storytelling agency®, has partnered with cloud accounting software company, Xero, successfully delivering its flagship “Coachella for Accountants” event across three major cities, after a three-year hiatus following the COVID-19 pandemic.
With 18 activations and over 60 educational sessions across 12 stages globally, Xerocon this year was centered around the theme of “Fresh Perspectives”. Each element of the three events was curated for the accounting and bookkeeping community to create a renewed community connection, cultivate fresh ideas and create a new outlook, after a tumultuous three years of the global pandemic. Tagged as the “world’s most beautiful and innovative conference for cloud accounting leaders”, Xero’s annual partner conference is a gathering place for the Xero ecosystem to meet and share ideas and new technologies, fostering community and empowering partners to grow their practice.
Activating across three locations including London’s Tobacco Dock, New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and Sydney’s International Convention Centre, the global tour saw a diverse panel of guest performers, speakers, and hosts from Australian rules footballer Adam Goodes, comedian Matt Okine, to #1 best selling New York Times best-selling Author Ben Nemtim. Transforming the three venues into a festival-style experience, Xerocon saw 6500+ accounting professionals unite together to learn about the latest in product, innovation, and the fast lean towards a stronger digital future.
INVNT has been in partnership with Xero since 2018, delivering their roadshows globally, as well as working with them on their virtual Xerovision event, their global internal kickoff.
“Xerocon 2022 was one of the most vibrant events INVNT has curated to date. We worked with local teams in each city to create a localised event that highlighted the unique offerings that each city had to offer. Everything was meticulously curated to create community building, unique team bonding, and an overall colourful celebration of the togetherness of the bookkeeping and accounting industry so that our attendees can come back to work with fresh perspectives and with new outlooks and learnings,” commented Fiona Pullen, Director of Production at INVNT.
“Seeing how INVNT® could weave the identity through their brand experience design of stage, exhibition, and the wrap party was an example in collaboration, precision execution at scale, and some damn fun ideas. One of the most important takeaways was that with all the technology and hardware the working relationship we continue building on with the INVNT team was one of the core foundations to the success of the project,” comments Peter Montgomery, Creative Director of Xero.
Activations spanning from barber shops, to “silent disco style” breakouts sessions, to open cinemas, and pop-up jazz bands, the INVNT team created spaces across the three cities where attendees could learn, network, and support the vision of bringing the Xero community together. And with sustainability in mind, the events saw the most efficient use of Re-board® Technology used in expos globally, with Xerocon saving 20.46 tonnes of carbon when compared to using MDF cardboard (the equivalent of 7.44 flights between Sydney and Melbourne, and 1023 days of power for the average Australian home).*
“Xerocon was especially important this year, to not only bring in that theme of fresh perspectives, but to celebrate the accomplishments of bookkeepers and accountants over the past three years and how they have helped small businesses stay afloat and achieve success during the pandemic. We saw such a strong theme of unity amongst attendees, a stronger bond achieved than what you can get from any event behind the screen – the Xero community is really like none other,” commented Laura Roberts, Managing Director APAC at [INVNT GROUP].
Xerocon demonstrated the impact that in-person events can have post-pandemic, with share prices rising from 80AUD to 92AUD on the day of the London Xerocon event. As the INVNT team plans Xerocon 2023, the next round of global stopovers is yet to be revealed.
*Re-board® Technology facts: Data provided by University of Sydney, based on 2021 report provided by Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries)
