Virtual Conferences, Webinars, Resources & More
It’s been a little over a month since mandatory social distancing orders forced most businesses and office buildings to close their doors, sending workers home for the foreseeable future and guaranteeing that conferences and other events are delayed until further notice.
The good news is that we live in a digital age.
Despite the isolated nature of the world we currently inhabit, in some ways, we are more connected now than we have ever been. Social media usage is up 25%, and live video and conferencing apps are dominating the internet. The Fourth Industrial Revolution paved the way for a society that may not prefer to operate remotely but can function in isolation for months at a time.
Businesses and event planners quickly adapted to their new normal, and as a result, day to day operations have remained in large part unaffected.
Industry-leading sources for knowledge and insight are no different. Finance conferences may have been postponed until fall or, in some cases, next year. But virtual conferences and happy hours, along with industry staples like webinars and panel discussions, have taken their place. Now more than ever, the finance community is looking for innovative ways to make payments. Business continuity is no longer an afterthought or a contingency plan; it’s paramount to the success of business operations around the world.
For AP departments, the inability to make it into the office to process paper invoices and print paper checks has halted payment operations at a level most finance professionals have never seen before. Fortunately, there are companies like ours that have stepped in to provide emergency offsite check printing services for businesses in need. It’s a temporary duct-tape solution for a larger issue – finance departments and B2B payments professionals can no longer rely on the antiquated manual and paper-based processes of the past.
For most businesses, the next month or more of isolation is all about the road to AP automation and operational security for their finance departments. This is the perfect time to start researching what to do next.
If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry. We are here to help.
Traditionally we release a road map outlining all the best conferences for finance and AP professionals. Since most of those events have been canceled, we have created a new list to accommodate our virtual working environment.
Here are The 5 Best Virtual Conferences, Webinars & Resources for Corporate Finance & AP Professionals.
The Institute of Finance & Management has been a source for research and knowledge for finance and AP professionals for years. They usually host two of the largest finance conferences every year, APP2P Spring & APP2P Fall.
As of 4/16/2020, they have partnered with Disney Colorado Springs Resort to push the Spring conference back into July. If that date fails, they will likely move to a virtual setting. The fall conference is expected to continue as planned on November 16 – 18 at The Mirage.
In the interim, IOFM is hosting weekly webinars, tackling a wide variety of relevant topics for finance professionals in any industry. Registration is free, and many of their past webinars and resources are easily accessible on their website. For webinars, resources and town halls, we recommend you start here for AP & here for AR. Additionally, IOFM also has a plethora of free resources available specifically designed to help finance teams adapt and overcome the new challenges faced in the wake of COVID-19. You can access those here.
PYMNTS may not be familiar to you from a conference perspective, but for news in Finance and B2B payments, there’s no better resource. Whether you’re looking for information about what 20 Payments Execs think the ripple effects of COVID-19 will be, or you want to know what it will take to really kill the paper check, PYMNTS has you covered.
Subscribe for free to get notifications on B2B trackers, Podcasts, Masterclasses and more. PYMNTS has more than 6 million professionals digest new content each month and has proven to be fairly accurate at predicting the future in B2B payments and finance.
For an inside look into optimizing AP and AR for cost savings and business continuity, check our their latest playbook.
The CFOLC specializes in content geared specifically for CFOs, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable for everyone. They have adapted to remote networking and learning opportunities better than a lot of other organizations in business and finance.
In addition to pushing their 10th Annual CFO Leadership Conference back from May to November, they are also hosting live panels, Q&As and webinars all spring and summer long. You can also find resources like video interviews and blogs here.
If you happen to be a member of a local chapter, enjoy their modified Zoom sessions and happy hours for networking and the latest on industry trends.
We doubt you need an introduction to Money 20/20, but for the sake of continuing our all-star virtual resource team roll call, we’re going to provide you with one anyway.
Money 20/20 is the premier resource for all things new and upcoming in the payments space. Their conferences attract the best and brightest minds in our industry. Featuring speakers and talk tracks from all industries covering every topic you can think of; Money 20/20 exists for a single purpose – to propel payments and money forward.
Money 20/20 is expecting to host its annual conference in Las Vegas in October as planned. If things go awry, expect the date to shift or the conference to migrate to a digital setting.
Money 20/20 is also a valuable resource for finance professionals working remotely. They have presentations and panels from previous conferences accessible on their website, and they’ve even launched a new series: Fintech’s Fightback. Here’s a brief description:
“Yes, people are locked in their homes. Yes, there is a global pandemic. Yes, the economy is in freefall. But already FinTech has stepped up and is fighting back.
No matter how big or small, we want to shine a light, celebrate and learn from the ground-breaking new solutions and collaborations coming from across the global money ecosystem, helping to keep us all safe and secure in these times of unprecedented uncertainty.
So, if you’re working on, or you’ve heard about, a FinTech project that’s aiming to solve a pain point caused by COVID-19, we want to hear about it.”
Keep an eye out for new stories added weekly and keep checking back for more information regarding the conference in the fall. It’s a must-attend event.
The Association for Financial Professionals is world-renowned for its training and career-building resources. If there’s something you want to know or a certification you’re interested in, look to the AFP to provide you with the information or training you need. The AFP also hosts several conferences throughout the year. For a more detailed look at those events, please check out our blog: 2020 Top 19 Conferences for Corporate Finance Professionals.
In addition to creating a community forum for AP and finance professionals to collaborate and bounce ideas off of each other, the AFP has launched a completely virtual series for FinNext 2020. There, professionals can attend webinars and panel discussions, learning about what’s next for FinTech and finance.
There you have it. The best of the best remote, virtual learning and networking opportunities for finance and AP professionals while quarantined/ working remote and beyond. Whether you’re looking for information on how to automate payments or you’re just curious about what’s coming up next in payments, as one final recommendation, we suggest that you subscribe below. We are committed to keeping our readers and the finance community up to date on all the latest news in finance, fintech and accounts payable.
We hope you enjoy your new-found resources, and we look forward to seeing you this fall at a few of the conferences referenced in this article.
OnPay Solutions is proud to present this list of virtual conferences and resources to you as a leading provider of corporate Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Automation. We automate and optimize payments and invoice workflows through cloud-based solutions for businesses of all sizes.
