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Remember that funny children’s book where you looked for the wacky, red-striped guy in the midst of fun situations?

Waldo is what my team at the MACPA often calls me as I spend a lot of time outside of our offices.

Accounting Today seemed to be saying the same thing in their recent writeup that listed me as one of the Top Ten Tweeters to follow. They said this,

“With the number of conference or event-related hashtags that populate Tom Hood’s Twitter stream, you’d think he owned a #transporter. Instead, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs possesses a wealth of knowledge and ideas that only grow with each panel discussion, and thankfully, he shares the bulk of it with his followers. He communicates it with the kind of Twitter literacy — mentioning, RTing, snapping pictures and linking to his FourSquare check-ins — that echoes his real-life networking efforts that first established many of these very events.”

So where is Waldo going to be next?

I recently got a question from a young CPA who asked me why I spent so much time outside the office and how that benefits our members.

I love it — a reminder to always start with “why.”

So before I talk about where Waldo is going next, I will tell you my “why.”

It starts with a quote from a great book about the work of non-profits, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Non-Profits. It says, “Greatness has more to do with how non-profits work outside their boundaries of their organization than how they manage their own internal operations.”

I think this is true, and our board of directors encourages us to travel the edges of our profession to connect us to the people and ideas shaping our world. They also have charged us with bringing back and sharing our insights with all of you, which we try to do in our town hall / professional issues updates (free CPE!), on our website, in our publications, and on all of our social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and our content sharing sites like YouTube and Slideshare

My travels often include my trusty sidekick, Bill Sheridan, our chief communications officer (www.twitter.com/billsheridan), and other members of our MACPA team, ready to bring back and share the critical insights and information we gain on the road.

So here is where to look for Waldo in the next 60 days:

  • AICPA Leadership Conference and Fall Meeting of Council in Amelia Island, Fla. Our chair-elect, Byron Patrick, and MACPA COO Jackie Brown will be joining our colleagues across the country in this AICPA-State Society collabroative leadership program.
  • CCH Small Firm Services Conference. My trusty sidekick, Bill Sheridan, will be a featured speaker on social media for small firms.
  • AICPA CPA2Biz Digital CPA Conference, National Harbor, Md. I am moderating a panel on How the Dynamic of the CPA/Client Relationship Changes in the Cloud. This is a must-attend new conference featuring Geoffrey Moore and how to become a digital CPA. (Use MACPA as a registration code for a discount).
  • CCH User Conference, San Diego, Calif. I am speaking on Creating the High Performance CPA Firm, and Bill and I will be facilitating a CCH customer forum using our i2a: Insights to Action process.
  • AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services Conference, Orlando, Fla. I am speaking on Getting an ROI on Social Media using ROA (Return on Attention).
  • And of course, our statewide roadshow for town hall meetings, our conferences, and our profesisonal development programs could have Waldo sightings as well.
Here is a great clip from Simon Sinek that talks about how and why to start with why
 
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter — @tomhood, @billsheridan, and @macpa — for the latest updates and insights from the edges of our profession.
 
Do you have any fun places you want to see Waldo at next? 
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