[2008] CPA Congress Community – Why Join it?

Last week I posted about the CPA Congress Community, in that post I discussed what the community is. Today I’d like to talk about why you should join up. Here are several resons you should join the CPA Congress Community.

Networking

In his recent post on the CPA Congress Blog, Personal Brand and Networking Consultant David Dechro describes networking as “… relationship based, mutually beneficial and evolves over time”

Building your network means more than finding out someone’s name and where they work then never speaking to them again. Is about sharing and exchanging to the benefit of both. You could be sharing information, experience or even just ideas, the point is both you and the other person involved in the discussion are gaining something from the exchange.

The CPA Congress Community is a perfect conduit to continue the discussion away from the CPA Congress venue. Strike up a conversation with someone interesting in the seat next you? Why not catch up in the CPA Congress Community? While you are there you will not only be able to continue the discussion with the person you met at the event, but also connect and share with other delegates from all over Australia and the world.

Learning

With all of this sharing, connecting and exchanging going on, you are going to learn. Possibly learn a lot: listening to the perspectives of your peers may provide you with an insight into a problem you had not previously considered, it may direct you to an application, regulation, or source of information that you did not know existed. Learning from those that have done it before can be a powerful experience.

Give something

I believe that anyone can learn from discussing an issue with their peers, however there are those that have more experience than others. The CPA Congress Community provides you the opportunity to share the knowledge and experience you have gained with those that have not yet been there before. You may even find, through sharing your experience you look at a familiar situation in a completely different light.

Create opportunities

In many ways the old adage ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ is alive and well. The CPA Congress Community creates new opportunities to expand who you know. The member search tool allows you to search for other members of the community with similar interests (Remember you control how much of your information other members can view). Discussing a challenge or interest in the discussion forum and groups will also provide opportunities to discover common interests and challenges amongst the community. Sharing a solution to a problem you have faced my open a door to your next employment opportunity.

Each of these are valid reasons to connect and share with your peers, the key to remember is that the CPA Congress Community is not about a the latest techno gadgetry it is about the relationships you can establish with your fellow CPA Congress delegates. Log on to the community and see who is there, you may be surprised what you discover.

Mick Leyden
Project Executive – Knowledge Exchange
CPA Australia

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