CPAs on Second Life

CPA Island prepares for MDBIZEXPO!

We have been busy preparing for another great MDBIZEXPO and of course we are incorporating the best of the virtual world and the "real world" to provide the most value for our sponsors, exhibitors, and leading edge speakers.

The first thirty (30) "Real world" sponsors pf the MDBIZEXPO  also get booths at our BLI Conference Center on CPA Island in Second Life. This year there is a special event on Monday, June 15th (the day before the EXPO) as we present CPAS and Second Life at the AICPA Tech Plus conference in Las Vegas at 1:00 pm - 1:50pm (PT/SLT).

See some photos on our Flickr set MDBIZEPXO in Second Life

Join Bean Wollongong (Byron Patrick of Hosted Solutions) and Rocky Maddaloni (Tom Hood of MACPA) as they host real CPAs and leaders in the accounting profession that use Second Life for training, education, meetings, and student recruitment.

Here are just a few of our special guests:

Accounting educators & instructors (SL Names in parens):

Dr. Mike Kraten - (Mike1 Noel) - Suffolk University - Virtual Reality Business Network

Dr. Steve Hornik -(Robins Hermano) - University of Central Florida - Really Engaging Accounting

BLI Instructors who have taught CPE in Second Life:

Eric -E. Cohen - (Otto Chin) - PWC (and XBRL)

Mark Jankowski - (Mark Wizenheim) - Shapiro Negotiations Institute

Associations exploring Second Life:

Edith Orenstein - (Edith Osterham) - Financial Executives International

Dave Macdonald - (Dave Mandelkern) - Certified Management Accountants - Canada

Kevin Mead - (KevinMead Fairport) - IGAF Worldwide

Anne Hampson - (Anne Wellesley) - IGAF Worldwide

Accounting Press in SL:

Gail Perry - (Glal Landar) - AccountingWeb

Rob Nance - (Quincy Greybeard) - AccountingWeb

Several of our "cool friends" will be in the audience in Vegas, or enroute to our MDBIZEXPO and are worth a shout out:

Robert Tarola - (Roberto Marialla) - Right Advisory

Bob Laux - (Ro Shippe) - Microsoft Corporation and the Enhanced Business Reporting Consortium

Ron Baker - (RJB Adamski) - Verasage

Ed Kless - (Ed Karlsvalt) - Verasage

Alexandra DeFilice (Ad Denimore) - Journal of Accountancy

Roger Franks (Gather Sabra) - CCH

Richard Johnson - (Professor Jetcity) - Frostburg University

See last year's posts about the MDBIZEXPO & CPA Island:

CPA Island to Host First Virtual Accounting & Business Show

First CPE in the Virtual World of Second Life

CPA Island welcomes IGAF Worldwide!

Why would an international group of accounting firms want to be in Second Life?

Answer: Student recruitment, appeal to young professionals, host meetings, offer training & CPE, and networking. Sounds a lot like real life doesn't it?

That's is what IGAF Worldwide CFO, Anne Hampson told me recently as we discussed where they wanted to build their new offices on CPA Island.

I couldn't agree more and applaud their vision. With over 200 colleges & universities in the virtual world, we have been saying that the CPA Profession needs to be here to be relevant to the "gaming generation".

I am almost positive that this makes them the first CPA firm association to take this big step. Their offices are very impressive (picture above) and I recently ran into Anne and some IGAF team members as they came in-world to attend heir first "virtual staff meeting".

Look for Anne Hampson (SL - Anne Wellesley) and IGAF CEO, Kevin Mead (SL - KevinMead Fairport), on stage as we feature them at our session titled, CPAs & Second LIfe on Monday, June 15th at 1:00 pm (PT/SLT) as part of the AICPA Tech Plus Conference - in Las Vegas. We will also be offering a live event from Baltimore and on virtually on CPA Island (that is where these virtual worlds really make a difference). We will actually be reaching audiences in all three venues at the same time!

So, welcome IGAF Worldwide and we look forward to working with you!

See details at our post CPAs & Second Life featured at AICPA Tech plus Conference

Dartmouth visits CPA Island

Our good friend, Dr. MIke Kraten of Suffolk University gave a stunning presentation to Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business on Friday, May 29th in the special media room in the college library.

In his ususal style, Dr. Mike showcased our ability to use the technology to pull in over a dozen guest speakers from Boston, New York, Baltimore/Washington, California, and Hong Kong to join us on visits to sites of interest to the fields of accounting/law, medicine/health care, and government/politics. I (Rocky Maddalloni) was there with our own MikeMACPA Finesmith (MIke Tobias), BLI Instructor Roberto Marialla (Robert Tarola) and a few other guest speakers from Mike's classes in Second LIfe gave accounts of their experiences presenting and meeting in Second Life. Dartmouth.

Here a few photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/macpa/sets/72157619088097634/

Stay tuned as we do a follow-up at the AICPA Tech + Conference in Vegas (and in Second Life) on June 15th at 1:00 - 1:50pm (PT/SLT) or 4:00 - 4:50pm (ET) Details can be found on our blog at CPA Island