Suddenly, I’m popular again!

 

Who knew?

As the annual AICPA ENGAGE conference in Las Vegas inched closer to reality, suddenly I was in great demand. The confab, which was held virtually last year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, will once again play host to a live audience in lieu of session presentations and roundtable discussions on laptops.

And that meant the exhibitors had scoured the attendee list in hopes of luring potential sales prospects to their respective booths. And that includes yours truly.

Over the past two weeks, I have been invited to no less than three “preconference kick-off cocktail parties, four chances to win either an iPad or a set of Titleist golf clubs, countless bags of free “swag” and last, but not least, $100 off my registration fee.

And in full disclosure, it was a welcome, albeit slow return to normalcy. Getting an email barrage from conference vendors was routine pre-COVID, but over the last 18 months it was a more a relic of the past in dire need of burnishing.

And it will be good to see and bond with familiar faces. In the 20 years I have been involved with the accounting profession, there have been quite a few that I haven’t seen in nearly two years and others even longer than that. If there was once benefit to the pandemic is that social distancing and isolation exacerbated the importance of getting up close and personal.

A lot has changed since my first business-related conference in Sin City at the then-newly opened Mirage Hotel more than 30 years ago. There are now 20-plus more luxury hotels on the famed strip where empty lots once stood; sadly Siegfried & Roy no longer perform, and Siegfried passed away several years ago; the taxis all take credit cards; most of the hotels offer mobile check-in; room controls at the newer hotels are touch screen and the selection of upscale dining venues now number in the hundreds.

Sadly, ENGAGE will mark my 35^th and likely last business-related trip to Las Vegas. And looking back it’s been one hell of a run – stories and events over three decades that will remain pressed forever in my working scrapbook and some others that will remain forever buried. And I still don’t gamble. Go figure.

As far as the traditional free exhibitor booth swag, I’ll take those magnetic refrigerator clips and gladly pass on the pens and mousepads. I still have a double-digit stockpile of both collecting dust.

I wonder if any of the vendors honor a return policy?