Joining the DigitalNow crew - Tom Hood

Hi, I am Tom Hood, CPA, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs. That is my alter ego, Rocky Maddaloni (from Second Life) of the Second Life Association of CPAs. I have been a DigitalNow attendee since the very beginning, 200o when Jim Collins was the headliner and Y2K was on our minds.


Remember when we were all scared to death of the new "Internet" thing? I still remember vividly an article in Red Herring magazine titled, "Associations - Roadkill on the Information Super-highway" (Red Herring magazine was ultimately roadkill itself). The Digital Now community gave me hope, a network, and resources to deal with the threats and opportunities of the web.

Just a few things I learned from Digital Now:

• Why we as Associations need to embrace Web 2.0 to stay relevant to the next generation of members


• The themes of Value, Strategy & Structure continue as a great framework for dealing with the rapid changes in Technology and the evolution of the Association world.


• Don Tapscott, Jim Collins, Pat Lencioni, Tim Sanders gave us great leadership and strategy tips & tools for managing in a rapidly changing environment.
  
• How cool the library associations did their Learning 2.0 project and allowed us to build off their idea for CPAs - see our project at CPA Learning 2.0
  
  DigitalNow has become my "must-attend" conference every year since...
  
  Ok and now a bit about me, I am a CPA with a bit of a "techie" background. I am enjoying my role as CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. Maybe that is why I love this conference - it is about technology as an accelerator of business strategy., both areas that I believe are critical to our future success.
  
  I live in Maryland with my wife and three sons. Having raised this little herd of "digital natives", I am curious and amazed at how they use and think about technology. Some of you may have met my oldest son, who were here last year and this year, him and his brother, Andrew, will be at the conference to help demonstrate Second Life to any of you "newbies". The point is, how will this upcoming generation of digital natives affect the way we all do business? What about the Long Tail and the Wisdom of Crowds and social media? These are just a few of the reasons I love this conference.
  
  Hope to see you at the conference!