There will also be a pre-show QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification preparation and product training. That will be conducted by Joe Woodard of Scaling New Heights on October 20 and 21. The price for registration for the conference is $169 before July 31. For those who also want to attend Woodard's session the total early-bird offer is $368. After July 31, those prices rise to $199 and $398. Last year, Intuit fired a shot across Xero's bow by announcing a VIP and influencer conference directly opposite the first Xerocon after Xero had already publicized its September date. Certainly, the comment attributed to CEO Brad Smith at a staff meeting (probably delivered in his best hill South accent)—"We're going to have to go hillbilly on them"—goes in line with the tone of his recent earning webcast in which he declared "We won tax season". That Intuit is pressing forward hard is also shown by its recent purchases of Lettuce, Invitco and Check. Lettuce's inventory management features will be integrated in QuickBooks with five months and the whole buying spree signals that Intuit will buy, rather than build in the feature war. That underscores the determination Smith exhibited on the webcast in talking about the take-no-prisoners ambitions he has for QBO: "Our goal is to win ever new small business customer and to win every cloud decision." More than that, Intuit is out to reclaim what ground it has lost. Its team that has been work with CPA firms is out visiting those that defected to Xero. Word is, they are winning some back.