Without networking, where is the value in a conference format?

In a former life, we used to run a series of conferences around the world focused on listed companies within a specific geography or industry. Our institutional clients would travel to attend our conference format. We would ask companies to meet with them 1×1 or in a small group then for the company to present to an auditorium. We would also make sure there were plenty of networking opportunities.

Structural change has come to the wholesale method of distribution.

Have you ever had one of those moments in business, in a room full of people, where something is said that makes you think that this approach has to change? I am sure you have and it is often due to the method by which a point is communicated to you. For me, it was in a room with financial advisors at a conference a little over two years ago. On stage, a well renowned portfolio manager described the value proposition of active management as a human one.

How Forum 360 supports distribution partnerships.

Take control and push group virtual meeting opportunities using Forum 360’s multi-channel distribution approach. Work with multiple financial intermediaries per meeting where your partners can offer their stakeholders a co-branded meeting while protecting the confidentiality of their clients. Its at no cost to your partners and involves no downloads for them nor their stakeholders.

Are you ready for the ‘silver-tech’ opportunity?

Investment letters and market releases were out of date before Covid-19 and will receive a major overhaul as we adjust to the new normal. They remain a necessity to timely inform stakeholders but they can no longer be used as evidence that you have a great relationship or that you are engaging them. Those most likely to read them, from those aged over forty through to our senior citizens, are adapting the fastest to digital solutions through this crisis.

Superior measurement is your distribution edge in the new world.

It is difficult to picture a post Covid-19 return to normal. Even the biggest supporters of face to face meetings, whom we sympathise with (as per the graph) for human connection, will find yourselves having to adapt to:

• Clients who see virtual meetings as a more effective use of time;
• A new level of ESG advocacy from stakeholders having witnessed an 8% reduction in carbon emissions (IEA) by year end; and
• The board of your own firm who will demand lower costs as the firm recovers and a new business continuity plan that factors in the experience of the last few months;

Our guiding principles: Simple and Secure

As the privacy policies of virtual meeting tools come in to question, our team wants to highlight another reason for what makes the Forum 360 stakeholder engagement platform unique. Our team is acutely aware of the need and obligation of financial service providers to protect their clients identity, especially when collaborating with another firm.

Replace group meetings with group virtual meetings – not webinars

There are big differences between group meetings and conference presentations (seminars). Similarly, there are big differences between group virtual meetings and webinars.

Take your Boardroom Success Global (Part 3)

In the third and final part of this series, we focus on the importance of measurement….

Take your Boardroom Success Global (Part 2)

In this part, we focus on frequency and changing engagement preferences…

Take your Boardroom Success Global (Part 1)

You and your team have done it again. After some work with the finance team that morning you walked into the most glamorous and intimidating meeting room in head office. Your colleagues on the board awaited you with their brief in front of them and engaged with interest as you methodically worked through the result and revised outlook….

5G will change the way we meet our stakeholders

This time of year, many of us are cherishing time with friends and family and enjoying the gifts they gave us. One new item I am looking forward to receiving is a new 5G phone. A phone that utilises the next generation mobile network….

Breaking Early Adopter

A little over two years ago I summoned the courage to pitch my seed of an idea to a senior portfolio manager at one of Australia’s most respected fund managers. He listened to my vision of a meeting place that focuses on human connection, asked questions, answered mine, then gave me frank feedback….

Is it Time to Consider Merging Investor Relations and Communications into a Stakeholder Relations team?

Last month, while Australians were sifting through the latest round of earnings results, a profound acknowledgement of ESG investing was stamped for approval by over 180 of America’s largest corporations. The Business Roundtable, an association representing the CEOs of the top listed companies in the US, announced an end to shareholder primacy and elevated the importance of customers, employees, communities, suppliers and last but not least, the environment…

The Effective Investor Meeting

There is a classic trick used by a few US institutional investors that serves to cut through the small talk and force the CEO to address what the investor wants to talk about. Its often used if the CEO, or broker hosting them, fails to ask the fundamental question at the start of the meeting…..

Beyond the Webcast. The future of IR is digital so let’s make this personal

Physical attendance at shareholder meetings is in decline yet demand for engagement is on the rise. Shareholder demand for engagement is up fuelled by the growth in ESG while regulatory disruption, primarily Mifid II, ensures those engagement requests are now more direct to your company.

The relative strength of relationships in wealth management.

Typically, the four largest investments made by a household are the house itself, the family’s health, retirement savings and education. Of these four, wealth has the weakest structure for relationships. Allow me to explain….

Active Management – Human Connection = Passive Pricing + ????

I would like to thank Morningstar for organising a really great conference in Chicago this week. During the conference I had the opportunity to meet advisors from across the mid-west, meet sales representatives from the managed fund industry and listen to some thought leaders in the industry. I see tremendous opportunity for Forum 360’s next generation marketplace in the US with its focus on the human connection.

Data, Democracy and Investor Relations

Effective communication from management to staff and shareholders is a TSR winner*. The same can be said for fund managers looking to attract and retain investment**. Yet, the qualities that constitute effective today will undergo significant mix shift toward two very important criteria. As we further adapt to digital, effective communicators will democratise access to management. Live video puts holders and potential investors across the meeting table from management from the convenience of their smartphone. Effective communicators will seek to capture hard data feedback from their own efforts and from the efforts of their distribution partners.

Did you say Transparency? You will have to wait ten years for that.

A friend of my father told me a story of how pre-1987 he would arbitrage the share price of BHP between its listing in Sydney and its listing in Perth. Pricing transparency was horrible by today’s standards and he could make money on the same article while open for trading at the same time.