WealthManagement.com: Judge conferences by audience fit, not crowd size

WealthManagement.com published a framework on Oct. 15 for deciding which financial advisory conferences are worth the money. The article's central test is not which event is largest or most visible, but which one is most likely to help a firm meet a clearly defined growth objective.

An event with thousands of attendees can be less valuable than a smaller, more targeted conference where the right decision-makers are accessible.

Sponsorships, exhibit space, travel, executive time, client entertainment and follow-up add up, and the article says a company could go broke trying to keep a presence at all of them.

The framework starts with the audience, asking whether the people in the room match the people the firm needs to reach. A conference's reputation, attendance projections and high-profile speaker lineup can pull firms away from that question, the article warns. It says the answer differs by business type: a wealthtech provider targeting enterprise RIAs, an asset manager seeking advisor distribution, a compliance provider focused on independent firms and a fintech company hunting integration partners are not in the market for the same attendees.

The article says the spend is justified by a defined objective. Its list runs from qualified sales conversations and meetings with prospective partners to deeper relationships with existing clients, media visibility, intelligence on competitors' positioning, a product launch or access to a particular segment of advisors.

The article uses Future Proof events as its detailed example of broad reach. They typically draw the broadest and most diverse cross-section of the wealth-management ecosystem, and Future Proof Festival in particular tends to have a significant number of reporters on-site and strong visibility for sponsors.

That attendee mix spans financial advisors, RIA executives, asset managers, fintech companies, startups, allocators and industry influencers. The article calls the combination particularly useful for firms with a major announcement, a distinctive point of view or a strong executive spokesperson, and says the event's structure creates one-to-one meeting opportunities for companies that schedule them in advance.

The same breadth is also the drawback. With such a wide audience, it says, companies may need to work harder to identify and secure time with a specific niche of prospects.