After a number of years of turmoil brought on by the pandemic, monetary advisor conferences appear to have discovered a “new [post-pandemic] regular”, with occasions as soon as once more rising (some already surpassing their pre-pandemic highs). However that is to not say that the convention panorama was not altered by the pandemic; as an alternative, the pandemic seems to have served as a catalyst that accelerated tendencies that had been already underway, such that monetary advisor conferences at present look substantively totally different than they did only a decade in the past.
Most notable is the truth that {industry} associations aren’t the drivers of advisor conferences that they as soon as had been; whereas a decade in the past, 75%+ of this “Finest Conferences” listing consisted of varied occasions run by {industry} associations, now it numbers lower than 25%. Then again, the previous decade has seen an explosion of ‘vendor conferences’, as an increasing number of firms have found it is extra economical to easily run their very own conferences (at a breakeven or perhaps a small loss) than to closely sponsor the conferences of {industry} associations.
A few of these vendor conferences are constructed to deliver out their present advisor customers to get suggestions about and share the newest relating to their software program, however a rising variety of specialised conferences unto themselves have industry-leading content material within the explicit area of the seller’s experience, from Snappy Kraken and Nitrogen’s advisor advertising conferences to DeVoe and Firm’s Elevate convention for managing the complicated monetary advisor enterprise.
On the identical time, new convention organizers have emerged as nicely – entities that see gaps between what conferences distributors host (based mostly on the software program or companies they promote) and what associations present – resulting in new area of interest conferences like Advisor2X’s “Shift” convention on behavioral finance, to AdvisorCircle’s “Future Proof” convention (or as some are calling it, the Future Proof Competition Expertise!).
The tip end result from the advisor perspective, although, just isn’t dissimilar to what it was previously: an awesome variety of conferences to select from, and a terrific problem for advisors in determining which of them are actually price attending and sinking what is commonly greater than $2,000 (in registration charges, resorts, and airfare), plus a number of days out of the workplace, within the hopes that it’s going to show to be a very good use of time.
As somebody who has been talking at 50–70 conferences a yr for 18 years myself, I’ve seen the nice and dangerous of our big selection of {industry} occasions, from the {industry} associations to the broker-dealers and insurance coverage firms and RIA custodians, the rise of vendor conferences and media-driven occasions, non-public firm occasions, and extra. Consequently, I’m typically requested for my very own ideas of what, actually, are the {industry}’s ‘finest’ conferences to attend.
Accordingly, again in 2012, I began to craft my very own annual listing of ‘best-in-class’ high conferences for monetary advisors, allotted throughout a spread of various classes (as what’s finest for solo advisors is not the identical as what’s finest for bigger advisor enterprises, what’s finest for fee-for-service advisors is not the identical as what’s finest for AUM companies, extra technically-oriented advisors will desire totally different conferences than these in search of apply administration or advertising concepts, and many others.).
Having up to date our annual convention listing yearly since, I am excited now to current my latest listing of “Prime Monetary Advisor Conferences” for the upcoming 2024 yr, with a specific deal with parsing by means of each the {industry} affiliation occasions, the rising variety of vendor and standalone convention suppliers… with our typical method of parsing out the ‘finest’ convention for a variety of advisors with distinctive wants, from those that are in search of a convention on advertising or apply administration (which varies relying on whether or not you are a mid-sized agency or bigger enterprise), or who wish to see the newest in advisor know-how, want assist in how one can value monetary planning charges and systematize their recommendation providing, are merely in search of a very good general convention or explicit superior tax and technical convention… or simply need a completely totally different convention expertise (for which Future Proof stands alone!).
As well as, we have additionally up to date our well-liked “Grasp Convention Listing” of all monetary advisor conferences in 2024, each for advisors in search of a wider vary of occasions to attend (if you wish to delve deeper into a specific topical space), and for distributors in search of extra conferences to exhibit at!
So I hope you may discover this yr’s 2024 high conferences listing (and our up to date Grasp Convention Listing) to be useful as a information in planning your individual convention price range and schedule for subsequent yr, and make certain to reap the benefits of the particular low cost codes that a number of conferences have provided to all of you as Nerd’s Eye View readers!
