The COVID pandemic had a huge effect on events in the investment industry.
We should know. Back in 2019, we ran 1,700 physical events for financial advisors. In 2020… not so many. In their place, digital events sprung up like mushrooms on a dark forest floor.
These online programs came with inherent advantages and disadvantages. Gone were the days of advisors jumping into cars and onto trains bound for city hotels, keen to wolf down a hearty networking breakfast and make full use of networking sessions.
Webinars rule the roost
Instead, webinars ruled the roost, with no need to step outside the front door to lap up the latest thinking on GDPR compliance or tax planning.
By the summer of 2021, physical events slowly started to resurface. We wanted to know how advisors saw the future of events in a post-COVID world. Did they want to go back to real-world events? Or keep things digital?
We surveyed hundreds of financial advisors globally about when they planned to return to events and how they’d like those events to look.
A couple of things became clear: client experience is key, whatever the format, and online events are here to stay.
Seminars sans traffic
What did advisors enjoy about the digital experience? They felt that digital lent itself best to educational seminars, product pitches, small meetings and round-table discussions.
With educational seminars, there are a few advantages to keeping things online. You can replay and rewind educational content at leisure and make notes. Advisors also cited fewer distractions and being able to see and hear better. From a travel point of view, it makes little sense to sit in traffic for an educational talk that lasts 45 minutes or so.
Registration without frustration
Online events also won out when it comes to registration. An overwhelming 96% believed checking in to be a better experience online. At StoneShot, we’re all for this approach.
StoneShot Account Director Matt Burley adds, “With a physical event, you can’t have 300 people turning up to a 100-person event. You need to know precisely who’s coming. So you do need to be more careful about that process and you do have more boxes to fill in.”
It seems clear that a hybrid vision of events is the future. With a hybrid event, you run your live event while live-streaming it to others. Those who attend physically enjoy the ability to network, the good coffee and the best speakers. But those who can’t attend can still enjoy the content.
The hybrid format works for a wider spread of people. Asset managers benefit as well, as they reach more people for less cost than staging sessions all around the country.
With every format, it seems that the optimal customer journey begins and ends online. To read more about this and our other key findings, leave your details and we will get back to you within 24 hours.
