Riskalyze, Orion to host in-person conferences. Will advisors attend?

With technology companies leading the way, the industry conference circuit is set to return after coronavirus shuttered such events in 2020.

Orion Advisor Solutions and Riskalyze unveiled plans to host conferences later this year for 1,200 and 700 attendees, respectively. Executives at both companies say there is pent-up demand for networking opportunities that just can’t be replicated online. Riskalyze says it already has 150 registrations to attend.

But with most Americans still awaiting vaccination amid a steady stream of coronavirus cases, some advisors say they won’t travel to conferences this year. Orion’s and Riskalyze’s events could be a test case for an industry that typically features a slew of in-person gatherings, from small networking get-togethers of a few dozen to industry expos attended by thousands.

“I will definitely not attend any in-person conferences until we’ve reached herd immunity via vaccines,” says Gretchen Behnke, the founder of Pearl Financial Planning in Plano, Texas. “I attended three virtual conferences and they were pretty disappointing, but I don’t think conferences are essential activities that outweigh the risk they create.”

For Scott Hammel, a financial planner with Apeiron Planning Partners in Dallas, there are other opportunities for continuing education, building relationships and business planning that offer more benefit for being in-person than a technology conference.

“That’s not to say there is no benefit from the total immersion, just that it’s not as necessary as other aspects of the business and we need to prioritize to minimize exposure still,” Hammel says.

Then there are those like Michael Whitman, a managing partner at Millennium Planning Group in Pittsboro, North Carolina, who have no desire to ever again return to in-person conferences.

“I enjoy attending the conference virtually better,” says Whitman in an email. “I like that I don’t have to spend money travelling and staying [in hotels]. I also like that I don’t have to spend time away from my family. Networking after is a challenge, but is networking really worth the expense?”

Half of advisors don’t even intend to meet with clients in person until the second half of 2021, according to a survey of nearly 400 advisors by Incapital, a distributor of fixed income securities. Nearly all (96%) say they are comfortable with meeting prospects virtually, and 67% say prospecting and selling can be done effectively in virtual meetings.

And 42.5% don’t plan on attending a conference in 2021, according to a social media poll of 990 people by Daniel Crosby, Orion’s chief behavioral officer.

The industry has learned a lot about the value of remote work, and technology companies have been great at helping wealth managers go virtual, says April Rudin, founder and president of advisor marketing firm The Rudin Group. While events can be huge revenue drivers and lead generation opportunities for tech firms, as well as an opportunity for sponsors to get new products in front of existing clients, the advice industry shouldn’t forget those lessons, Rudin says.

“Maybe there’s a better business model, and maybe some of those large conferences were over-the-top,” she says. “They’re fun, but what did every person actually get out of it?”

‘Missing out’

Orion’s conference, to be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, in August, is less about making money than it is about prospecting and driving retention with existing customers, says CEO Eric Clarke. In fact, the Ascent conference has never been profitable, Clark says.

Video chat may be effective for one-to-one interactions and small meetings, but large events provide collaboration opportunities that just aren’t possible online, Clarke says.

“I think, post-pandemic, people are going to be excited to get back out and attend events,” he says. “I have always believed that advisors learn more from each other than they do from us, and that’s something we’re missing out on.”

Some advisors agree.

“Virtual conferences were initially convenient, but I think at this point we have all had too much screen time and distractions,” says Michael Metzger, the founder of Lifepoint Financial Design in San Luis Obispo, California. “It is time to get back to when we can completely detach and be in a mindset to learn and collaborate.”

For advisors who either don’t feel safe attending an in-person gathering or simply don’t want to travel, Orion will also offer a virtual version of the conference with live streams of sessions. This hybrid-model is likely to be the norm for the foreseeable future, Clarke says.

Riskalyze may be even more bullish about the desire among advisors to meet face-to-face. Half of Riskalyze’s customers are ready to travel for a conference today, and 80% will be ready in the fall, says Dan Bolton, the company’s managing director of customer marketing.

The conference will be held in Palm Springs, California in September, Riskalyze has already signed deals with sponsors, Bolton says. The firm is “exploring routes” for online elements for those who can’t, or won’t, attend in-person, but isn’t planning a full virtual conference.

“The onsite experience we are trying to make is novel and refreshing and like nothing else in the industry, and that’s completely different than a virtual experience,” adds Justin Boatman, Riskalyze’s senior vice president of marketing.

“It’s been a tough year for advisors. As much as the Fearless Investing Summit is about packing it full of research and education, advisors deserve to have some fun.”

‘Itching’ to get back

The social aspect of conferences is one part that Janice Cackowski, co-founder of Centry Financial Advisors in Willoughby, Ohio, misses most. Cackowski is willing, able and ready to head back to in-person conferences — as long as she can drive.

Cackowksi and Kashif Ahmed, president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Massachusetts, both say they will watch how conferences address safety protocols, but ultimately feel that attending the events is an integral part of life in the wealth management industry.

“I suspect most financial advisors are itching to get into them,” Ahmed says. “Beyond the learning opportunities, conferences are a great way to network and remain in touch with people in the industry who have become friends, and whom you only get to see once a year.”

But there are also advisors who won’t feel ready to travel until the pandemic is finished.

The risk of attending an in-person conference exceeds the reward, says Spenser Liszt, a financial planner with Paradigm Advisors in Dallas. “Even if most Americans were vaccinated, it’s not clear how long the vaccine will confer immunity, so “a‘wait-and-see’ approach seems prudent in this case,” he says.

“We have clients who spent the first nine months of COVID in quarantine, then recently gave in and decided to travel,” Liszt adds. “They contracted the virus and regret their decision.”