Conference Questions
By Barry Ritholtz - February 4th, 2009, 7:30PM
I’ve been attending, and presenting at many many conferences lately. I cannot help but notice how widely the quality of the conference — and speakers — fluctuates from event to event (even panel to panel).
Here’s a few questions I have for those of you that regularly attend these events:
What aspects of these conferences do you like?
What do you dislike?
What was the best conference you ever attended?
What would you do to improve any future conferences you were to attend?
How would you run a conference?
Feel free to share war stories, good and bad, about your conference experiences . . .
February 4th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
The quality of speakers are most important — doesn’t matter to me if they are famous — they only have to be smart, insightful, and present actionable ideas
February 4th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I’m a mortgage vet. Barry Habib is a great communicator. Todd Duncan is great as well. Each have a quick pitch about sales and marketing that makes the bad news in our industry seem like good news.
You want to go to a conference and take something home other than a tan and an improved golf swing. If you keep your pitches to 30 min and your Q+A to 1 hr I’d say that’s the right proportion per guest. Depending on the subject matter, longer Q+A’s are better.
The worst part of a conference is when you get a big scenario presenter (the general state of the mortgage market) with small questions from the audience like “why is Richard Smith in processing such a tool”. I don’t know how you manage around that issue.
I’d make sure any conference held is not during business critical times. In our business the end of any month is when we have to close loans. Invariably Management makes sure any conference is during the 28th-30th of the month. Don’t just book the hotel because it’s available, but book thinks convenient to your attenders both in location and in time. My best conference was at an out of the way hotel. My worst one was at a 5 star hotel primarily because of the hassle of attending.
Make sure your conference is based on what people want to hear, not what you want to say. Wells Fargo had their annual producers trip (except for this year!) and they’d “top-down” the conversation subjects rather than use that time to see precisely what the “rabble” wanted to know. It’s also helpful to show concrete action steps taken during the conference, not just follow up afterwards. It shows real time commitment to the information you want to present, and the fluidity to respond quickly to needs of the attenders.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Okay, I only attend conferences when someone else is paying, and I’ll illustrate why with this stream of conscience excerpt from a recent conference.
Okay….focus………Jesus, who knew they could even make chairs this uncomfortable………….is that guy ever gonna stop coughing……..oh, well that’s interesting…better write that down…holy shit, this pen doesn’t write……..wow, look at the rack on blondie in the second row…she gotta ring?…. c’mon baby scratch your head or something……….when’s lunch?…..
Yeah, it’s definitely gotta be other people’s money.
Anyway, I’d run conferences for maximum profitability. Sorry to be so snarky, but that’s just not how I learn. Does anyone get transformed by these things?
February 4th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Before you start, if the quality of the audience permits, say a few short Q/As during the session are allowed. That clears immediate needs and keeps everybody focused. It also makes the later Q/A session more productive and centered on extending the main topics.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I go to many conferences and present one myself. Conferences are best when people you would like to meet are also attending, so:
1)Speakers with a “name” or a reputation
2)A guest list that is public
3)Panelists who meet in advance, are prepared, and are moderated by a prepared moderator who has an agenda or list of questions suggested by the conference presenter to contribute to the overall conference purpose
4)Plenty of networking time for the “lobby conference”
5)Wi-fi available but not in the room with the speakers
6)An injunction against Powerpoints
7)A pre-conference and post-conference social network for the attendees and presenters
8)Plenty of good content
So you can guess from this that conferences are hard to produce.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
On conferences,
1) Begin with graphics that show broad trends in order to get a status quo consensus.
2) Break people up into 5 person teams for in depth discussions.
3) The next day have all the teams report.
4) Scold everyone regularly for sacrificing ethics for money because it’s a societal suicide mechanism.
5) Reduce all issues to the main points of contention.
6) Set up debating teams AND debating judges and let er rip.
7) You’ll learn stuff you didn’t know which is, I hope, the whole point.
Moving right along:
Today is Wednesday. Tomorrow a big cat gets let out of the bag. Check it out:
Mr. Markopolos said that Mr. Madoff is not alone. He plans to turn in a “mini-Madoff” to the SEC’s inspector general Thursday and urged lawmakers and regulators to pursue Mr. Madoff’s alleged accomplices, including the feeder funds that brought in additional funds.
“My team was out there in the field talking to the Madoff feeder funds and identifying who they were,” Mr. Markopolos said. “There are 12 more out there lying low in the weeds in Europe that you have not heard of yet.”
Lawmakers on the panel lavished praise on Mr. Markopolos, while focusing their criticism on the SEC for missing warnings about Mr. Madoff for years
February 4th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
In the spirit of these economic times, let me tell you a story about conferences…
Thirty-odd years ago, I’m walking in Manhattan with a long-time friend. A piece of paper blows by. My friend grabs it up, hands it to me and says, “keep this. It’s really valuable.”
I look at it — it’s a hotel map — the kind they give you so you can find where conference rooms are.
“What good is this?” I ask.
“It tells you where everything is. I’ll show you,” he says, dragging me into the nearest large hotel — right through the nearest “employee only” door. We start walking through conference rooms, ballrooms, storerooms, kitchens. He walks up to some kitchen staff.
“Put less dressing on those salads. We’re trying to save money,” he tells a worker.
Nobody questions us at all.
“When I was between jobs, I’d go into hotel conferences, sit down at a table and start eating. If somebody came by and asked why I was there, I’d say, ‘isn’t this the locksmith’s convention?’ They’d say, ‘no, that’s across the hall.’ I’d apologize, cross the hall and sit down and eat THERE. I did this so often that the staff recognized me and brought me extra food. The rest of the attendees asked each other who I was that I got extra food. A smart person can never starve in America.”
By the way, this guy was a stockbroker, and had more money than God.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
@ Bergsten
Best comment ever.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Barry -
One comment in response to your valuable questions.
Too many conferences are ‘pay to play’ where sponsoring companies get to supply a panelist. (Note that the moderators are often sponsoring consultants who even put up less money than the corporations because they volunteer their effort to organize and coordinate speakers or their panels. )
This is an abominable practice, as it is not transparent and means that the quality of the panelists has little to do with their expertise, and a lot to do with the size of their marketing budget. Many conferences, even many of The Conference Board’s, are organized like this.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Hang up the conference call. The talk is over. It ain’t talk the talk time. We are in economic chaos. Barry. Don’t go to other people’s conferences. Only do your own. Walk the walk. You live in NYC KAY… EEE.. WHY… M… O… U… S…E. NYC Mickey Mouse. You know first hand who these characters are and the contempt they have for the common man. The Wall Street racketeers and their banksters are attempting to pull off the crime of the post atlantean age. Correct me if I’m wrong. Is there another case any where in recorded history of financial corruption that equals this global melt down?
Your task is two. If you decide to accept you will continue what you are doing but with more media focus. First use your full abilities to resurrect and insure the integrity of the United States economic realm as it will create itself for a sustainable future. Secondly, those in the economic realm who used higher position and higher knowledge to steal from citizens should be held accountable.
What’s a good conference. William O’Neil Investors Business Daily. I’ve been a private investor since 1976. I first pulled down data from Wall Street Journal data service on an apple 2E. Had a Navy cryptologist set up the link. In 2003 I paid $3000 for a one day seminar with William O’Neil. It was all about the data and how to read it and how to use it to prosper. A conference is giving the hungry a fish. Give a fishing pole. Share the correlation of data into operating systems that prosper to people who care about their fellow citizens.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Bergsten- LOVE the story! bravo!
Barry- the worst conference /meeting for high net worth investors I ever attended was one put on by the Merrill Lynch circa 2000. This was done in a very lovely estate in Villanova, PA (Mainline for all your fellow PA folk). Up until 2 years ago, I had the program for it as I figured it’d be worth a laugh years later. They had some of their top analysts (cannot remember if Henry Blodget was one of them at that meeting or another I went to) and more “famous” stock pickers who were regularly on CNBC. They were to present their 10 best stock picks for the next 10 years. Among the picks included such winners as AOL, Yahoo, Cisco, AIG, GE, RedHat, JDSU, and a few other “winners”.
The best part of that was that I was a 23 year old grad student at the time with not a dime to my name who was invited to attend by some broker who mistook me for a potential client he had just met 2 days prior. The food was exceptionally good- never tasted caviar before that day, and I was drinking 100 dollar wines. Talked to a butler on staff who told me “whatever these people recommend doing, do the exact opposite”.
The MoneyShow puts on a great dog and pony show, but if you REALLY wanna see SuckerVille, please go attend some “Get Rich in Real Estate” Conferences. Besides skimping on the truth, these gurus will have you laughing and howling with delight at some of their stories and how they can make you rich in just 3 months using no money and no time of your own. All available today for $899, but wait, we’ll throw in another free CD and lower the price to $699. Plus you can attend our 3 day bootcamp for an additional 5 grand.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
@investorinpa: “Talked to a butler on staff who told me “whatever these people recommend doing, do the exact opposite”.”
That is hysterical. Reminds me of my college dorm gambling days when we would joke with each other (the whole floor was gambling with a small-time campus bookie) to “go opposite” of one particular guy who got smoked all the time. Of course, I eventually got smoked as well and had to quit that nasty habit, but that’s a story for another day. Part of me wonders if it wouldn’t be a wiser use of our money to gamble on sports again. Seems less rigged than the markets these days, actually by far.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Went to a Merrill Lynch dinner with Worldcom CEO Bernie Ebbers and CFO Scott Schmidt (?) as a guest of my father’s childhood buddy. Two seats open at the head dinner table and an ML exec invites the girl next to me up there. I tag along and sit across from him. He didn’t know squat and I could have done better deflecting the questions. He was funny though, had the whole place laughing outright. I knew his broker through a good friend and when I asked BE about him, we chuckled about this guy’s harmonica skills and stage presence. I asked him how he broke his leg (was in a cast), he said he would have to kill me if he told me. I knew how he broke it, riding his ATV on the largest acreage plot in MI that he owned. Heard he went over the handlebars too. Afterwards, I thanked him for a good show, told him if he ever needed someone on the ground in LI,to give me a ring. Next day he sold my division MFS-NT. Hopefully it was because of me. Most memorable by far!
February 5th, 2009 at 4:07 am
O/T, but I stole this question from another poster on a MarketWatch story. Can anyone (Barry) answer this?
With all the trillions of CDS and other derivatives out there why haven’t we seen lawsuits filed from the party that was suppose to get the pay off from the derivative seller?
There has been enough foreclosures and defaults so these contracts had to settle out. There has only been 350 of tarp money paid out but the supposedly problem was in the mega trillions. We have been in this mess for around a year now, it just seems by now we would be hearing from those who are owed this money that the banks supposedly owe.
How can you solve a problem when you don’t know all the facts? I don’t think they know but they’re taking the cautious route.
This whole affair smells and no way to run a country, throwing money at the boogie man when none may exist.
I don’t pretend I know what’s going on but I was a businessman and if somebody didn’t pay I sued them. This thing just doesn’t pass the smell test. Am I nutz or does anybody else have a problem with this whole scenario they cooked up.
Any comments would be appreciated.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:40 am
‘Amplifying Your Effectiveness’ (AYE) is my favorite/the best conference I’m aware of. It’s focused on people skills for technical people. It is run by some of the best consultants in the business, notably Gerald Weinberg, and is attended by more.
Notable attributes that contribute to its excellence:
a) Overall conference size is limited to 99 people.
b) Sessions are experiential; if there’s a formula it’s:
1) short introduction to the topic
2) break into small groups for an exercise illustrating some principle
3) discuss results of the exercise
4) repeat steps 2 and 3, once or twice
5) wrap-up covering main ideas and references for further exploration
c) Sessions run ~3 hours, and run in morning and afternoon blocks… so there’s always time to decompress and reflect immediately after a given session
d) Lunch is served to facilitate hanging around with ‘birds of a feather’
e) Attendees all stay in the hotel where the conference is held; this takes a lot of logistics out of the equation, and makes it easier to find ‘birds of a feather’.
In my experience, when I’ve been glad I went to a conference it’s usually because of the people I’ve met and hallway conversations I’ve had with them. AYE makes that the centerpiece of the conference, a place where you confer.
Good luck in planning your conference!
February 5th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Love the Bergsten story which rather confirms what I’ve always believed to be the case, if you are dressed properly and have enough confidence you can get in anywhere. It’s tougher now of course, Bin Laden has got a lot to answer for, but when I was in my 20’s/30’s I constantly used to gatecrash parties and events. Of course in those days you used to have a decent dinner jacket and an expensive wristwatch. Basically most people’s greatest fear is public embarrasment so they avoid confrontation at all costs. If you look the part and get past security no on is ever going to challenge you.
Now to conferences. Mostly snoozers although I’ve been to the odd good one and occasionally there has been a speaker who really knows his stuff who makes you look at things in a different way. They are not a total waste of time however in that they provide a break from routine if you have a demanding job. You get out of the office for a couple of days, get a bit of thinking time, harder now of course with the old BB, meet some different people. It is a bit like coming up for air even if most of the speakers are boring and it’s a bit of junket.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:10 am
ottovbvs has it right…in my youth (say, 19-25..i’m 32 now) I used to sneak into weddings with an empty box gift to get a free bite and meet some, as Borat would say, ladies with the nice physiques. All you have to do is walk the walk and most people will believe you.
On conferences, which I believe are different from seminars, one in which I’ve always wanted to go to was a Tony Robbins type seminar or conference, depending on your definition. Have no interest in anything put on by the Learning Annex.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Networking! always my number one priority.
The conference planners always think it is the topics. Wrong.
Other big issue. You can be the smartest person in the world but if you don’t know how to present your thesis, you are useless to a conference. Pick speakers based on their ability to present their topic, not on whether they are the worlds leading expert.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@ Bergsten
30 years ago that might have been true. They have security that checks credentials now.
February 7th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
What aspects of these conferences do you like?
Networking and getting deals done face to face.
What do you dislike?
Panelists being so agreeable. “I agree with Barry and would like to add XXX…”
We need more of “I like Barry but here is why he is wrong XXXX…”
What was the best conference you ever attended?
The one in which I walked away with the greatest number of deals.
What would you do to improve any future conferences you were to attend?
Bring in speakers and panelists that have completely opposing points of view. Have them debate and then have audience chime in until the best possible decision/conclusion is derived.
How would you run a conference?
I believe people show up to conferences to network and obtain great information. Unfortunately, conferences tend to create cliques (how many new people truly meet outside of a hello at lunch or in a hallway) and vanilla information (”love in” panels).
Solution?
1] Attendees must make themselves available to meet at least 3 new people for 15 minutes each in a 1-1 meeting.
2] Instead of panels, create debates. Audience can participate in the debate and/or introduce a smartphone app in which audience can vote for panelist views in real time.
Regards,
George