Conference season has come for Financial Services. Exchange is right around the corner. Many advisors have complex, busy schedules. It can be hard to find the time, money, and energy to attend a conference. But live, in-person events are critical for professional and personal development. Here’s why every advisor should attend conferences every year.
Getting Outside of Your Status Quo Helps You See It Clearer
One of the main reasons people enjoy vacations is because they create brain plasticity. What that means is that when our brains are engaged in activities outside of what we typically do, our neurons are more open to making different connections. Accordingly, when we travel or vary what we do, we’re more open to learning new things or finding different approaches to problem-solving.
Every advisor hits roadblocks as they grow their practice. It can be tempting to try and grind through these roadblocks, but conferences offer unique opportunities to get around them.
Self-Improvement Opportunities Abound in Conferences
The greatest asset a financial advisor has is themselves. Conferences are platforms for many things, but perhaps most importantly, they are vectors of learning. Exchange has historically offered attendees access to industry legends like Cathie Wood and public intellectuals like Ian Bremmer and Dr. David Kelly. Serious people sharing their expertise is a tremendous opportunity for anyone hungry to learn. As an advisor, if you stop learning and growing, you risk everything. Personal stagnation leads to practice stagnation. Conferences can shake you out of that course.
There is No Substitute for Networking in Person
The lessons of the pandemic are many. They are still being unpacked. However, one thing that’s clear is that networking is best done in person.
Working from home has been enormously helpful for many in financial services. The freedom work from home grants for structuring lives can’t be questioned. Additionally, companies are no longer bound by geography to hire the best talent because that talent can work remotely.
Despite all of this, when it comes to networking, a zoom happy hour won’t cut it. At a conference, the industry is gathered in one place. Everyone is hungry to grow, to learn, and to meet their future collaborators. The shared context and increased opportunities for spontaneous networking that a conference provides are worth significantly more than any plane ticket and a few nights in a hotel.