What to put in and what to leave out – and why
Louis Coppola, Governance & Accountability Institute
Once the logistics are in place, it’s time to plan the content for your event and work out what you what to include on the day. Shell’s event gave the company the opportunity to update attendees on the company’s progress against its Powering Progress strategy, focusing on achieving net-zero. It also gave Shell the ideal platform to address investor questions ahead of an advisory vote on energy transition, as well as the opportunity for informal investor engagement with management.
Schneider’s ESG investor day offered the company an ideal opportunity to highlight its commitment to ESG, and also announce new sustainability targets, as the firm’s senior vice president and head of investor relations Amit Bhalla explains. ‘Among many conferences throughout the year, the IR team organized our ESG investor day, showcasing how ESG has been embedded in the group’s purpose, strategy, culture and business model for the past 15 years,’ he says. ‘We also took the opportunity to announce our new ambitious sustainability targets.’
When determining the event’s content, Ryan Weispfenning, vice president and head of IR at Medtronic, recommends focusing on the areas where tangible comment can be made. ‘It is important that your ESG story is authentic,’ he says. ‘If you have the good fortune of working for a company that has a long history of conducting activities that today would be considered ESG-related, tie your ESG story to that history.
‘For us at Medtronic, it has been really powerful to link our ESG initiatives and material issues back to the six tenets of our company mission, which was written in 1960.’
Another vital component to include is a Q&A session, says Louis Coppola, co-founder and executive vice president at Governance & Accountability Institute. ‘The most important part with the most value for a company is the Q&A because it can get great feedback from investors on where they think the company hit the mark, what they feel is most important, where they think the company has gaps, and so on,’ he says.
‘Getting that external check, that gut check on where the firm is and where there are gaps and room for improvement, is so valuable. Then at the next event, companies can show how they responded to that feedback, creating an investor engagement process that has a continuous feedback loop.’
Addressing any negatives Tempting as it may be to solely focus on the positive, companies should be prepared to tackle any issue head-on, recommends Rory Sullivan, CEO at Chronos Sustainability. ‘Companies should be prepared to answer questions, and should be prepared to answer substantively,’ he says. ‘The big mistake companies make is trying to bluff – either by talking around an issue or by throwing statistics out to confuse the issue – and investors are well used to seeing through that.’
Coppola agrees. ‘Try not to just paint a rosy picture and come off as all positive,' he says. ‘You must also address the negatives and the challenges in order to come off as authentic and get valuable feedback and guidance on the tough parts. Be ready to address controversies because investors will come with questions about them. If you leave out the challenges, they will come up anyway.’
Getting that external check on where the firm is and where there is room for improvement is so valuable
Measuring impact and effectiveness Given the outlay and effort required for any investor engagement event, it’s important to outline the metrics by which you will determine your event’s success. Setting KPIs is not only effective for measuring the success of a stand-alone event, but also opens the door to comparing these successes against future similar events to help determine the best methods of engagement for the future.
These metrics don’t need to be complicated or far-reaching – simply measuring the number of attendees, the number of document downloads or the number of one-on-ones requested can provide a benchmark for success.
For Medtronic, the success of its ESG investor day was multi-faceted.
‘We measured meeting attendance, which exceeded our expectations,’ says Weispfenning. ‘In addition, we measured our integrated performance report download rates and social engagement of our ESG program, and both were significantly higher than in previous years.’
Effectiveness can also be judged by feedback, says Lauren Swales, director of IR at AstraZeneca. ‘We received good feedback from investors, with a request to focus on access to medicines and diversity and inclusion in future events,’ she recalls. ‘The C-suite was pleased with the number of attendees and the detailed and thoughtful questions raised by shareholders. Gone are the days where ESG is a tick-box exercise.’
Proactively seeking feedback was also a measurement tactic used by Schneider. ‘We ran feedback surveys and found that delegates really appreciated the open and transparent dialogue and the opportunity to interface with many operational leaders and board members,’ says Bhalla.
