By Adam Papa, IR director at Q4
As companies and market participants continue to navigate the post-pandemic landscape amid the backdrop of elevated market volatility, it is critical for IROs planning an investor day to understand the new environment and be aware of the latest trends and best practices. Addressing in-person versus virtual formats and incorporating audience expectations with technology evolution can open new possibilities for investor engagement and assessment of IR effort in that pursuit. There are four key areas to address.
StrategyIn thinking about an investor day, IROs must first establish a strategy for what they intend to highlight during the event. The purpose of the meeting and the driver for the timing should be developed by IR and approved by the management team. Often, the decision to host an investor day is down to the company wanting to provide an updated company strategy, showcase new products or initiatives, or outline a revised financial model and multi-year targets or forecasts.
Any of these priorities can also drive the timing of the event. The date may be based on company participant availability and windows of opportunity that avoid conflict with earnings cycles, competitor events and other investor outreach activities.
An event may be planned to coincide with the company’s strategic planning cycle. If the focus is purely on strengthening relationships with investors and prospective investors, that may be better accomplished through other forums.
Determining event speakers is also a key strategic aspect. Some events are handled exclusively by the CEO and CFO. Often, the event is used as an opportunity to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the management bench by including additional key business leaders who present topics related to their area of responsibility.
‘Early in our planning process, we decided to expand our agenda beyond presentations by our CEO and CFO to include our business unit leaders, head of operations and chief technical officer to showcase our team and provide deeper insight into our business drivers and how we are executing our strategy,’ says Lisa Hartman, vice president of investor relations at EnerSys.
‘We also offered networking with them and many other members of our leadership team during a luncheon and product showcase where we leveraged 3D technology and videos to demonstrate our latest innovations.’
By understanding and clearly defining the complete strategy for the event, the planning process will be better aligned with company goals.
LogisticsEvent logistics are essential to ensuring everything runs smoothly. A key logistical decision is how to address the in-person component. Even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Reg FD concerns typically resulted in investor days being webcast for remote participants. Now IR teams must decide whether their event will be entirely virtual or will include a live audience.
Fully virtual investor days can significantly reduce company and attendee costs but risk participant disengagement and poor online attendance. Events with an in-person component add venue-selection challenges and potentially significant increased expenses for location-related travel and accommodation. But they allow the company to integrate networking opportunities between management and attendees, which may increase in-person attendance.
Blending the in-person and virtual format offers the flexibility to choose a smaller venue or host the event at a company facility, saving logistics and venue costs, while maintaining the opportunity to network with key investment community members who attend in person. Technology platforms can now supplement either format, smoothly integrating in-person and remote participation of both company and audience personnel, as well as live versus pre-recorded content.
Farand Pawlak, vice president of investor relations at MasterBrand Cabinets, has held investor events at two separate companies within the past three years. ‘Having an event-production partner that can provide a technology platform that enables interaction between virtual attendees and in-person presenters is essential,’ he emphasizes.
‘Both virtual and in-person audience members should feel they are part of the event. A good on-site partner can ensure successful physical production and leverage technology to share as much of the intended experience as possible with the remote participants.’
ContentExpectations for an investor day can vary, though there are a few key constants. Attendees expect a comprehensive overview of the business, highlighting key drivers and significant opportunities. They are looking to understand company strategy and gain insights into management’s plan for executing strategic priorities.
In addition, a key investor day expectation is a look at the firm’s financial performance and outlook. Investors will be focused on KPIs and specific metrics that help identify and assess company performance.
Attendees will also want to hear from the company’s leadership team and get a chance to address members of the team during a Q&A session. Experienced IROs will monitor key practices of others and incorporate them into their plans.
Jamie Stanton, an IR director at Q4, says: ‘Technology is being used to benchmark a large number of events across multiple aspects such as date, agenda, number of presenters by type and title, overall length and mix of presentation and Q&A, key performance metrics, duration of financial targets and type of ESG content.’
An additional approach is to incorporate technology into the event itself for live audience polling questions and feedback.
FeedbackLastly, IROs will want to know that the cost of putting on an investor day is worth it. They will need to develop a plan for post-event engagement with investors and other participants.
This may include follow-up calls with attendees, and emails or surveys to identify what attendees liked, didn’t like or would like to see differently for next time. Perception studies may be used to gather feedback on the event. Leveraging this format into pre and post-event components can generate valuable insights.
The pre-event component can identify specific areas of concern that should be addressed in the event agenda. The post-event perception study component can test for message absorption and investor skepticism on key strategic aspects.
Acknowledging top-level takeaways from both components can strengthen relationships with key stakeholders. In-event technology tools can be used to drive audience polling with questions asked of the audience to capture overall perceptions, reactions to specific messages, content or even event-specific insights such as speaker ratings.
‘Capturing live, real-time audience input is emerging as a best practice with the potential to also enable near-instantaneous speaker and content ratings and feedback,’ says John Nunziati, IR partner at Q4.
IROs are also augmenting their measurement of the long-term impact of an investor day by measuring changes over time in institutional ownership, sell-side ratings and investor sentiment.
In conclusion, with technology as a catalyst, new possibilities for engagement have emerged. Companies can opt for virtual and hybrid formats to ensure flexibility, reduce company costs and enhance the experience, while still providing the opportunity to network and build strong relationships with stakeholders.
