The value of in-person events with the efficiency of virtual
It seems like a long 36 months ago since many IR plans came to a grinding halt as businesses across the globe had to quickly get to grips with Covid-19.
The impact for many IROs was a total shutdown of face-to-face interaction, with digital engagement becoming the function’s new main tactic. Despite a return to relative normality today, there’s no escaping the after-effects of the pandemic, but how are IR strategy plans evolving in its wake?
For Richard Williams of Unilever, it’s a mixed bag of in-person and virtual events on the IR calendar. ‘We’re back to face-to-face conferences, but other investor meetings are still probably about 8 percent online,’ he says.
At General Mills, Jeff Siemon says the firm has adjusted its approach to guidance. ‘We have shifted the ‘what’ of our messaging to focus on how we are managing through a volatile and unprecedented environment, while continuing to tell the story of our company’s Accelerate strategy, long-term goals and progress on how we’re reshaping our portfolio,’ he details.
‘Tactically, we adjusted our guidance practices early in the pandemic by removing our annual guidance initially in 2020, then bringing it back in 2021 and widening our usual guidance ranges to account for greater volatility.
‘Along with the rest of the world, we initially shifted to virtual outreach and, over the past year, we have been using a hybrid approach as we execute investor engagement. I expect we will continue to operate with a mix of in-person and virtual outreach in the future.’
‘We continue to identify the areas that make sense to be in person rather than virtual,’ adds Jill Sawyer of Prologis. ‘As conferences continue to come back onto the calendar, we work through our priorities on where and when we should attend.
‘Covid-19 introduced the efficiency that can come with virtual events, and we continue to use them as we see fit.’
