A lot has been written about retail shareholders in the last 24 months, with the retail shareholder voice becoming increasingly loud as issues of social conscience were discussed.
IROs are recognizing that an investor with even a single share has the power to disrupt and affect outcomes at the AGM and therefore actively engaging with this influential stakeholder group has become key to maintaining a dialogue and reaching consensus.
News about events such as the partnership between BlackRock and Proxymity to allow underlying beneficial owners to exercise their voting rights is the start of a wider trend of shareholder democracy in 2023. And, of course, ultimately underneath every institutional investor, custodian or broker is an individual retail shareholder.
Specific retail investor events, access to key board members and feedback sessions are all tools that forward-thinking IROs are using to engage the retail base. After two years of pandemic-enforced restrictions, however, members of the investment community need a compelling reason to travel to investor and analyst days.
Now more than ever, therefore, planning and holding an engaging investor event requires a deep understanding of your shareholder base, as well as the ability to build a forum for discourse and communication. Here, then, is how to plan and provide high-value investor day experiences for shareholders.
Embrace event technologyCreating a forum for discussion starts by giving shareholders the right tools to participate. And technology can empower IROs to create exceptional user experiences at each touch point of their investor day. For example, using a virtual or hybrid meeting platform can help you to stay in control of every aspect of your event, from the registration of attendees – which helps tackle the issue of investor identification – to providing a secure channel for remote attendees to ask questions during the Q&A.
Flawless tech experiences also foster trust, so actions like using social media to connect with attendees post-event or using a meeting platform to conduct proceedings can help set a positive tone for the future of the relationship.
But it’s also important to be aware of the positives and limitations of the technology you employ. For example, although social media provides a direct way to engage with retail investors and convey your business’ wider message, those messages may be less likely to reach a targeted audience on the platform you choose.
Ultimately, reaching institutional investors requires a balancing act of methods, which should be used in conjunction with each other.
Make your presentation engagingFirms that host investor days have been linked to higher performance, showing stronger relative returns than those that don’t. This doesn’t mean you’re a shoo-in for success just by holding an analyst day, however.
It’s important to make your investor day presentation memorable and compelling. Showcasing the key messages and goals your business is striving toward will give investors confidence and a clear understanding of where your company is headed.
Using multiple speakers from various parts of your business – from marketing to finance – is an effective way to educate investors on the health and potential of the business as a whole and helps crystallize your messaging. Also think about combining multiple formats to convey your message by, for example, combining video with your slideshow or PowerPoint presentation.
Choose the best format for your needsAt IR Magazine’s ESG Integration Forum– Europe in Paris last November, only 6 percent of IROs surveyed felt it was important to get management back out on the road for IR events. IROs also felt that virtual events left management more time to get on with running the organization. It's therefore evident that the case for virtual IR events is strong and the venue for your investor day needn’t be confined to bricks and mortar.
While there are advantages and disadvantages to each event format, the popularity of the hybrid investor meeting is clear, with companies like Spotify holding their 2022 investor day both in person and online as a webcast, with attendees able to ask questions both in person and virtually.
The hybrid format offers a ‘best of both worlds’ solution to investors, allowing for increased attendance and engagement, and looks to be a trend that will continue throughout 2023.
Whatever venue you choose, make sure it is accessible, can be customized and branded effectively and caters to the event format you opt for, whether that be virtual, hybrid or in person.
Make the Q&A a central focusTo create an engaging Q&A session during your investor event, assign a generous portion of time for your panel to answer questions. Remember that one of the main drivers for investors to attend the event is to get face-to-face time with senior management and members of the C-suite, so give them plenty of opportunities to field and respond to questions from the audience, both in person and virtually.
Making sure your team is prepared to take questions from both a technical and a knowledgeable standpoint is essential. If there’s a virtual element to the meeting, use a technology partner that can expertly handle the question portion of the session.
In general, the industry is moving further away from antiquated call-in meetings and is instead embracing the possibilities of video. And the engaging nature of video can’t be denied – 83 percent of people prefer watching videos to receiving instructional or informational content via text or audio, so think about embracing this format during your event to provide a richer shareholder experience.
With the help of a modern meeting platform, IROs can ensure the Q&A portion of the investor day is informative and memorable. With features like video questions, the ability to integrate verbal questions into the broadcasting capabilities and low-latency broadcasting – which improves the flow of the Q&A , online analysts are increasingly able to be seen as well as heard during investor days.
Anticipate investor challenges The landscape of investor meetings is changing. Investors are now less willing to travel in a hybrid world and are striving for a more democratized structure in the face of activists. As a result, IROs must plan and prepare their events accordingly.
There are steps you can take to minimize the risk of activist shareholders. For example, if you decide to use a virtual meeting format for your investor day, you can use a meeting provider that has the technology in place to give the meeting organizer full control of the question queue, mitigating the risk of any unmoderated questions slipping through the net.
IR professionals have the power to steer the narrative of their investor day but, in the spirit of preparedness, should always be aware ahead of time of the issues that might create friction at the event.
Final noteThere were 22 percent fewer investor day events in 2022, so the companies that engage with their investor base by running an investor day in 2023 will set themselves apart merely by taking the time to put the event together. And with high levels of fluctuation in the current market, holding an analyst day provides the perfect format for IROs to help soothe investor uncertainty and create stronger relationships.
Ultimately, investor days offer a valuable forum for discussion, and technology is actively advancing their value. For IROs pursuing growth, formulating a detailed plan and investing in the right tools today will set your business up for investor success tomorrow.
Lumi is the leading digital platform behind many of the world’s shareholder, investor and member meetings, streamlining every process and transforming traditional events. Whether your attendees are participating in the room or remotely from anywhere in the world, the Lumi technology provides a seamless, end-to-end experience.
Based on proprietary, patented technology, Lumi provides software, hardware and services that assist issuers, registrars and event organizers to register delegates and provide live, secure polling, Q&A management services and relevant reporting. With 12 offices servicing more than 50 countries, Lumi has been pioneering event technology for more than 30 years.
For more information, please contact Ben Riley at +44 7941 673096 or ben.riley@lumiglobal.com.
