About the Unique Opportunities for Attendees at RIIA’s Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner
Summer’s over, September is upon us. That means I have to get back to work on this magazine; lots of interesting topics to be explored, and some fantastic interviews to publish! Tomorrow I’ll publish part one of a multi-part series on the efforts underway to remake annuity agents into Registered Investment Advisors.
One of the major industry highlights in September is the Retirement Income Industry Association’s Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner.
In just about 2 weeks from now- September 17, 2007 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, Boston – RIIA’s Founding Chairman, François Gadenne, will convene what is shaping-up to be a very unique event. With many of my readers active participants in the retirement income industry, you’ll not want to miss the opportunity to attend this one-of-a-kind gathering. Here’s how François describes the meeting:
The Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner provide us an opportunity to meet with a large group of Financial Advisors (FAs), their key membership organizations and their specialized trade magazines to learn, from their perspective, how well the industry is doing during this transition from asset accumulation to income distribution. We expect that attendance will range from 150 to 200.
One key question directed to FAs that will be explored at the meeting has already been publicized in our conference promotion materials:
“Do you know how to build a successful retirement income practice while the industry is slowly moving from an accumulation focus and towards a retirement income focus?” It’s an important question that will be answered by an elite group of advisors who have already successfully made the transition to income-generation practices.
The structure and content of the conference is meant to attract FAs who are interested in retirement income issues and want to do something practical about it, now.
The value of the conference for RIIA’s Regular Members and conference sponsors is that up to 50% of the audience will be FAs and that there will be plenty of time to interact with them.
During the morning sessions, the Committees will present the relevance of their work for FAs. In particular, look for key announcements and developments from the Research, Education and Methodologies Committees.
During the afternoon sessions, the Communications Conference will focus on the communications needs of FAs during this time of transition. RIIA’s Committees as well as experienced and successful Financial Advisors will present what they have done to address the question and their results to date. Their insights will be valuable to any retirement income organization looking to maximize success.
The lunch keynote (Matt Greenwald), afternoon keynote (Harold Evensky), and dinner keynote speaker (Zvi Bodie) are leaders in the field who have relevant messages for FAs.
Our Noted Authors (Terry Burnham and Harold Evensky) will sign books that were selected because they have relevant messages for FAs.
During the dinner, the RIIA Awards will recognize companies whose work and communications are particularly helpful to FAs during this time of transition.
Given the attendees list, much of the value-added will take place during the breaks, dinner, and desert/after-dinner drinks.
To register for the Annual Meeting, please visit www.riia-usa.org.