You probably think this blog is about to start with a big disclaimer about conflicts of interest and how I’m speaking at Wealth/Stack 2019 or being paid to hype it in some way...
Sike. There’s no disclaimer coming.
I’m just stoked to attend what I think will be an excellent addition to the advisor conference circuit. Buzz has been building for Wealth/Stack since Josh Brown announced it way back in February, and lately my social media feed has absolutely exploded with people talking about it.
But, I know there’s a lot of conferences you can choose to go and there’s also a lot of conference fatigue going around.
So if you’re an independent financial advisor and you’re not already signed up for Wealth/Stack, why should you think about going?
Here are five reasons I think you’ll find it worthwhile to attend.
5. The agenda start times are built for real people
I’m not talking about any specific item on the agenda here—I mean how it’s actually built each day. Take a brief look at the agenda and you immediately notice that it avoids my least favorite thing about conferences: The 7 am breakfast.
On the first full day of Wealth/Stack, the conference opens at 8 am. And on the final day, the first session starts at 9 am. That gives you plenty of time to complete that early-morning workout (like a lot of attendees are planning on) or recover from the previous night’s shenanigans, if you’re the night owl type.
If only all conferences planned their agendas to actually give their attendees the most enjoyable time possible and not just squeeze as many sessions as possible into a 24-hour period. Take note, organizers.
4. Fine, the agenda itself is also great
As great as it is that the agenda accommodates my personal preference for sleeping in a little bit, the sessions on the agenda also look awesome.
Eric Clarke, CEO of Orion Advisor Solutions, kicks off the opening keynote with a topic that’s near and dear to me—using tech to generate growth you can measure.
(Fine, here’s a disclaimer. I started out in financial services way back in the day as an Orion employee, and hearing a keynote from Eric is still can’t-miss for me.)
You’ve also got industry heavyweights like Joe Duran, Shirl Penney, and Dani Fava involved—not to mention an all-star social media panel featuring Nina O’Neal, Justin Castelli, Tyrone Ross, Dasarte Yarnway, and Douglas Boneparth.
It’s a #fintwit fanboy’s dream.
(I didn’t even talk about Barry Ritholtz and Josh Brown from Ritholtz Wealth, who are putting on the entire event. Seriously, the event name fits because the speaker lineup is stacked.)
3. The price
Conference attendance can quickly get pricey and in my experience, most advisors like to be smart with the money they spend on their business.
From where I’m sitting, the value looks tremendous. An advisor ticket to Wealth/Stack right now is only $195. That covers registered investment advisors, financial planners, wirehouse advisors, and regional advisors.
Conference attendance for advisors can run anywhere from $500 to well over $1,000 for most events. At that price, it’s pretty clear that when Josh Brown calls it a conference “by advisors, for advisors” he really means it.
2. Start your own podcast in the social studio
Podcasts are so popular that’s probable that your best friend from elementary school’s mom has her own podcast somewhere.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea to start one.
I’m personally not huge on listening to a large number of podcasts like seemingly everyone else in the world, but I can still see their value. It’s mostly a matter of perspective.
If you start a podcast and get 50 faithful listeners to it every week, would you be happy? Most people would say no.
But that’s crazy. Would you be happy if you got 50 people to show up to an in-person event every single week? Probably.
So apply the same logic to a podcast. You don’t need to get 5,000 downloads for it to push your business in the right direction.
All this to say, Wealth/Stack will have some cool resources for advisors looking to get into videos and podcasts. The Stack Studio will be staffed to help advisors make content then and there, and there’s even an on-staff engineer to give guidance.
A lot of times my advice about these types of content is “just start” and being able to start with some experts by your side should be a definite confidence boost.
1. Advicent's closing night party
You may have disagreed with a thing or two I’ve said, here’s a statement that is without debate: Everybody likes a good party.
And Advicent throws the best events in finserv.
Just look at their recent history. A couple years ago there were helicopter rides over Anaheim, then Vanilla Ice took everyone back to the 90s at the 2019 T3 Advisor conference earlier this year.
Advicent hasn’t said what they’ve got planned for their Wealth/Stack closing night event yet, but from the hints that COO Tony Stich is dropping, you know it’s going to be absolutely epic.
