We were at the same time first-timers and experts at Inderes when we organized our own Capital Markets Day. First-timers because it was our first CMD as a listed company; experts in the sense that we produce CMD events for nearly 100 listed companies in the Nordic countries every year. We organized our own event broadly following common CMD practices, while trying to break the pattern on a handful of matters. In this post, I have gathered experiences and tips for other companies to benefit from.
Tight agenda forced to sharpen messages
I must admit that I almost fainted when our event team said during the planning phase that the maximum time for the event would be two hours. As a former equity analyst, I was used to CMDs that lasted all day, wading through endless presentations with just caffeine and cinnamon buns. The event team's view was based on statistics from years of experience with hybrid events: it’s very difficult to keep the audience engaged for more than an hour and a half.
Ultimately, going for a tight schedule was a great decision. But it was harder and more laborious for us to carry out: how do you communicate everything essential in such a limited time? This forced each performer to think carefully about their core messages. It takes much more work for a speaker to give a 10-minute presentation than a 30-minute one. The pace of the event was fast enough to keep the audience interested. And most importantly, we saved participants' valuable time. We also received good feedback from the public on this.
Pre-marketing pays off
Before the internet, CMDs were physical events for selected portfolio managers and analysts only. In today's digital world, there are no longer limits to the number of people in the audience – or to who can participate. The online audience can be 50 or 1,000 participants and its size doesn’t affect the cost or the way that the event is organized. Therefore, it’s worth trying to reach as wide an online viewership as possible. An invitation to the CMD is published as a press release and it’s worth utilizing all channels and means of attracting participants. We used all social media channels, the banner on the Inderes homepage, Alma Talent's digital advertising, email marketing, and personal invitations.
Attracting a large audience to an event is not easy. Of course, the portfolio managers and analysts close to your company will be there because it’s part of their job. But getting even one other stakeholder to invest more than two hours of their valuable time to get to know your company is a lot to ask. It's something you have to work for. Inderes’ CMD attracted around 300 participants. The recording of the event has brought the number of unique viewers to 600. For a small company, these are figures that one can be content with.
Not a streamed physical event, but a hybrid event
Originally organized as physical events, a single camera and a technician appeared in the back corner of CMD events sometime in the early 2000s to stream the event on the internet. When done properly, today's hybrid CMDs can be more like a TV broadcast. A true hybrid event is designed from the ground up with the audience behind the screen in mind, down to the smallest detail. In turn, the physical audience creates an atmosphere and contact with the speakers at the venue. Paying attention to the right details and brand elements makes the event look and feel like the company it represents. For us, this was reflected in insert videos, set design, lighting, speaker entrances and elements on the view page.
CMD supports internal communication
One important audience for a CMD event is your own staff. CMD often takes place in the context of the company’s strategy update, making it a powerful tool for communicating the new strategy internally as well. A hybrid event is also worthwhile because the whole staff can watch the broadcast and the recording is kept for later use. We also use it, for example, for the onboarding of new employees. We had our staff participating from all offices actively. We also collected feedback from staff afterwards.
Dress rehearsals and avoiding last minute confusion
You should allow plenty of time for the final preparations for the event, as stress levels often go up exponentially on the last day. For us, the CMD was timed to coincide with the release of our strategy update. However, the final meetings and finalization of the strategy work were timed in such a way that the dress rehearsals couldn’t take place until the night before the event. However, the materials were still a bit all over the place at this stage and stylizing and unifying them had to be partly done on the last night. Next time, we will better synchronize our strategy work with CMD planning, set tight deadlines for the completion of materials and allow enough time for final fine-tuning. No live event comes without some hassle and back-and-forth, but stress can be reduced significantly.
Before any event, people are often a bit tense and nervous about the upcoming performance. This is normal and shows that everyone wants to do their best. However, after a successful event, the mood in the team is always great and inspiring ideas for the next event start to fly.
If you need help and ideas for a successful Capital Markets Day, feel free to contact our Flik Event Team.