The NIRI Annual Conference held in San Francisco from June 9-11, 2024 brought together industry leaders and experts to discuss pivotal trends and innovations shaping investor relations.
Among the standout sessions were the Express Talks hosted by Notified and TiiCKER, which offered deep dives into crisis management and retail investor engagement.
They offered a look into the future of IR and financial storytelling, with a strong focus on how to navigate the evolving landscape.
Keep reading to learn the top takeaways!
Adam Christensen, Chief Marketing Officer at Notified, hosted an important discussion on crisis management that emphasized the critical need for aligning IR and communications teams.
Drawing from his extensive experience at companies such as IBM and PayPal, Christensen discussed the evolving nature of crises, including shareholder activism and financial disruptions.
He stressed that IR's role now includes messaging development, transparent investor engagement, reputation management and C-suite advisement.
Key takeaways from his session included:
Christensen’s session underscored that while crises are unavoidable, being well prepared – and putting technology to work - can lessen their effect on a company's value and stakeholder trust.
During the TiiCKER-hosted panel, Dan Lotzof, Chief Revenue Officer at Notified, shared important tips on how to engage retail investors.
The discussion focused on getting retail investors more involved in proxy voting and boosting their loyalty to the company. Here were his main takeaways:
Lotzof emphasized that given their non-professional status, communication with retail investors needs to be direct and accessible.
For many companies, retail investors represent a significant portion of the shareholder base - and their engagement can have noteworthy impacts.
Effective communication with retail investors requires simplicity. The complexity of financial information needs to be distilled into clear and digestible formats.
Lotzof stressed the need for companies to be proactive in communication. Instead of just monitoring discussions, they should actively engage retail investors through earnings events, webcasts, fireside chats and community interactions.
Most IR websites aren't user-friendly for retail investors. These sites should be improved to help non-professional investors easily find and understand information.
Lotzof noted, “We (Notified) operate 3,000 investor relations websites. I can tell you very few of them have been built for the retail investor.”
The content shared with retail investors should be engaging and concise. Short, five-to-15-minute videos or interactive assets are more effective than traditional hour-long earnings calls. The goal is to maintain engagement and ensure information is retained.
To effectively reach retail investors, companies need to employ a multi-channel approach. This includes not just emails, but also display ads, social media ads and frequent updates. Multiple touchpoints increase the likelihood that messages will be received and acted upon.
Several sessions at the conference explored the growing role of artificial intelligence, including its transformative potential for IR.
Key insights included:
As the IR field continues to evolve and adopt new tech tools, staying on top of trends and understanding best practices will be crucial for success.
The insights from this year’s conference provide a robust framework for navigating the complexities of modern investor relations while ensuring responsiveness, transparency and proactivity.
Thanks again to NIRI for putting on such a world-class event, see you next year!
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