The countdown is on – PLSA Investment Conference 2021 launches next week

There’s only one week to go until the PLSA Investment Conference 2021 (9-11 March). And if you haven’t yet booked your place, the good news is there’s still time says PLSA Director of Events Kate Hadley.

It’s been a funny old year for events professionals. All of a sudden last March we had to completely relearn our art, and redefine our business model, to go beyond what we knew before. It wasn’t for the faint hearted. We’ve learned so much and, thanks to our members’ feedback, we are extremely proud of what we will be presenting at the PLSA Investment Conference 2021 next week – 9-11 March. 

This year we have made Investment Conference the best value ever. It’s free for PLSA fund members. And for the first time business members can purchase organisation tickets, which means the organisation can register an unrestricted number of delegates under one price. Good to know when considering the training and development of your team.

It’s also due to be bigger than ever – with more than 200 pension funds registered to attend. It’s the event to find the £2 trillion investment chain in one place, so miss it… miss out.

A programme that goes beyond

At conference we’ll ask what the future will look like beyond Brexit, beyond the merciless economic winter, beyond another geopolictical adjustment. The programme will explore how pension schemes will confront long-term investment challenges in an altered world, where security for members, new opportunities for returns and ESG factors are more important than ever.  

Stephanie Flanders, Guy Opperman MP, Professor Devi Sridhar, Robert Peston, Baroness Helena Morrissey and Lord Adair Turner are just some of the world-class names we will be welcoming to the digital stage next week.

AI, on demand and prize draws

We’ve learnt that online means opportunity. In this new digital world you can be part of the event wherever you want to be. As the old adage goes time is money – but with the conference online we can transcend time zones and avoid difficult commutes to allow your whole team to watch the conference – wherever they are and most importantly at a time that suit them.

Yes! One of the best parts of being digital is that the majority of the content will be available afterwards on demand. You will have until 8 April to catch upon all the main conference sessions.

Conference will also see the launch of a brand new event platform – delivered by Swapcard. It is altogether smarter and more user friendly, with a more searchable programme and better scheduling capabilities. The main conference sessions will play via vimeo, meaning that the majority of sessions won’t require additional applications to view content.

And using artificial intelligence, and information supplied, the platform will match attendees to the right people – bringing us closer to the networking experience we know you all miss.  

The platform is already open for registered attendees. To encourage people to look around we are running two competitions: The first 100 people to complete their profile and add their sessions in the platform, and the first 100 to connect with exhibitors and make meetings, will be entered into two separate prize draws – with £75 Not on the High Street vouchers up for grabs for each. 

Facing the future

The entire events industry breathed out a collective sigh of relief last week when government provided a date for the return of in person conferences. However, it got me thinking about how the past year encouraged us to think differently and creatively about how we present our members with the world class events they have come to expect. I imagine we won’t be the only organisation to learn from these lessons and incorporate all of the best bits into events of the future. 

But for now we are excited to showcase the bigger and better PLSA Investment Conference 2021 next week. So if you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for? Book your place now.