Large Events Bubble or Nah?

Let’s dive in…

The world of in-person events and conferences is taking on a shift that the introvert in me is not mad at. Organizers are thinking more about the depth of connections and believe “the market for multi-day events is saturated and the value created at them can be replicated and exceeded with different approaches that are rooted in conversation.”

We’ve been heads down designing a bespoke experience for a NOLA summit of 50 business executives, philanthropists, and local politicians this week. Last week, we led a session for over 70 HR Executives. Small rooms, but outsized impact and deep connections. So we’re peeping this upward swing of boutique, purposeful, and ball-out-of-the-park gatherings and convenings (we see you Ample Summit).

This makes me curious about how sponsors and advertisers will respond to what consumers are trending toward. For example, earlier this year, some large events had a hard time securing sponsorships in the first half of 2023, however, events that were “in the right niche and can lean into their authority” didn’t have much of an investment drought as they had little competition to contend with even if they were hosted around a large tentpole event like Coachella.

I don’t see the big events going away any time soon. This week, we’re diving into the ginormous Money 20/20 conference; and I’m taking this moment now to give a major shout-out to AfroTech which is taking Austin by storm as we speak!!

For many, these marquee events are like industry family reunions. The FOMO is real and for the organizers who’ve gone big, they see the upsides of the revenue potential. That said, the organizers will follow the money and the money will follow the people. So tell me, conference goers, where are you finding the most value?

💚 Amy & Bryan

Zoom out: Money 20/20, 2023

What started in 2012 by payments and fintech vets from Google, TSYS, and Citi, is now dubbed as the leading global stage for all things fintech, payments, banking, and Financial Services.

Over 4 days (October 22- October 25), over 11,000 attendees, and 3,000 companies, alongside 70% of their decision-makers gathered to pave the way for disruptive conversations and innovations in the finance world.

Amongst the VR games, race tracks and brass bands, just past the Money Hall. the stages burst with over 75 talks in a day. Here are a few speakers who caught our eye:

• Ben Horowitz, Co-Founder and Gen Partner at A16Z, was a keynote.

• Ken Cornick, Co-Founder, CEO and President at Clear, was a keynote

• Emilie Choi, President and COO at Coinbase, was a keynote

• Aaron Seres, FBI Supervisory Special Agent – White Collar Crime, FBI

Interested in going next year? I suggest getting your tickets now because prices can get pricey. Thankfully they have tiers to accommodate early-stage to growth-stage companies that make the experience a bit more accessible.

Here are the dates to know:

• Money 20/20 Asia, April 23-25th, 2024 Bangkock. Get tickets here.

• Money 20/20 Europe, June 4-6th, 2024 Amsterdam. Get tickets here.

• Money 20/20 USA, October 27-30th, 2024 Las Vegas. Tkts are not on sale yet.

Zoom in: Some top themes

The conference is dense with conversations, insights, and all the things. We’re taking a high-level overview of the conference and sharing some of the interesting quotes across key themes throughout the conference. We’re going to cover 3 themes, 3 conversations, and 3 quotes for each.

1. Wealth & Investing

2. AI & Fraud

3. Innovation

🎵Don’t be funny with my money honey🎵 

A Generational Wealth Transfer: Modern Wealth Management Will Look Different

• Dani Fava, Group Head, Product Innovation, Envestnet

• Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, CEO, Betterment

• Tanya Van Court, Founder & CEO, Goalsetter

• Hasan Malik, General Partner & Chief Strategy Officer, Edward Jones

As we head towards an integral generational wealth transfer, a panel of experts sat down to answer the question: how will the wealth industry transform to include the whole family and evolve for the modern demands of this generational wealth transfer?

• “The average American spends $350,000 throughout the course of their life on impulse purchases; we spend $350,000 on shit we don't need. Because it's accessible, because it's an arm's reach away, and ‘I'm tired of making decisions all day, so I grabbed that thing.’ What if we can put really smart, really personalized financial wellness decisions within an arm's reach? What if we put that $350,000 that we each spend, into a retirement savings account as impulse investing? I think that when we start putting these tools right next to where people make these decisions, we really can change the financial futures of millions of Americans.” - Dani Fava, Group Head, Product Innovation, Envestnet

• “I think the most important thing about AI, as we look for those in for the actual applications and executions, is to make sure that the data that we're putting into the AI tools is good data that is reflective of everyone who needs to be served in this ecosystem. Right now, when you look at investable assets, there is $30 trillion in the hands of baby boomers, and the majority of those baby boomers are men. In the next seven years, 70% of that money is likely moving into the hands of women – who have likely not been the primary investors or decision-makers in that house. How those women will invest will be very different from how the men invested over the past 10 years to 30 years. So in order for AI to be an effective tool and applicable tool for the people who are going to be inheriting the wealth, whether it's the next generation or it's the women in the household, we've got to make sure that it’s not garbage in and garbage out.” - Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, CEO, Betterment

• “The truth of the matter is, cable wasn't just disrupted by Netflix. It was disrupted by Netflix in the hands of kids; kids who were coming out of their parent’s houses coming out of college and saying ‘there's no way I'm going to pay a $200 cable bill, I’ll stick with Netflix.’ We now see that same kind of digital disruption absolutely happening in the finance, banking, and wealth management sectors. There are companies out there like Greenlight, Step, and Copper that are getting that next generation of customers. And when the next generation of customers goes to those digital-thin tech disruptors, they might never find their way back to their local bank. Similarly at the wealth managers.” - Tanya Van Court, Founder & CEO, Goalsetter

Think Like a Criminal to Beat a Criminal

• Aaron Seres, FBI Supervisory Special Agent – White Collar Crime, FBI

• Camilla Yellets, Director Market Planning Financial Crime Compliance, LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Aaron and Camilla discussed mitigation strategies against popular financial crime schemes and how to guard your business against damaging financial crime risks.

• “Tech has definitely advanced the ability to commit fraud. It’s scary [to see] the advancements on the negative side of AI. But I think there's going to be some fantastic positive machine learning AI opportunities, particularly in the risk mitigation, fraud prevention fields, to pull together a digital identity and understand the nature of your customer in real-time.” - Aaron Seres, FBI Supervisory Special Agent – White Collar Crime, FBI

• “The IQ standpoint, generally, of the modern-day criminal is higher than it was before. And I mean that from an entry point into this space. So you're not actively monitoring your various social media platforms, relevant to your institutions, I would highly encourage you to think about that as a space of risk. We have repeatedly observed criminal activity, sharing their successes and their how-to’s on a multitude of platforms, and it's not the dark web. It used to be but now  they’re using mainstream channels – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok – and they're sharing ‘this is how you commit this fraud.’”

• “The biggest concern that we have on the non-fraud side, but it has a financial component is on the extortion side. We're seeing a multitude of teenage children, mostly boys, targeted with extortion videos, oftentimes even created through AI saying ‘this is you in this precarious position’ [it never happened] But you're afraid of the embarrassment anyways, start you’re extorted and then it creates some mental issues for children, and even some suicides, we have seen of late.” - Aaron Seres, FBI Supervisory Special Agent – White Collar Crime, FBI

From Airports to Everywhere: CLEAR's Move into Digital Finance

• Ken Cornick, Co-Founder, CFO & President, CLEAR

CLEAR President and CFO Kenneth Cornick sat down with Scarlett Sieber to talk about the secure identity company’s entry into financial services with the acquisition of Sora ID. Directly following his session, Ken took to the briefing stage for a special Q&A with the press, where he shared the breaking news that CLEAR will be powering a solution on behalf of Xero Hash and Shift4, to provide crypto services.

• “We bring the most verified members on our platform, to the table. Our latest public number is 17 million members and change, but we're approaching 20 million and we bring that to the table to the client.” - Ken Cornick

• “Health care is where we're seeing a lot of traction. Anytime you go to the doctor, or hospital and get healthcare services, you're having to fill out forms, to try to prove your identity, you're putting in claims, they can't figure out who you are, there's a lot of wasted time on both sides. So that's a really interesting space for us. and we have a number of deals that we've announced.” - Ken Cornick

• “There's also regulation in the healthcare space and there are regulatory-driven use cases around the Cures Act, which essentially gives consumers the right to access and control their healthcare data. And today, it's just too hard. So we're seeing a lot of interest in our solution.” - Ken Cornick

Hey, let’s work together. 👋

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