Getting the most out of conference season

May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca May 28-31: CIFPs national conference, Vancouver www.cifps.ca May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto […]

By Al Emid | May 19, 2006 | Last updated on May 19, 2006

3 min read

May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca

June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca

June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca

June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca

June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca

Al Emid

May 28-31: CIFPs national conference, Vancouver www.cifps.ca
May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca
June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca
June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca
June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca
June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca

May 28-31: CIFPs national conference, Vancouver www.cifps.ca
May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca
June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca
June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca
June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca
June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca

In effect, Fleischacker suggests a practice-management strategy that provides for conference diversification. Since continuing education credits loom large in motives for attending conferences, Fleischacker recommends building a CE strategy into each year’s business plan. This means selecting topics in advance and deciding whether to attend events providing a broad smorgasbord of topics such as Advocis, or those with a narrower view such as Morningstar Canada, which focuses on retirement planning this year.

Besides Advocis and Morningstar, IFB, the ADVISOR Group, CIFPs and the IDA all have conferences scheduled between May 28 and June 28. (see below for dates and website links).

As with advising clients, making the most out of professional conferences includes tax planning strategies. Depending on an advisor’s employment status in the eyes of Canada Revenue Agency, he or she may not qualify to deduct expenses — especially travel expenses — in more than two conferences annually.

CRA regulations also stipulate that conferences for which expense deductions are claimed should be “reasonably regarded as consistent with the territorial scope of the organization,” which leaves a question mark hanging over conferences in exotic locales.

Survival also means making a value judgement on benefits besides CE credits, adds Dan Hallett, president of Windsor-based explains Dan Hallett and Associates. Hallett values the networking advantages of attending conferences. But beyond that, some advisors might consider a combination of conferences and other venues, such as community colleges, universities, online courses and professional reading, he says.

Hallett also questions the relationship between the length of conference and the value of some sessions, suggesting that quality control becomes increasingly difficult as the duration of the conference increases. “It’s pretty challenging for organizers to fill two or three days of pretty good relevant content. There may be some sacrificing of content quality to get things together,” he says.

Getting the most from a conference session also means respecting the presenters, according to Rick Forchuk, regional director, sales and distribution for Empire Financial Group, stressing that his views do not necessarily reflect the policies of Empire Financial. Forchuk, a veteran presenter and conference attendee, says that just as attendees need top quality information, the presenter needs the attention of the audience. “It’s very distracting to a speaker to be talking to an audience and look down and see three out of five people in the first row sending messages on their blackberries,” he says recalling his own onstage horrors.

Respecting the speaker’s efforts also extends to the question and answer session. Forchuk says that speakers suffer when a practitioner asks a question, but wastes valuable time and attention with a long, tortured preamble.

As with moviegoers, conference attendees get more when free of distractions. He recently sat beside two practitioners in loud non-stop conversation about family discipline problems while one of them worked on her needlepoint, complete with clicking needles. “Both were quite incensed that I would be so bold as to ask them to quiet down.”

Al Emid is a Toronto-based freelance writer

(05/19/06)

• • •

Upcoming conferences

May 28-31: CIFPs national conference, Vancouver www.cifps.ca
May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca
June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca
June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca
June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca
June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca

An old adage says that business survival comes with sticking to one’s knitting — but sometimes that goes too far. Surviving the upcoming plethora of conferences and avoiding wasted time starts with planning, says Robert Fleischacker, president of Markham-based Stonehaven Financial.

In effect, Fleischacker suggests a practice-management strategy that provides for conference diversification. Since continuing education credits loom large in motives for attending conferences, Fleischacker recommends building a CE strategy into each year’s business plan. This means selecting topics in advance and deciding whether to attend events providing a broad smorgasbord of topics such as Advocis, or those with a narrower view such as Morningstar Canada, which focuses on retirement planning this year.

Besides Advocis and Morningstar, IFB, the ADVISOR Group, CIFPs and the IDA all have conferences scheduled between May 28 and June 28. (see below for dates and website links).

As with advising clients, making the most out of professional conferences includes tax planning strategies. Depending on an advisor’s employment status in the eyes of Canada Revenue Agency, he or she may not qualify to deduct expenses — especially travel expenses — in more than two conferences annually.

CRA regulations also stipulate that conferences for which expense deductions are claimed should be “reasonably regarded as consistent with the territorial scope of the organization,” which leaves a question mark hanging over conferences in exotic locales.

Survival also means making a value judgement on benefits besides CE credits, adds Dan Hallett, president of Windsor-based explains Dan Hallett and Associates. Hallett values the networking advantages of attending conferences. But beyond that, some advisors might consider a combination of conferences and other venues, such as community colleges, universities, online courses and professional reading, he says.

Hallett also questions the relationship between the length of conference and the value of some sessions, suggesting that quality control becomes increasingly difficult as the duration of the conference increases. “It’s pretty challenging for organizers to fill two or three days of pretty good relevant content. There may be some sacrificing of content quality to get things together,” he says.

Getting the most from a conference session also means respecting the presenters, according to Rick Forchuk, regional director, sales and distribution for Empire Financial Group, stressing that his views do not necessarily reflect the policies of Empire Financial. Forchuk, a veteran presenter and conference attendee, says that just as attendees need top quality information, the presenter needs the attention of the audience. “It’s very distracting to a speaker to be talking to an audience and look down and see three out of five people in the first row sending messages on their blackberries,” he says recalling his own onstage horrors.

Respecting the speaker’s efforts also extends to the question and answer session. Forchuk says that speakers suffer when a practitioner asks a question, but wastes valuable time and attention with a long, tortured preamble.

As with moviegoers, conference attendees get more when free of distractions. He recently sat beside two practitioners in loud non-stop conversation about family discipline problems while one of them worked on her needlepoint, complete with clicking needles. “Both were quite incensed that I would be so bold as to ask them to quiet down.”

Al Emid is a Toronto-based freelance writer

(05/19/06)

• • •

Upcoming conferences

May 28-31: CIFPs national conference, Vancouver www.cifps.ca
May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca
June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca
June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca
June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca
June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca

An old adage says that business survival comes with sticking to one’s knitting — but sometimes that goes too far. Surviving the upcoming plethora of conferences and avoiding wasted time starts with planning, says Robert Fleischacker, president of Markham-based Stonehaven Financial.

In effect, Fleischacker suggests a practice-management strategy that provides for conference diversification. Since continuing education credits loom large in motives for attending conferences, Fleischacker recommends building a CE strategy into each year’s business plan. This means selecting topics in advance and deciding whether to attend events providing a broad smorgasbord of topics such as Advocis, or those with a narrower view such as Morningstar Canada, which focuses on retirement planning this year.

Besides Advocis and Morningstar, IFB, the ADVISOR Group, CIFPs and the IDA all have conferences scheduled between May 28 and June 28. (see below for dates and website links).

As with advising clients, making the most out of professional conferences includes tax planning strategies. Depending on an advisor’s employment status in the eyes of Canada Revenue Agency, he or she may not qualify to deduct expenses — especially travel expenses — in more than two conferences annually.

CRA regulations also stipulate that conferences for which expense deductions are claimed should be “reasonably regarded as consistent with the territorial scope of the organization,” which leaves a question mark hanging over conferences in exotic locales.

Survival also means making a value judgement on benefits besides CE credits, adds Dan Hallett, president of Windsor-based explains Dan Hallett and Associates. Hallett values the networking advantages of attending conferences. But beyond that, some advisors might consider a combination of conferences and other venues, such as community colleges, universities, online courses and professional reading, he says.

Hallett also questions the relationship between the length of conference and the value of some sessions, suggesting that quality control becomes increasingly difficult as the duration of the conference increases. “It’s pretty challenging for organizers to fill two or three days of pretty good relevant content. There may be some sacrificing of content quality to get things together,” he says.

Getting the most from a conference session also means respecting the presenters, according to Rick Forchuk, regional director, sales and distribution for Empire Financial Group, stressing that his views do not necessarily reflect the policies of Empire Financial. Forchuk, a veteran presenter and conference attendee, says that just as attendees need top quality information, the presenter needs the attention of the audience. “It’s very distracting to a speaker to be talking to an audience and look down and see three out of five people in the first row sending messages on their blackberries,” he says recalling his own onstage horrors.

Respecting the speaker’s efforts also extends to the question and answer session. Forchuk says that speakers suffer when a practitioner asks a question, but wastes valuable time and attention with a long, tortured preamble.

As with moviegoers, conference attendees get more when free of distractions. He recently sat beside two practitioners in loud non-stop conversation about family discipline problems while one of them worked on her needlepoint, complete with clicking needles. “Both were quite incensed that I would be so bold as to ask them to quiet down.”

Al Emid is a Toronto-based freelance writer

(05/19/06)

• • •

Upcoming conferences

May 28-31: CIFPs national conference, Vancouver www.cifps.ca
May 30-31: IFB Spring Summit, Toronto www.ifbc.ca
June 7: Morningstar Investment Conference, Toronto www.morningstar.ca
June 8-9: Changing Channel: The Next Generation of Managing General Agencies, Collingwood, ON www.advisorlive.ca
June 14-17: Advocis national conference, Victoria, www.advocis.ca
June 25-28: IDA Conference, Whistler, B.C., www.ida.ca

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