The spread of the coronavirus’s delta variant is threatening the return of in-person industry conferences.
Originally slated to return to Denton, Texas on September 27, the Technology Tools for Today, or T3, advisor technology conference has been postponed to the spring of 2022, according to an email from president Joel Bruckenstein.
“Unfortunately, the delta variant and continuing concerns about coronavirus transmission have forced us to make a difficult decision,” Bruckenstein says in the announcement. “We are truly sorry for this disruption and change in plans. I know that we were all looking forward to getting back together, in person, this fall, but the consensus is that this is the best course of action right now.”
If T3 is able to return in the spring, it will be after a more than two-year hiatus. Though some
“It's the single largest showcase of all advisor technology in one place, which is valuable both for new companies, existing companies, networking, advisors shopping for tech, and enterprises shopping for tech,” Kitces says.
The postponement casts a shadow over other technology conferences hoping to bring back in-person gatherings.
"There are many sponsor firms that were due to attend that indicated they were getting push back from their staff on attending a live event that would have over 400 people in attendance,” says Suzanne Siracuse, CEO of Suzanne Siracuse Consulting, whose client INVENT was working with Bruckenstein to expand
It’s also unclear how many advisors are scrambling to return to in-person events. In recent weeks, T3 was
“I think everyone kind of perked up when T3 announced their BOGO deal; that's a hell of an offer as an early bird discount but not indicative of confidence when it comes out late in the game like that one did,” Sandquist says.
But in-person events remain crucial for wealthtech startups to get their brand name in front of financial advisors. There just isn’t the same opportunity to connect with new customers or business partners in a virtual setting, says David Mehlhorn, director of sales at Redtail Technology.
“In-person events allow you to leave the distractions of home and the office and focus on the conference,” says David Mehlhorn, director of sales at Redtail Technology. “Virtual booths pale in comparison to in-person booths. Despite the higher attendance at virtual events, the visitors of a virtual booth are a tiny fraction of the traffic you receive at a live event.”
Beyond making advisors aware of new technology, meeting in-person can be a deciding factor for advisors trying to decide between two competing technology vendors, according to Angel Gonzalez, Snappy Kraken’s chief marketing officer. “In-person events will always be important.”
This is why T3 has not attempted a virtual conference while so many others have, Bruckenstein says. While he would prefer not to extend the already large gap between T3 conferences, he’s more concerned about keeping attendees safe and making sure it’s worth it for advisors to attend.
“When it comes to technology, people want to interact with it. They want to touch it, they want to feel it and they want to ask questions,” he says. While “I’m not going to put on an event if I don’t think it’s going to be great.”
T3 received no pressure to postpone just a week ago, and everybody, including sponsors, were still planning to attend, Bruckenstein tells Financial Planning. Things changed over the weekend: employees of sponsor firms got nervous about traveling and attending a live event, and companies started putting travel restrictions back in place. Even vaccinated individuals — who are extremely unlikely to get sick or hospitalized even if they are infected with the virus,
T3 stakeholders and sponsors ultimately decided it’s better to be safe than sorry. “I’m at peace with myself that I did the right thing,” Bruckenstein says.
However, T3’s hiatus has created an opportunity for virtual and hybrid tech conferences to fill the need for wealthtech vendors. Riskalyze and Orion still plan to host in-person attendees at their respective conferences.
Some vendors used Asset-Map’s AdviceTech.LIVE virtual event this week to introduce their latest products and updates. For example, Snappy Kraken showed off Convos, a text message marketing platform for advisors, while Asset-Map revealed updates to its financial planning software. Redtail also demonstrated an overhaul of its own text messaging product, Speak,
“There will always be a need to showcase advisor technology,” says Kitces. “What exactly that looks like in the future remains to be seen, though, as new models like AdviceTech.LIVE challenge the traditional in-person T3 event?”
