You don’t need a degree in psychology to know when an industry event is for free, no shows occur when a financial advisor weighs up the perceived value of attending against the value of client meetings or other reasons.
 
The investment management industry has a crisis, as often between 30-40% of registrants just simply don’t turn up, despite confirming their attendance. This may mean that they have devalued the perceived “value” of the event? Maybe there are simply too many events and, with no consequences of non-attendance, this behaviour has become an acceptable norm.
 
However, the cost for the industry must be massive. Event organisers need to cater for the persons that respond that they are attending, yet often simply throw away 30-40% of the food wastage as Health and Safety laws prohibit food being passed on to underprivileged communities.
 
There is more investment management event content out there than ever before with the advent of webinars, digital and in-person events. This has conditioned people into believing that RSVPs don’t count for much.
 
We are all humans, but simple etiquette would go a long way towards addressing this matter as after all, the client pays in the end!