Johnny Sandquist, Owner, Three Crowns.
It’s only fitting that the inaugural Wealth/Stack conference was held in the fiery heat of Scottsdale. The event was the hottest ticket in financial services, selling out at over 700 attendees when the expected attendance limit was 500 at the beginning of the year.
But the heat outside was nothing compared to the action that took place inside the walls of the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. The intimate event venue fit in with one of the themes that emerged during the conference: The importance of building close personal relationships with peers and finding ways to collaborate.
During an interview with Amelia Garland of Citywire, Josh Brown commented on how none of the attendees were in competition with each other.
That inclusive attitude reverberated throughout the entire event.
The opening panels on day one made it clear that the content at Wealth/Stack would be different from most industry conferences.
Part of that difference could be seen in the lack of “manels” (all-male panels) and an encouraging amount of diversity among panelists.
The diversity didn’t end with speakers. Many within the advisor community attending the conference wanted to talk about how they could do more to reach people generally unserved by the profession.
The focus on serving the underserved was brought to life by Tyrone Ross, who was recently named Director of Financial Education at Exponential ETFs. During the social media panel, he announced his role in The Human Advisor Podcast.
Recorded alongside Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, the new podcast will focus less on how much money an advisor can manage and more on what they do to help people in their community.
Overall, the content and presentations at Wealth/Stack steered clear of the software provider product pitches you’ll find at most industry events.
Instead of using breakouts or keynotes as an excuse to toss a favor to a sponsor, the conference’s content focused on real issues faced by advisors every day—like succession planning, how to improve social media engagement, the role that crypto currencies can play in portfolios, and the impact of Regulation Best Interest—to name only a few well-regarded sessions.
The technology companies present at Wealth/Stack didn’t go unnoticed, of course.
While attendees sweated in Scottsdale, some of the industry’s established institutions may now find themselves sweating due to new competition introduced at Wealth/Stack’s Tech Showcase.
Altruist captured the attention of many attendees with its combination of attractive branding and even more attractive commission-free, all-digital custodial technology platform.
Other standouts included Tulip, developed by Dr. Daniel Crosby to help advisors educate clients about behavioral biases, and Advicent, who demoed a guided retirement experience that delivers a clean and efficient look at how expenses can change throughout the length of a client’s retirement.
Of course, no conference summary would be complete without a note about its evening entertainment. True to form, Wealth/Stack kept the heat turned up by avoiding the routine “cocktail reception” approach.
On the first night of the conference, Orion Advisor Tech kicked off the welcome reception in tandem with the kickoff of the NFL season.
The event was super-sized. From the giant television showing Sunday Night Football, to giant fans blasting cool air, to the six-foot-tall Orion-branded football, everything was big.
The oversized decorations were a fitting theme for Orion, which has organically grown at a rapid pace for years and now continues to supersize itself even more by adding recent acquisitions like Advizr and ftj|Fundchoice.
On the conference’s final night, the team at Advicent brought in celebrity musician DJ Skribble to spin records and get conference attendees celebrating together on the dance floor at the “Light Up the Vault” party.
The sun had gone down by the time Skribble took the stage, but with glowing VIP badges, neon sunglasses, and color-changing ice cubes, Wealth/Stack raised the bar and the temperature with a party that won’t be topped anytime soon—at least until the next time Advicent throws an event.
Before Wealth/Stack kicked off, I commented on the sheer amount of conferences available in wealth management and how easy it is to experience conference fatigue.
But it was clear from my conversations that no one felt that fatigue at Wealth/Stack. After one year, this is an event poised to become one of the favorite conferences in the industry and quickly land on “must attend” lists.
Even with the parties and superstar panelists, though, a good conference experience is most often the result of having good people around you. And good people were everywhere at Wealth/Stack.
For that reason alone, I’ll be clearing off my schedule to be at the follow-up next year.
Watch the highlights from Wealth/Stack 2019 below!