We all know the world is changing – we see it every day. I am currently at 30,000 feet, flying between Dallas and Toronto, returning home from the San Antonio FPA Experience Conference. My plane is WiFi enabled and I am browsing the FPA Connect site online. Wow! Like many of these changes in life I have mixed feelings – there goes my excuses, so no more naps or good fiction books. :(
FPA Connect is itself a new aspect of communications for many of us in how we stay in touch. Yes I am on Linked-In and yes I have a Facebook page, but I am still struggling to determine how much all of these things belong in my day-to-day activities. FPA Connect provides a neat tool to stay connected with topics and people I care about, but still…
That brings me back to my topic – why the FPA Annual Conference cannot be replaced by any technology. Many people go to the conference for the educational sessions and the CE credits. Others go to check out the exhibitors and all the advances in products and technologies (and I’m glad they do!).
These are all great aspects of the conference, but what cannot be replaced and I don’t thing ever will be, is the old friends I see each year and the new friends I make with the many networking events. These friends reinforce many of the issues I am passionate about, and when we have discussions I can see it in their eyes and hear it in the voices of the people around me that there are many, many others that truly care about how we can create a true profession, increase financial literacy – how we can put clients first.
This year was exceptional and from the first moments of the conference we were all diving into vibrant and exciting discussions about these topics that we all care so much about. We had representatives from over 20 countries sharing some of the innovative success stories on financial literacy from their countries. We had engaging discussions about the challenges and rewards of facing some of the macro and micro issues of financial services in general and how we work with our clients as financial planners in specific.
The echoes from these discussions were picked up and reinforced a few hours later at the International Reception where it felt like most of the close to 200 attendees that had traveled from every corner of the globe (more than 1 in 10 of the registered attendees) gathered along with dozens and dozens of our American hosts. Although there seems like a world of differences between the challenges in the US or Canada and those being experienced in India or Brazil, we all continued to learn of how much the challenges of building a profession sound the same regardless of what oceans surround us.
I could go on and on – an emoticon cannot replace a hug, a kiss or a handshake. A “lol” cannot replace the sound of laughter and the good fun of raising a beer with amazing friends and colleagues.
Next year the Annual Conference will be in Orlando, and if you want to truly understand and feel the value that FPA can bring to you and our profession – BE THERE! There is no other gathering on earth of financial planning professionals bringing such diversity and passion into one place for us to share.
So we are now at 40,000 feet - our cruising altitude - and after all my ramblings here, I have discovered that I was wrong in my very first paragraph of this Blog. I find that I am emotionally and physically exhausted after 5 or 6 days of the most amazing time at FPA San Antonio. Even if I am WiFi enabled, there is still time on an airplane for a good nap. :)