The first six months of regional meetings, according to surveys at the meetings, have struck the right note. Member comments have ranged from ‘excellent’, ‘inspirational’, ‘couldn’t be better’ to ‘useful’ and ‘practical’.
In the run-up to the formation of the Personal Finance Society in January 2005, members of the former LIA and SOFA were promised regular regional meetings delivering a range of speakers providing business ideas, technical content and regulatory information. One of the first tasks of the new Society Board was to review the regional structure and to consult members on the way the structure should be designed for the future.
It was agreed that regional meetings would in the main be held for a full day and feature business development and technical sessions designed to help members to be ‘fit for purpose’ and to acquire knowledge and skill sets leading to professional success.
During the six months from January to June 2005, 50 meetings have been held in 30 locations. Subjects covered on the business development include: How to charge fees the right way; Successful seminar selling; 7 Simple steps to make your practice more profitable; Develop-Succeed-Prosper - Grow your business, simply, quickly and efficiently. On the technical side, topics covered include: Regulatory updates; IHT; Child Trust Fund master class; Pensions simplification.
The programme for September to December 2005 will include some of the above in those regions that have not yet received them. New topics will include: State of the markets - what is happening in 2005/06? There will be presentations by the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FSA, with members able to put questions. We will run technical workshops on Key steps to portfolio management and Lifetime mortgages. A brochure containing the dates, venues and contents of all the regional meetings and technical seminars is being sent to members.
Mark Ommanney, Personal Finance Society CEO , said: “The regional all-day meetings have been a great success in the eyes of those who attend them. In the first quarter we identified a number of key improvements which were implemented in quarter 2, such as changing the format of the Regulatory update, removing the conflict between business development and technical sessions in the afternoon and making improvements to some venues. Meetings will continue to evolve and improve, based on feedback from members as well as from Head Office staff, who attend every meeting.
“It is our intention that close connection will be made between establishing the conditions for professional recognition of Society members and their legitimate need to improve business performance to ensure success. These two facets of our development programme run hand-in-hand, particularly when seen against the background of the long-term need to achieve professional recognition for the financial adviser sector.”
