ARTICLE

Virtual Road Shows:
The Convenient and Cost-Effective Way to Reaching Investors!

By Jerry Cahn, Ph.D., J.D.

As the CEO, CFO or IRO of your company, you want to meet with as many qualified analysts, money managers and investors as possible to tell your company’s story and motivate them to recommend and buy the stock. On the other hand, you want to keep road show expenses – both time and money – to a minimum. Conflicting goals? Not at all – if you use virtual road shows to complement face-to-face meetings.

Road shows are vital to public companies. They allow management to present a compelling reason to invest in the company to the right audience. There are 5 elements to any successful road show:

• Schedule meetings with a targeted audience of interested investment professionals

• Design a persuasive presentation, usually including a PowerPoint show*

• Practice the presentation – the coordination of a powerful speech complemented by the “slides”

• Deliver the presentation, confidently and persuasively

Traditionally, the IRO or his/her investor relations agency builds a database of targeted investors, money managers and analysts, and then schedules meetings with those who can meet when management selects its road show dates. Cost-effectively, most travel to the largest financial centers (e.g., New York City, Boston, Los Angles, Atlanta and Chicago), where management can optimize its time by meeting with the most people.

However, investing today is a popular activity. Influential groups of investors live and work in second and third tier financial centers, including Minneapolis, Dallas, St. Louis and South Florida. Moreover, smaller groups, investor clubs, and individual investors with sizeable portfolios are located in other cities across America. How does management meet them cost-effectively? 

The answer is the virtual road show. It’s convenient for everyone. Management never has to leave its corporate office. No flying or driving; no getting stuck in traffic office or having meetings go over the scheduled deadline. Similarly, investors participate from the comfort of their offices or homes.

The process is as follows:

• A meeting is scheduled, the target market is invited to participate, and they register with the Web-Conferencing service provider

• Management sends the PowerPoint presentation to the provider for display on everyone’s computer, with the speaker controlling the flow of the “slides”

• The CEO, CFO and/or IRO delivers his presentation speech via telephone

It’s simple, because the steps are the same as with a traditional meeting, except that a significantly larger number of investors can be invited!

Here are three keys to winning Webinar presentations:

• Build a dynamite PowerPoint presentation. Since everyone focuses on the screen, the significance of an audience-driven PowerPoint is magnified. It needs to be clearly focused, organized for audience comprehension, use engaging visuals (pictures, charts and diagrams), and be succinct and to the point.  The presentation should powerfully communicate the value of your company’s brand and provide a compelling reason to invest.

• Speak so as to exude enthusiasm. The speaker needs to enunciate, use a modulating (not monotone) tone that projects confidence, pace the presentation to maintain interest, and demonstrate excitement.

• Master the Web-conferencing technology. Don’t let the new medium scare you. Most service providers offer training on how to use their “dashboard” before you start. Knowing how to use the technology, lets you relate to your audience — across time and space!

What’s stopping you? Presenting over the Web can be intimidating because there is no face-to-face contact with which to generate rapport. Nor can you use hand gestures and body language to compensate for weaknesses in the presentation. But if you design a focused, organized and engaging PowerPoint, and enunciate, pace your speech and feel confident, you can be every bit as successful as you are in face-to-face meetings.**

So, commit your company now to an investor relations program which educates the public to invest and stay invested in your company. Adapt a complete road show program, making both face-to-face and virtual presentations to reach the largest possible audience, and, watch the interest in your company grow!