NAPFA holds several conferences each year. The largest conference is held each spring and the location varies every year. Typically about 150 exhibitors and 650 practitioners attend. It usually runs from Tuesday thru Friday and is always a popular event. In addition to outstanding educational sessions, there is always a well-attended exhibit hall with providers of products and services that you will want to know about. Last but not least the national office and conference committees work hard to make the entire experience a “fun” event by planning very special entertainment and social functions for your enjoyment. Each conference has a theme and the national meeting is a comprehensive conference offering sessions on all areas of financial planning. This year's meeting will be in Washington DC at the new Gaylord Hotel on June 2-6, 2009. During the fall we hold between three and four conferences, each located in a different geographic location. The Northeast typically draws the largest crowd, about 450 people, but the others are well attended too. Both the Northeast and West offer what we refer to as "comprehensive" conferences covering all topics - but may have a particular focus on one specific area of financial planning. In 2008 the Northeast concentrated on Retirment Planning and the West offered a good cross-section of all areas. In recent years we have added "niche" conferences to our fall schedule. People from the midwest and south areas will plan meetings that deal with specific subjects. Examples of this includes the Practice Management and Technology Conference held in Las Vegas in the fall of 2008 and organized by the midwest region and an "Investments" conference dealing only with that subject. Included in some of the above is our “Basic Training” track and our University track. Basic Training is oriented to helping people who are just getting started in the business. This is a two day track with the first day offering hour sessions on areas of practice management, managing money, marketing etc. The second day is a full day case study analysis. University offers courses in the financial planning areas and is intended to start where the CFP program ends. Courses are available in beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Some of the other types of meetings we offer cater to our Larger Firms, some to our Advanced Planners and as mentioned before Basic Training for people starting out (although there have been some members who really enjoy the case study and view this as a "refresher" course for themselves). There is no better place to learn how to fine-tune your practice than at a NAPFA meeting. You should know too that we plan our meetings in very desirable destinations and many members combine meetings with vacations. In addition to the prepared educational session, the networking and comraderie that you will experience is priceless. You will meet peers from all over the country who are more than willing to share their ideas and expereiences with you. For those of you who distribute products and services there is no better marketplace. You will meet the decision makers who manage many billions of dollars on a collective basis.
Click here to learn about upcoming conferences. |
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