June 12-13
Frankfurt, Germany
Twitter #DIRK2017
The value of values
This year marks the 20th annual IR conference held by Dirk, the German IR association, with the two-day event adopting the theme of ethics and the following motto: ‘What are our values worth? Investor relations: Between an ethical bedrock and a hard bottom line’.
There are a number of reasons for this, notes Kay Bommer, general manager of Dirk, from a growth in compliance staff over the last 10 years to the admission by the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund that it willingly loses millions of dollars by adhering to its own ethical guidelines. Germans even have their own term, ehrbarer Kaufmann, which Bommer says loosely translates as ‘an honorable businessperson’ but means much more than that.
Supervising the supervisors
Day two kicks off with a focus on the changing role of the German supervisory board. Originally designed to offer advice and to supervise, this board has in recent years taken on a more operational role – including some communication with investors. Tuesday’s keynote and following panel looks at what this means for IR.
Roundtables, training and awards
Of course, filling out the two days are a number of roundtables, breakout sessions and panel discussions, covering everything from the MDAX view to the growing importance of ESG, media training and a look at the corporate access changes afoot – with six sessions set to be presented in English.
The conference will close with the big reveal of the winners of the German IR awards.
This article appeared in the summer 2017 issue of IR Magazine
