Covid-19 forced the entire IR calendar to go virtual and, from roadshows to conferences, successes have been rife. But it seems virtual hasn’t worked as well when it comes to investor days.
Investor days are generally popular events and IR Magazine’s Investor Events report, which looks at events spanning the pre-pandemic period through to Q1 2021, finds that investors give a satisfaction rating of 7.5 out of 10 for in-person investor days before the pandemic hit. Once in a virtual format, however, satisfaction for investor days drops to 6.4 out of 10. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents give a high rating of eight or more for in-person investor days, compared with just 30 percent in their virtual format – the biggest difference between in-person and virtual of all the events studied in the report.
There is also a relatively big gap in satisfaction for another investor favorite: site visits. Almost two thirds of respondents rate in-person site visits highly, with a score of eight or more. This drops to 44 percent as these events moved to virtual-only.
Both these types of events are harder to replicate virtually than a roadshow or even a conference – and perhaps easier to postpone, too. Just 16 percent of companies held a virtual investor day during the research period, while just 8 percent opted for a virtual site visit.
Despite varying levels of satisfaction, the report authors note ‘considerable uncertainty about a return to in-person events in the short term’.
Click here for more information or to download your copy of the Investor Events report, which looks at investor conferences, investor days, site visits and roadshows, comparing and contrasting the in-person and virtual formats. The report also examines where resources should be allocated for investor events in the near future and what the long-term prospects are for in-person and virtual events.
