IR Magazine

IR Magazine Forum – Small Cap
Increasing coverage and navigating a downturn

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

In-person and virtual: AIG offices, New York

Maximize your potential

The opportunity for small-cap companies in the current environment is extensive. Those investor relations teams that can attract the attention of both institutional and retail investors and build analyst coverage will be set up for long-term success.

The IR Magazine Forum – Small Cap aimed to help public companies stand out in the capital markets by overcoming the time and resource pressures that smaller companies face.

We were joined by over a hundred CEOs, CFOs and IROs in New York on September 20 and discussed how to effectively target investors, stand out in the financial press, build analyst coverage and engage retail investors in today’s macro environment.


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Agenda

With the help of heads of IR and investors, we will discuss the most significant issues impacting small-cap public companies and their relationship with shareholders. Timings on the agenda are shown in Eastern Time (ET)

View PDF Agenda here

  • 08:00 AM
    Registration, refreshments and networking

  • 09:00 AM
    Welcome to the IR Magazine Forum

    Lucy Fato, executive VP, GC and global head of communications, AIG
    Steve Wade, head of event content, IR Magazine

  • 09:15 AM
    A global recession: The impact of market forces on small-cap companies

    We will start our day with this view of capital markets and macroeconomic trends. The session will set the scene with an update on global markets, fund flows, where the economy is headed in ten years, M&A and how IR teams at small-cap companies can prepare for what is to come in 2023.

    Jonathan Paterson, founder and managing partner, Harbor Access

  • 09:45 AM
    Increasing analyst coverage and targeting investors in a hybrid, uncertain market

    This panel will discuss innovative and new ways of targeting potential investors. What are the best practices around scheduling NDRs and determining which cities are open and which are closed? How to attract the right investors with the tools available and fewer resources? What opportunities created by the pandemic can help ‘globalize’ your shareholder base? How are companies providing financial guidance during these times?

    We’ll explore new ways to secure additional sell-side coverage, maximize the use of management’s time, and weigh the pros and cons of paid analyst coverage, social media, and recent corporate access trends going into 2023.

    Moderator: Steve Wade, head of event content, IR Magazine
    Adele Carey, VP of investor relations, BTCS
    Stan Kovler, VP of corporate strategy and IR, Extreme Networks
    John Nunziati, investor relations partner, Q4

  • 10:30 AM
    Coffee break and networking

  • 11:00 AM
    Running a strategic IR function: Top-down approach to delivering shareholder value

    What is the role of an IRO during a post-pandemic downturn? How does it compare to the 2008 recession, and what can we learn from those who successfully navigated past market uncertainty? How should you restructure resources when access to capital markets is challenging?

    Given the outlook for the next 18 months, what are the priorities and expectations of IR teams to effectively communicate shareholder value? How will this change in ten years? We’ll explore how to run an IR team, what CFOs expect from IR teams, how to manage up and coach your c-suite, and emerging best practices.

    Moderator: Laurence Taylor, senior conference producer, IR Magazine
    Aaron Howald, VP of IR and business development, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
    Julie MacMedan, vice president of investor relations, LL Flooring
    Quentin McMillan, vice president, managing director & head of investor relations, AIG
    Daniel Virgilio, executive director, global head of surveillance & targeting, S&P Global Market Intelligence

  • 11:45 AM
    ESG strategy: Meeting increasing investor expectations as a small cap

    Keeping on top of ESG alongside existing IR responsibilities can be challenging for an IR team with limited resources. We’ll discuss strategies to deliver a concise ESG story that communicates long-term value creation to investors and wider stakeholders.

    With the announcement of the new regulations, the expectations around the quality of ESG disclosures have increased significantly. We will discuss how to create a comprehensive engagement strategy that effectively communicates the risks and opportunities that are material to your business.

    Moderator: Laurence Taylor, senior conference producer, IR Magazine
    Seth Forman, president of ESG, Socialsuite
    Anthony Garcia, senior director of investment stewardship, Nuveen Responsible Investing
    Neil Stewart, director of corporate outreach, IFRS Foundation

  • 12:30 PM
    Small stocks, big money: How small cap investors develop their investment strategy

    Dave Gentry, CEO, RedChip Companies

  • 12:50 PM
    Lunch break

  • 13:45 PM
    Investor and analyst Q&A: Expectations of small-cap IR teams in the coming months

    During this session, our panel of investors and analysts will address any concerns and questions you may have about the coming months. Are investors tired of virtual events? How to increase analyst coverage? What do investors want from IR in a hybrid world and during a downturn? What are the predictions for the coming months? What sectors are investors favouring going into 2023?

    Moderator: Steve Wade, head of event content, IR Magazine
    Sourabh Banerji, small-cap equity PM, Columbia Threadneedle Investments
    Thaddeus Pollock, portfolio manager, Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn
    James Wong, head of corporate access origination, Millennium Management

  • 14:30 PM
    Champagne roundtables: Exchange ideas and best practices with a glass of champagne!

    How the roundtables work

    • Choose any of the following topics and join the relevant roundtable
    • When the bell rings, move on to the next topic of your choice and repeat
    • Hear a summary of key action points from each table on each topic at the end
    • Enjoy a glass of champagne or a non-alcoholic beverage!

    Topics to choose from

    • How to adapt your IR strategy and raise capital in a downturn: Laura Kiernan, CEO and founder, High Touch Investor Relations
    • How to resource an IR team to deliver an ESG story that communicates long-term value creation: Matthew Gardner, founder and managing partner, Sustainserv
    • How to effectively use digital platforms and messaging to attract retail investors: Laurence Taylor, senior conference producer, IR Magazine
  • 15:30 PM
    Roundtable summary and closing remarks

    Steve Wade, head of event content, IR Magazine

  • 16:00 PM
    Drinks reception and networking

Speakers


What our attendees say

"The content and discussion were very useful and quite in-depth, and the moderators Tim and Ben enhanced the quality of the sessions with their thoughtful comments and questions."

Clear Path Strategies

"Good array of topics covering the span of what's key to IROs currently."

Great Panther Mining

"The forum was truly focused on small cap and micro cap, which is hard to find elsewhere. All the attendees including the speakers, panelists and audience are navigating same challenges and excitements, therefore even the side chat was very open and helpful. "

Alpha and Omega Semiconductor

"The networking was great, as were the speakers. IR Magazine is savvy to shine the light on what is usually an overlooked sector in small caps. "

Prosek Partners

"This was by far the most insightful IR event I’ve seen in my 14 years. "

Wiley

"I was tremendously impressed with the content and also the seamless Hopin platform! Kudos to you and the IR team for pioneering these fantastic virtual events!"

SASB

"Hopin was great. Really had the virtual feel of an in-person conference. Loved the speakers. Very diverse backgrounds. A broad spectrum and well-rounded topics."

llumina

"The event was very well organized, and incorporated a cross-section of experts that spoke to various aspects of IR."

The Equity Group

Attendees

Our attendees are leading IR practitioners with an established track record and strategic IR role within their company. Below is a sample of some of our past attendees:

Job title Company Job title Company
CEO Limbach SVP Financial Profiles
CEO Sidoti and company SVP, capital markets Weber Shandwick
CEO Socialsuite SVP, corporate development First Wave BioPharma
CFO Meduxus Pharmaceuticals SVP, investor relations High Touch IR
Director, financial services Apex CoVantage SVP, investor relations Radius Global Infrastructure
Director, investor relations Compass SVP, investor relations and marketing Safehold
Director, investor relations Vuzix VP Willdan Group
Director, IR & corporate communications aTyr Pharma VP, capital markets Weber Shandwick
Director, IR & finance strategy Farmer Mac VP, investor relations Audiocodes
Founder and managing director Catalyst IR VP, investor relations BioSig Technologies
Head, corporate affairs, IR, ESG & communications Sterling Infrastructure VP, investor relations Exscientia
Head, investor relations JOANN Stores VP, investor relations Gambling.com Group
Head, investor relations MoneyLion VP, investor relations Opera
Head, investor relations Redwood Trust VP, investor relations Traeger Grills
Head, investor relations Sunlight Financial VP, investor relations Virtus Investment Partners
Head, investor relations Veeco VP, investor relations and corporate communications Comtech
Head, investor relations & corporate development 1stDibs VP, investor relations and corporate communications Nyxoah
Managing director Edison Group VP, managing director & head of IR AIG
Manging director Summit Ridge Group
Managing director, ESG & financial accounting advisory services Ernst and Young
Senior account executive Irwin
Senior director, investor relations Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation

 

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Become a partner

Why partner with us?

The IR Magazine Forum – Small Cap brings together some of the most influential people in the IR community.

The event offers an effective approach to targeting clients when they are exploring how they can improve their IR practice. Through our unrivalled knowledge of the subject matter and commitment to in-depth agenda research, our events are guaranteed to attract a qualified audience.

The unique buzz we create at our events makes them multi-faceted and highly interactive with great engagement in particular from heads of IR. This allows our partners to have meaningful conversations with corporates who are deciding which parts of their IR program to invest in, which service providers to engage and which consultants to retain. By partnering with us on an event, you can generate leads, showcase your thought leadership and position yourselves as the partner of choice to the IR community.

We’d love to have a chat with you about how you can get in front of a truly engaged and motivated audience at the IR Magazine Forum – Small Cap. Get in touch with Ian Richman or call on +1 212 430 6865.

Partners

Register your interest

Register your interest for the 2023 forum by filling in the form at the link below. You will be the first to receive important updates about the event and details about how to request an invite.

If you have any questions, please contact Elizabeth Cawte at [email protected] or call +44 20 8090 2156.

 

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If you have any questions, please contact Elizabeth Cawte at [email protected] or +44 20 8004 5340.

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