How Q Wealth’s leaders got in on the ground floor of Future Proof
The value of a different kind of event
Gasparek and Rabinowitz both say that Future Proof’s success has been a result of its uniqueness. They contrast it with traditional industry events in windowless hotel ballrooms, followed up by an over-large dinner hosted by a fund manager. Rubber chicken.
Future Proof, by contrast, tried to get as close as it could to a music festival while still serving the financial services industry. Its colours are bright, as is the California sunshine. Cocktail classes occupy kiosks next to wealthtech providers. The event is backed by an app allowing mutual connection between attendees. Speakers are there to present on a host of topics, but Gasparek and Rabinowitz say so much of the value lies in the space given for conversations and connections, with people in fields and markets that an attendee from Canada might never get exposed to elsewhere.
“It’s amazing how culture has built around it,” says Gasparek. “There are so many people with WhatsApp chat groups, flying in and out to meet each other before and after the event. Going to Disneyland, checking out new restaurants. People are creating their own content around the event.”
Adding substance under the fun
The appeal of an event like Future Proof seems obvious in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. People were desperate for connection and anything that smacked of another presentation offered on Zoom was enough to make advisors retch. While the fun party atmosphere is at the core of Future Proof’s popularity, Rabinowitz and Gasparek insist that the conference has grown more substantive in its content and utility as it’s grown in size.
The event is replete with product pitches from event sponsors and volunteer speakers, but Rabinowitz and Gasparek insist that comes with substantive information behind it. That combination of valuable information and product pitching is a feature of much of this industry. They add that the personal meetings, which are ‘double opt-in’ meaning attendees don’t just get cold-pitched, allow for advisors to cut through the product pitch to real questions or issues. They say there is space for debate about key subjects like the role of AI in the industry or the nature of independent advice. As the event has grown, it’s brought in more advisors and professionals from around the world as well, resulting in more of the serendipitous connection that makes this valuable for attendees.
