What Makes a Great Investor Day?

Investor days are intense, multi-hour events that help shareholders and sell-side analysts gain greater insights into the companies they own and follow. 

When the preparation for these high-risk, high-return gatherings is top notch, the outcome can be greater shareholder interest and affinity and more accurate and discerning analyst commentary.

So what makes a great investor day?

The answer, according to a number of IROs, is detailed planning that starts with the design of the proceedings. Design means determining what subjects will be discussed, in what order and which subject matter experts will be used to discuss them.

Choosing topics to include in an investor day is a task best performed by an IRO with a keen understanding of shareholder/analyst informational needs. While some IROs have an intuitive sense of what should or needs to be on the agenda, a best practice is to canvass the intended audience to ensure the curriculum is relevant.

Investor day attendees often hear executives speak about the competitive landscape, target markets (including size, historical/projected growth rates), sales growth strategies, products (new and planned), R&D initiatives, and manufacturing/production. The idea is to deliver further insights on important topics beyond what typically can be addressed during normal-course presentations or is given short shrift.

Regardless of the topic, experts advise that all presentations should be grounded in financial terms; in other words, interspersed with hard data and geared to provide the audience with an understanding of the business case for pursuing a particular market or strategy. The idea is to make sure attendees come away with an appreciation for management as skilled financial operators who make decisions based on investment return potential.

Once topics are determined, it’s necessary to put a presentation order in place (a logical place to start is often a market overview) and to plot how much time should be allotted to each topic. The 20 minutes per prepared presentation rule-of-thumb is a good starting point, but some topics may deserve more time and some less and it’s also necessary to leave time following each for audience questions.

Many IROs wonder about how long an investor ‘day’ should be – whether it should be a full-day, half-day or something in between. Deciding on this will determine how many presentations are possible. While there is no hard and fast rule, some companies prefer to start proceedings at 10 a.m. (to allow out-of-town investors travel time) and to conclude by 3:30 p.m. This provides time for four to five presentations, a plant tour (which can be a highlight of an investor day), a decent amount of downtime and an opportunity for Q&A. Scheduling downtime is key as it provides a buffer between presentations, in case Q&A goes long, and allows the audience to check messages.

Using this framework, there are a number of viable schedules for an investor day. For example:

10:00-10:05 a.m.     IRO welcome, overview of day (including forward-looking statement)

10:10-10:30 a.m.     presentation one

10:30-10:45 a.m.     Q&A for presentation one

10:45-11:00 a.m.     downtime

11:00-11:20 a.m.     presentation two

11:20-11:35 a.m.     Q&A for presentation two

11:35-11:45 a.m.     downtime

11:45-12:45 p.m.     lunch with luncheon speaker

12:45-1:00 p.m.       downtime

1:00-1:20 p.m.          presentation three

1:20-1:35 p.m.          Q&A for presentation three

1:35-1:50 p.m.          downtime

1:50-2:10 p.m.          presentation four

2:10-2:25 p.m.          Q&A for presentation four

2:25-2:35 p.m.          concluding remarks

2:35-2:45 p.m.          downtime and assemble for plant tour

2:45-3:30 p.m.          plant/site tour

Choosing speakers is a critical element of creating a great investor day. A high risk/high return strategy is to invite a customer representative to speak. Customer presentations are often the highlight for investors/analysts as they feel they are hearing an unvarnished opinion of a company’s value proposition from an informed source that matters.

While it’s not normally possible for an IRO to direct a customer’s presentation, good practice is to give the customer-speaker plenty of insight into audience informational needs. This will help the customer understand expectations and anticipate likely questions. Ideally, the customer will be from a public company and the representative well aware of investor relations and disclosure protocols.

Showcasing management bench strength is another important objective of investor days. To do this, executives who are not normally part of day-to-day investor relations are often asked to present. For the chosen speaker, such exposure is a great way to become a more investor-centric manager.

Giving such speakers a crash course on presentation dos and don’ts is absolutely critical. Bear in mind that secondary market liability could arise from any misrepresentation contained in public oral statements made by anyone with implied or apparent authority to speak on behalf of the issuer. Therefore it is best to use formal, scripted presentations (where messaging can be shaped and controlled). Q&A rehearsals are also best practice.

While there is value in introducing new perspectives to your investment story through the use of speakers from ‘operations’, it should be make clear to all that there is no room for going rogue in their presentations. All presentations should be approved by your company’s disclosure committee and ideally your CEO will be present at all Q&A rehearsals.

Plant or site visits are often included in investor days. Tours present a special challenge for IROs for the simple reason that it is tough for the audience to hear the guide. Assuming this challenge can be overcome (possibly by means of renting portable listening devices, by splitting into very small groups, or having a guide at both ends of a large group), the next task is to ensure the tour guide is prepared to describe what the audience is seeing in terms an investor will appreciate. Guides armed with facts and figures about equipment and processes can make the tactile experience of a site visit more valuable. Equally impressive is meeting employees who are shareholders and exemplify the company brand.

In planning, also remember to require that your tour group abide by all safety protocols. If hard hats and safety glasses are needed, these must be provided in sufficient numbers and worn by all guests – no exceptions.

Given the importance of investor days, experts in the field agree it’s advantageous to start the planning months in advance with calls to intended audience members to gauge interest and discuss presentation topics and to begin the process of training executive speakers.

While some companies seek to hold investor days annually, it is better to consider whether there is a real need before arbitrarily setting an objective for frequency. Institutional investors/analysts do not appreciate investor days that have limited new added value content – which is often what happens when they are scheduled every year. Conversely, company executives do not appreciate the distraction of preparing investor day materials only to find a handful of investors present.

While investor days can be held at any point in the year, be careful to avoid blackout periods. And you would do well to avoid generally busy times in the market, including earnings, annual meeting and sell-side conference seasons. Early June and late September are popular times but it’s good to check with your audience before scheduling.

Remember also the value of press releasing the date and time of your investor day and webcasting the proceedings. See eBay’s announcement in the Related Resources section of this article for an example. Although it requires additional planning to allow the proceedings (including Q&A exchanges) to be recorded, webcasting maximizes the impact of presentations and addresses the need to be transparent in communicating (equally) with all investors. Talisman Energy provides a good example of an investor day web page repository – see the 'Where To Get More Information' section below. 

IROs must also be attentive to unintended disclosures of materials facts made during investor days and be equipped to respond quickly with a news release. Transcripts of the proceedings may also be posted to the company website along with slides used during the day. Q&A transcripts are also a great source of insight into investor/analyst thinking and can be mined for ideas on how to enhance future communications.

Comment cards circulated during the day encouraging attendees to rate presentations, or follow up calls made by the IRO to attendees to ask for feedback, are also considered best practice.

Great investor days provide attendees the opportunity to meet not only with the C-suite and next-level executives, but also with members of a company’s Board of Directors. While Directors often do not have formal roles at such events, their presence at lunch (sitting with investors) is very welcome by the audience.

With thoughtful design and detailed preparation, an investor day can be a highlight of your IR calendar and a powerful way to advance investor understanding of your story.