How Working The Global Speaking Circuit Can Make You a Better Investor

https://vimeo.com/236866044

I am a global investor. As Chairman of O’Shares ETFs, it’s my job to listen and watch to the ebb and flow of money. Knowing where capital is leaving from and where it’s going is crucial to being successful.

There are eleven sectors in the S&P 500. At any time some are hot and provide excellent returns and others are not. Compare retail vs technology currently and you’ll see what I mean.

There are plenty of analysts providing research on almost every public company. Many do good work and I read much of it riding my elliptical every morning. I use the hour to get caught up with the day's top news stories.

Companies are run by people, specifically the Chief Executive Officer or CEO. The men and women who have this job are the captains of their businesses. If you want to know where a ship is sailing, you talk to the captain. Same thing in business, the CEO sets the course. I’m not talking about insider information on any specific stock, that's useless because it's illegal to make investment decisions with data that is not in the market. 

It’s far more valuable to understand what the CEO thinks about the economy, the competitors, the political environment and the opportunities that lie ahead for their sector in the domestic and global markets. You can assimilate this feedback to create a global perspective on where to deploy capital.

In a perfect world you would interview every CEO and get these perspectives directly. But getting access is not easy.

Want to interact with CEO’s of large international businesses? Hit the speaking circuit.

In the last year I have been a keynote speaker for multiple S&P 500 companies. Some of these audiences have over 10,000 participants. When you are going to speak to this many employees, customers or investors of any company the CEO wants to know what you are going to say!

Before I prepare for any speech, I speak with the team that is setting it up and because these are often large events that usually includes the CEO. We talk about the content, the message, who is going to be in the audience and what their expectations are. CEOs are almost always ready to share their vision on where their company is going. They live and breathe this every day.

I’m fortunate that I get offered more speaking opportunities than I can execute. I often pick the ones that are in sectors that I am knowledgeable about like financial services but I also select opportunities that require research.

I never go out onto the stage without having a full understanding of the industry I am addressing. How do I get that information? Of course I have my team pull all the public data on the company but I also go an extra step.

I call their competitors.

One of the great things about being a “Shark” is that almost everyone returns your calls! Invariable they want to talk about the show because their kids watch it or they curious as to why I am so “mean” (I’m not mean, I’m just the only Shark that tells the truth).

I explain why I’m calling and then we get down to business. I ask them about their industry, the trends, the global markets and what they see on the horizon. As I write this I am preparing a presentation for the media sector.

There is a lot going on in content and distribution: Disney vs Netflix, Facebook and Amazon disrupting linear TV. I have so much feedback on these trends, I feel I am ready to write a book. It's going to be an excellent presentation because I have already spent over 20 hours preparing for it! I have the data, the facts and the insite. Key ingredients for a spectacular keynote.

I work with all the major speaking agencies in the world. I am constantly being judged by audiences and I listen to all their feedback.

My speaking series has become a material business in my portfolio and I have a full time staff that coordinates with agents, books events, arranges travel, logistics and provides research.

I hand pick every assignment and I do the work. I maintain a broadcast quality production studio with over 9TB of video and image content that is fully indexed so that I can pull from it as we create unique presentations.

Todays large event halls can hold up to 15,000 people and the keynotes are like rock shows. My team works with the producers and technical staff weeks before the event to make sure it all works. When you step on stage the last thing you want to worry about is the technology.

Preparing for these events is some of the most challenging and rewarding work I have ever done in my career. The work is so diverse with such interesting people, amazing industries and innovations.

I keep learning more every day.

When it comes to investing, knowledge and experience is everything and nothing keeps you at the cutting edge like preparing for a major keynote.