2021 IFA Hybrid Annual Factoring Conference Preview
The 2021 IFA Hybrid Annual Conference is right around the corner. In preparation for the event, Heather Villa provided a walkthrough of the unique aspects of this year’s hybrid conference, including an outline of educational and roundtable sessions, networking opportunities and more.
BY: HEATHER VILLA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL FACTORING ASSOCIATION
Get ready for the future at the 2021 IFA Hybrid Annual Conference! On May 11-15, commercial finance professionals from around the world will gather in person and online to learn about emerging and disruptive trends, gather resources for business development and collaborate with some of the brightest and most experienced minds in the industry. Don’t miss the highest-rated and largest event for factors, asset-based lenders, supply chain finance professionals and PO companies!
In Person vs. Virtual
A hybrid event is much more than just a static recording. In a hybrid event, there is an interactive online component in conjunction with the physical element of the program. The IFA Annual Conference will in essence have two audiences — one in person and one online — but our goal is that they will converge and feel like one community. Speaking sessions will be broadcast live to virtual attendees with real-time speaker interaction, roundtable sessions will incorporate both in-person and online attendees, and networking events will be available for both audiences.
Nothing can replace the value of peer-to-peer interactions at a conference, but if you cannot attend in person, then the virtual option still allows you to experience the educational sessions and connect with others in the industry. Providing a virtual component to our conference also allows us to draw an expanded audience of first-time, national and global attendees, which provides an even larger community base.
Room to Meet in Phoenix
The IFA Annual Conference will take you to the heart of a lush desert landscape where each sunrise welcomes big ideas.
Following dramatic property-wide enhancements, the Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria Resort, is reopening this month with a fresh identity. Although not the original location planned for the IFA Annual Conference, we moved the event here in order to allow our attendees the opportunity to gather without strict restrictions.
The IFA, along with the Arizona Biltmore and other partners, will be taking every precaution possible to ensure the safety of our conference attendees. All events and sessions will be configured so that attendees may remain socially distant and strict cleaning procedures will be followed. The IFA will have exclusive use of the Biltmore’s 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, along with 39 acres of gardens, swimming pools and iconic architecture, so attendees can gather safely. Since 1929, the Arizona Biltmore has boasted a rich history and served as a retreat for celebrities, diplomats and presidents, and is one of the only existing luxury hotels influenced by Frank Floyd Wright.
Education Events
While 2020 was an exhausting year in a number of regards, we can learn from and lead through the disruption to create something new and better. As we turn from crisis management and survival to focusing on the future, it’s important to adopt a resilient mindset and embrace continuous learning. With conference speaking sessions geared toward attendees with different levels of experience and positions of responsibility, these events will provide maximum educational content designed for every skill set to succeed in the “new normal.”
Into the Unknown: How Leadership, Ingenuity and Perseverance Put a Rover on Mars (Adam Steltzner, NASA Mars 2020 Mission, Rover Perseverance)
An aspiring rock star turned rocket scientist, Adam Steltzner, Ph.D., is praised as a cutting-edge innovator and a leader who literally brings out the very best in his teams. Steltzner serves as chief engineer of the current Mars 2020 Mission & Rover Perseverance, which has an ultimate objective of determining if life ever existed on Mars. Steltzner brings a rock star’s presence and a storyteller’s gift to the stage with his speeches. He has mastered the art of managing complex teams and the concept of “making ideas reality.” He knows first-hand how collaborative cultures foster innovation and how team-minded engagement fuels performance. And he inspires audiences to dare greatly — to embrace the power of curiosity, creativity and courage to do what others say is impossible.
The Big Shift: How Customer Behavior & Technology is Changing the Future of Factoring (Brett King, Breaking Banks)
Voted American Banker's Innovator of the Year in 2012, Brett King is widely considered the foremost global expert on retail banking innovation and customer experience. Sharing his disruptive insights into innovation, customer experience, channel distribution strategy and the fundamental shifts in consumer behavior, King has become known as a leading industry futurist and disruptor.
Prosperity Ahead — or Not? How the Economy will Affect Factors (Todd Buchholz, Economic Forecaster and Financial Expert)
Listening to Todd Buchholz's vision and expertise is essential in a decade marked by intense economic, military and political insecurity. He elaborates on the "what if's" of the years ahead by drawing on his first-hand knowledge of markets, investing and politics. As a popular business speaker, Buchholz targets his entertaining remarks to the cutting edge of economics, finance and business strategy.
Rise of Fraud in the Digital Era (Pawneet Abramowski, PARC Solutions LLC)
This presentation will highlight the fraud techniques that are impacting the industry and methods to prevent them. Specifically, we will focus on how reliance on digital platforms increases the vulnerability for a company, with specific case examples of social engineering that has impacted many industries across the globe. We will delve into lessons that can be applied to further build best practices.
Culturetopia - The Ultimate High-Performance Workplace (Jason Young, Author, Speaker and Trainer)
As an insider at Southwest Airlines and consultant to dozens of Fortune 500 companies, Jason Young offers a dramatically different approach to creating and sustaining a high-performance workplace. His solution is to create an organizational culture where employees can do their best work and one that will produce the desired performance outcomes in productivity, profitability, employee retention and customer satisfaction. The key is intentionally identifying and developing the essential factors that impact performance for any organization: leadership principles, management practices, team alignment and employee behavior. Young provides practical, easy-to-implement guidance to the seven key determinants that make a healthy, productive and profitable culture within any team or organization.
Learn from History or be Doomed to Repeat It (Panel)
Factoring has been in existence for hundreds of years. It has and continues to reinvent itself through various adaptations and refinements. Factors that could not adapt are no longer in business. Our panel of experts will be discussing their thoughts on where factoring has been and where it is going. Some of the topics that may be discussed include technology, procedures, product, credit, fraud and staffing.
A Look into the Future of Factoring Technology (Panel)
Technology has and will continue to redefine the factoring industry. Factors that make use of technology will find great efficiencies in operations. Those that don't will find it difficult to compete. In the last few years, factoring has seen the development of many new online procedures that streamline the back office while helping to minimize risks. Some of the topics to be discussed include software, procedures, API calls, commercial products available, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Current Topics in Transportation Factoring & Driverless Trucks (David Jencks, Esq., Jencks Law, P.C. & Richard Bishop, Bishop Consulting)
We will be discussing legal and operational issues of which companies that finance in the transportation sector need to be aware. The impact of driverless trucks and autonomous vehicles on transportation factoring also will be discussed.
Report from the Courts (Bob Zadek, Esq. & Ben Heuer, Esq., Buchalter)
Hear the lessons learned from this year’s court decisions and what this means for you and your future.
Acquisitions & Future Planning (Panel)
Are you looking to be acquired? Are you looking for acquisitions? With the rise in M&A activity in recent years, our panel will take a deep dive into the reasons for this activity and how you can prepare your company for acquisitions.
Supply Chain Finance (Panel)
Supply chain finance (supplier finance or reverse factoring) historically has been used by larger buyers and global suppliers. This type of financing is now being used domestically by smaller companies. During this session, we will be discussing how supply chain finance works and various ways that you can enter this type of financing.
Interactive Legal Panel at Lightning Speed (Panel)
This panel will address a wide range of current legal issues and topics that constantly come up in relation to factoring and secured lending by responding to a series of rapid-fire questions. There will be interactive participation by the attendees, who will be polled before a response is given by the panel members. The results of the polling will be displayed after the question has been addressed by the panel so each attendee can see if the panel agreed or disagreed with their response.
Factoring 101 (Brian Center, Quasar Capital Partners)
Learn the nuts and bolts of factoring for beginners or those wishing to enhance their previous knowledge.
Roundtable Sessions
Our highly rated roundtable sessions provide a resource to learn and a framework to foster connections with others that have similar roles within the factoring industry. Each roundtable will be led by industry professionals familiar with the specific group and will provide an open discussion forum between conference attendees, both in-person and online.
Roundtable for Women in Commercial Finance
As leaders and managers in the financial services industry face workplace transitions, this year’s panel for Women in Commercial Finance is pleased to host Laura Petrolle Clemons, Ph.D., who will lead our discussions focusing on the many challenges of this past year and those that lie ahead in 2021. We will cover the myth of multi-tasking, the loss of the workplace community and resulting feelings of seclusion, lack of cohesiveness and camaraderie, and frustrations faced by your employees (and you!). The separation of home life from work life is increasingly blurred, and we will address issues surrounding the necessity of home being brought into workplace in productive ways that align with employee and employer needs. The conversation has shifted and we must adapt. We will collaborate to come up with strategies for our organizations facing these challenges and on the art of meaningful conversations in resolving them. The world has changed — let’s sort it out.
Additional Roundtable sessions will include:
Roundtable for Senior Executives
Roundtable for Young Professionals
Roundtable for Operational Issues
Roundtable for Small Factors
Additional Virtual Only Day
As a new feature this year, we are adding an additional day just for virtual sessions. Whether you are an online attendee or an in-person attendee, you will have access to these extra sessions being offered on May 11 before the conference officially begins. This will allow us to offer even more educational content to our attendees and enhance the virtual experience of the conference.
The following sessions have been added:
Enforceability of Termination Fees in Bankruptcy
A New World? Global Trends and Challenges for Receivables and Asset-Based Finance
Never Waste a Good Crisis: Factoring Clients with IRS Liabilities
Factoring Landscape in Canada
No Office, No Cry
Factoring Cannabis Deals. Dos and Don'ts
Financing Factoring Firms
Networking
The value of the IFA Annual Conference lies beyond just the unmatched industry education. The only way to fully understand the internal challenges that factoring companies face is to connect with others and learn from their experiences. The time allowed for creating authentic, meaningful and valuable connections with others in the industry is one of the main reasons why attendees make this event a priority each year. With attendees ranging from entry-level to industry veteran, these networking events allow all attendees to gain insight and different professional perspectives to form the real-world connections we so desperately desire.
Some of the in-person events we have planned include:
Triumph Welcome Reception sponsored by Triumph Business Capital and Triumph Commercial Finance
Golf Tournament
Scottsdale Food Tour
Young Professionals Reception
Chapter Reception
Thursday Reception
Breakout Small Factor Lunch
Breakout Transportation Factoring Lunch
Tax Guard Dessert Reception
Friday Closing Event sponsored by Saint John Capital Corp.
Saturday Idea Exchange
In order to give virtual attendees an opportunity to connect with others, we will be utilizing an online platform that will allow for networking for that group as well. Roundtable sessions also will bring together both in-person and virtual groups to interact and network together.
Exhibit Hall
Finding the right solution provider is essential to your organization’s success. The Factoring Conference Exhibit Hall is your one-stop destination to finding the right products and providers to help your company achieve new heights. Resources are available from categories such as software, credit, consulting, funding, trade finance, backgrounds, credit card processing, marketing, insurance, participations, UCC, publishing, tax assistance and specialty financing. Breakfasts, lunches and breaks are held in the exhibit hall in order to maximize your time with the vendors and for greater networking opportunities. All virtual attendees will have access to the exhibitors and be able to connect with them as well.
Factoring Essentials Add-On Training Class
On May 12, will be offering our Factoring Essentials Hybrid Training Course with George Thorson (Executive Vice President, Triumph Business Capital) and Gen Merritt-Parikh (President, Haversine Funding). Legal counsel also will be provided by Jim Cretella, Esq. (Attorney, Otterbourg, P.C.) If you are a new factor, an individual new to factoring, or just wish to enhance your knowledge, this add-on course will provide you with the background you need to become a successful factor. This course will be available both in person or live online.
The IFA Annual Factoring Conference is the leading event in the commercial finance industry to attend in order to stay relevant, competitively equipped and prepared for the future. Lean into change, stay ahead of the curve and build meaningful, long-lasting business relationships that will help your company thrive in the turbulent times ahead. Whether attending in person or online, you won’t want to miss this important event!
For more information and to register, go to factoringconference.com.