Vision Forex Forum

GC: CHARITY

LILLY PAVLOU

The prelude.

So how did this happen? How did I end up attending a Forex event which is something I am usually not forthcoming in doing. Normally this type of thing brings me out in psychological hives with the overbearing feeling that I am now two days behind my schedule.

Do you ever get the feeling that you have not really achieved anything more than standing in a corporate branded box, handing out bland branded literature to non playing characters whilst grinning at passers by attempting to entice them to your booth like the oldest profession in Amsterdam.

Now before the expo industry forms an orderly queue for a pile on, I would say that they can and perhaps do play a role in marketing. However, the venn diagram of money in, effort and results leaves me thinking that maybe it does not play such a significant role which is often portrayed by this industry.

Nowadays they act as venues for content pieces for excited marketing departments justifying to the CEO that the event was worth it as we will get paid in clicks,likes and follows.Any event I have attended over the past couple of years, the auditorium can be challenging walking through the steamy boothed avenues of the venue, when you have one of the several camera teams from various brands competing to make the same tracking sequence through the middle of the event, which would perhaps rival any of Tom Cruises in the mission impossible franchise.

They often greet you with a scowling look as you mistakenly walk into their posse of ten people walking backwards, with the star of the show walking slowly speaking to the camera, trying incredibly hard to remember the alpha hand gestures they are supposed to replicate in this ten second ode to Martin Scosesse.

With that being said, I have never classed myself as a ball of excitement of attending these events. I couldn’t be accused of being one of those who advocate going, but really deep down we all know they love having a nice couple of days away from the family, and getting on the booze every night , or networking in the industry parlance.... then I met Lilly Pavlou..

The last time I met someone in the Four Seasons for a coffee after a brief couple of comments on a Linkedin post, led to me moving from a slightly above average career in FX, to a lucrative career in banking. How could I turn down an offer to meet?

If you have not had the pleasure of meeting the whirlwind of positive energy that Lilly is, I suggest you do. Once you leave her presence you feel like you have been on a Tony Robbins deep dive, feeling incredibly energised and able to tackle any challenge in your life. I left our conversation doing a power walk through the golden entrance of the Four Seasons, enthused to attend the event. I was genuinely intrigued how someone could convince a self confessed expo agnostic that her event would be different from the others?

The event.

Different to the regular booth based metropolis type of events I have previously attended, although there were a couple there it was not the sensory overload that I normally receive. Moreover, with a heavy emphasis on watching the presentations in a calm and serene environment, I actually found the presentations of some use and I learnt something new from several of the discussions. I didn’t feel that the people were on stage using psychological warfare to break me and buy their product. Rather we had listened to people at the top of their game, and from their expertise you could see that they were experts in their field.

As myself and my dining companion found ourselves being the first into the food area (strategically planned by ourselves very well) the standard of food and wine was very good. We had a nice long buffet lunch with several glasses of wine to go into the afternoon session with the full stomachs and the wind at our backs ready to mainline more industry information directly to our brains.

The big pay off.

What really set its event apart from others was the actual pre-arranged meetings liased by Lilly and her team. I didn’t have to lift one finger in arranging any meeting, as Lilly and her team had a list of requirements from decision makers who wanted a particular service. Other events you attend, you are bombarded with linkedin messages to see how we can ‘potentially synergise’, which all of course could be done by looking at my profile and having a brief call before the event. A sceptic could argue that they are there booked to show their boss that they have activities planned.

The real beauty of this event is that the attendee’s can see who will be present, and they can choose to meet you and discuss projects together. This is great as it gives you a definite structure to my day of meeting someone new (with a high probability of future business), which is quite hard to do in such a niche industry such as banking..

I was guided by the excellent Nour to our meeting area with the meetings confirmed beforehand, where we all knew the pain points that needed solving, and what we could offer. It cut out a lot of the faff and we got down to business.

Worth the entry price?

Having used the service, I would suggest that if you are serious about try to get business or at least start a relationship off is to go for the full package where you can choose to meet people.I say that as someone who has not been paid to promote, and I will confess am a very cheap person, to admit to saying full price is quite a volte face.

If you are one of those people who love attending events as an excuse to get out of the office, and have beers by midday then this is probably not the event for you. If you are looking to meet like minded people and like to have a laser beam focus on your day, then it is well worth it. From the arranged meetings that you have, the entrance fee pays for itself, as it is designed more as a venue to take in information from the presenters, hence the name forum not expo. Moreover, where the organisers are actively helping you network by actively introducing you as you are a good fit is fantastic.

I would look to attend another one which is not FX based and more banking related, on a personal level that would add more value for the brand I represent and naturally gauge a better ROI on the price of the ticket.

Lilly turned a cynic into a preacher!