Day 1

Preparation was complete and it was time to head to the airport and get to my first ASFA conference.

After an initial boarding delay, we were ready, until we weren’t. Seated awaiting take off, the pilot explained we would be disembarking due to a technical issue – the wait to depart continued.

A shade over 2 hours delay, we took-off and had a relatively smooth flight to Brisbane. Bags collected, checked in at the accommodation, time to meet up with the rest of the QMV contingent and trade stories about travel issues – to my chagrin, not all were affected.

Day 1 in the books, it was time to get some rest and prepare for the conference. As a first time ASFA attendee, little did I realise just how valuable rest would be.

Day 2

The morning of the conference and we entered the convention centre to be greeted by a number of installations, all promoting their brands.

Each company had a “hook” or “gimmick” to try and encourage contacts to visit, which they would leverage to start conversations, build relationships, and capture contact information.

Immediately, it was clear that QMV had created an eye-catching (QMV yellow against a sea of blues, blacks, and greys) stand, but also, had a great idea in having people participate in trivia. This resulted in a significant number of return visits, but also, unsolicited, and glowing feedback from industry peers.

There were various sessions held throughout the day to discuss a range of topics and emerging trends, which gave tremendous insight into industry direction – selfishly, that meant understanding where the opportunities for QMV may be realised over the next 12-24 months!

There were several key themes that were discussed impacting those that were in attendance:

• The need for digital “revolution”

• Customer engagement and expectations

• Industry consolidation

• Investment performance and the external factors impacting them.

The day concluded with a catch up with colleagues and conference goers before we prepared for the final day of the conference.

Day 3

The last day of conferencing kicked off with an invite only QMV sponsored breakfast for select delegates. Whilst it was considerably early for a breakfast session, it received rave reviews from those who attended. Refer to the image gallery below.

A final day of thought-leadership sessions were planned, but most noticeably, there appeared to be more people exploring the exhibitions and a palpable shift in the mindset of some trivia participants – this was no longer a game, they were there to win!

There were interactions with peers, opportunities identified, sessions attended and finally, it the time had come to declare the lucky winners, who were chuffed with the prizes (an iPad pro, Apple Watch and Headphones for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ).

It was then time for the formal aspect of the conference to end and head to the annual ASFA dinner to celebrate a successful conference with colleagues and peers.

Why QMV’s presence is important at ASFA

ASFA describe the ASFA Conference as “one of the largest pensions events in the world and the only major event of its kind in Australia that brings all sectors of the superannuation industry together under one roof.”

The conference delegates usually include c-suite’s and executives from the superannuation and financial services industry. They are invited to not only attend a myriad of sessions to discuss current and emerging industry issues and trends, but also, meet with industry service providers such as, consultancies, insurers, and software platforms to learn about the latest products and services available to meet organisational needs.

This year QMV managed to generate a significant number of leads for Consulting, Legal and Technology, which results in a growth in individual networks/QMV awareness and recognition and ultimately, company growth.

The next steps for QMV broadly are to:

• Work through the lead generations that were curated whilst at ASFA, which includes individual opportunity management as well as broad engagement/provision of collateral.

• Continue our thought leadership efforts via content on LinkedIn by leveraging the brand recognition momentum that has been generated by the ASFA conference.

• Continue and progress discussions with key stakeholders regarding use of Investigate DQ and schedule demonstrations to perspective clients across the coming weeks.

From my own perspective, my views on the conference have changed significantly. In the past, I saw it as an opportunity for “a junket” and outcomes would not be worth the investment, however, I can now see that there is tremendous value generated from a strong presence.

QMV will grow their network, reach out to new clients about a broad range of opportunities and deliver new business, all of which will be either a direct or indirect realised benefit of the ASFA presence.

But before all of that can happen, the percentage of QMV’ers who tested positive to COVID upon their return, will rest and recover! 

Rob Smith

Lead Product Consultant - Investigate DQ

Behind the scenes and marketing operations

There is a lot of planning and preparation required for large scale events like the ASFA Conference. The prep for this conference started back in October 2022 and it was all systems go when we got back from Christmas break. From picking the stand location to booth design, AV set up and preparing target lists of invitees from the delegates list - everything is carefully thought out to ensure the QMV brand and our service offering are represented in the best possible way to existing and potential clients.

This year we had a completely different booth design, which meant starting from scratch and an additional hook to bring people to us with a quick game of trivia. We had a few iterations before we landed on a design that fit our brand but also ensured optimum visibility when attendees entered the conference hall doors (the bright yellow banner never fails!). We engaged a third party gaming company to program the game for us and they did a fantastic job.

Once the conference started, we had several posts on LinkedIn that gained a lot of traction, thanks to the broader QMV team for taking the time to engage with these posts.

From a brand and marketing perspective, we had a fantastic result at the conference. It’s always a great feeling to see your vision come to life.