Connect with us

Business

Why In-Person Events Still Earn Their Keep

Published

on

Why In-Person Events Still Earn Their Keep

Ask a finance director about the events line in the marketing budget and you tend to get a raised eyebrow. Events are visible, expensive and hard to measure, which makes them an easy target when money is tight.

Yet for all the scrutiny, businesses are putting more into in-person events, not less. After a few years of doing almost everything on a screen, the room has come back into fashion, and the brands bringing it back are not doing so on a whim. They have worked out that a well-run event still earns its keep, provided you are honest about where the return actually comes from.

The question every finance director asks

The challenge with events has always been attribution. A campaign on paid search hands you a cost per click and a conversion rate. An event hands you a roomful of people and a feeling that it went well. The temptation is to conclude that the channel you can measure neatly is the one that works, and the one you cannot is indulgence.

That is a mistake, and a common one. The fact that something is hard to measure does not make it ineffective; it makes it harder to defend in a spreadsheet. Plenty of the most valuable things a business does, building trust with a major client, aligning a leadership team, giving a launch enough momentum to carry itself, resist a tidy cost-per-acquisition figure. Events sit squarely in that category. The job is not to pretend they behave like performance marketing. It is to understand the specific kind of value they create and to track it on its own terms.

Where the return actually comes from

Strip an event back and the return tends to come from four places.

Advertisement

The first is pipeline. A focused event with the right people in the room compresses months of relationship-building into a single evening. Conversations that would have taken a quarter of back-and-forth happen over dinner. For complex, high-value sales, that acceleration is worth far more than the raw cost of the night.

The second is retention and trust. It is cheaper to keep a client than to win one, and nothing reinforces a relationship like time and attention in person. An existing customer who spends an evening with your team, your product and your other clients leaves more committed than any email sequence could manage.

The third is brand. A launch or a flagship event is a statement about who you are, made in three dimensions. Where you hold it, how it feels, the standard of the detail; all of it tells your market something about your seriousness and your taste. That signal compounds long after the night itself.

The fourth, and the most underrated, is your own people. Bringing a dispersed, hybrid workforce together with purpose does something no all-hands video call achieves. It rebuilds the shared sense of mission that quietly erodes when everyone works from their spare room. Engagement and retention are real numbers with real costs attached, and the in-person gathering moves them.

Advertisement

None of these fit neatly under a single conversion metric, but all of them can be tracked: opportunities created and accelerated, renewal and retention rates, brand and earned-media lift, employee engagement scores before and after. Measure those, and the events line stops looking like a leap of faith.

Hybrid as a multiplier, not a replacement

The pandemic-era assumption was that streaming would replace the room. In practice, the businesses getting the most from events use broadcast to multiply the room instead. The people present get the full experience, the relationships and the spectacle, while a wider audience gets a polished window onto it. One event can now serve the hundred people in attendance and the thousands watching live or later, each at the right level of intimacy.

That changes the maths in your favour. The cost of the event is carried by a much larger reach, and the content produced on the night, the keynote, the panel, the product reveal, has a second life across your channels for months afterwards. The organisations that plan for this from the outset, designing the in-person experience first and the broadcast around it, get two assets for the price of one.

The venue is part of the equation

Here is the part that is easy to underestimate: the venue is not a cost centre sitting underneath the event, it is part of what generates the return. When the goal is trust, brand signal and a genuine experience, the building does a meaningful share of the work. A space that adapts from conference to reception across a single day, that has the production infrastructure built in rather than bolted on, and that impresses the moment guests arrive, lifts everything that happens inside it.

Advertisement

This is why a new generation of London venues has invested so heavily in flexibility and character. Town Hall Spaces in King’s Cross is a useful illustration: a restored neo-classical landmark, reimagined with contemporary interiors and broadcast-ready technology integrated into the fabric of the building, operated by a group with a track record of producing events for the likes of Chanel and the Royal Family. Brands including Adidas, Prada and Sony have used spaces of this kind precisely because the setting does part of the persuading for them. The lesson for any business weighing an event is that the venue is not where the budget leaks away; chosen well, it is where a good deal of the value is made.

The honest bottom line

In-person events are not free, and they are not magic. Run without a clear objective, in a forgettable space, measured against the wrong metric, they will indeed look like money poorly spent. Run with a sharp purpose, in a setting that does them justice, with the right people in the room and a plan to measure pipeline, retention, brand and engagement, they remain one of the most powerful tools a business has.

The screen earned a permanent place in how we work, and it deserves it. But the brands quietly increasing their events spend have spotted something their more cautious competitors have not. When you want to win trust, accelerate a deal, or make your market and your own people believe in you, there is still no substitute for getting everyone in a room worth being in, and measuring what happens next.

Advertisement

Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Business

Ares Capital – Valuation Change Warrants Downgrade (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Published

on

Upstart: Undervalued Ahead Of A Likely Earnings Beat (NASDAQ:UPST)

This article was written by

Rubicon Associates is headed by a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder with over 20 years of experience in the investment management industry focused on the analysis, investment and management of fixed income and preferred stock portfolios as well as asset allocation and macro portfolios. Over the years, he has analyzed and invested in both public and private companies around the world as well as advised institutional clients on fixed income strategies, manager selection, and asset allocation. The principal has been responsible for managing nearly seven billion dollars in credit investments across the capital structure and overseeing the research and trading of credit market activities, $20 B in a short-duration fund, and was Chief Strategist at a wealth management firm. Rubicon Associates has written for Seeking Alpha, Learn Bonds, a newsletter and TheStreet.com in addition to advising institutional and private investors.

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ARCC, BXSL, GBDC, HTGC, TSLX, MSDL, RWAYI, TRIN either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

The content of this article reflects my personal views and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. While I strive for accuracy, the information presented may contain errors or omissions or be based on sources believed to be reliable but not independently verified. I make no representations or warranties as to the completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of any information presented. This article is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. The securities and strategies discussed may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal. I may hold, or have held, positions in the securities mentioned. I do not receive compensation for writing this article, nor do I intend to influence the price or trading volume of any security discussed. All opinions are subject to change without notice. This content is written strictly in a personal capacity and does not reflect the views of any employer, organization, or associated entity. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own independent research and to consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment.

Advertisement

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Continue Reading

Business

Casemiro Calls New Teammate Lionel Messi “the God of Football” After Joining Him at Inter Miami

Published

on

Casemiro scored the winner as Real Madrid beat Real Valladolid on Saturday

Brazilian midfielder Casemiro offered effusive praise for new Inter Miami teammate Lionel Messi following his departure from Manchester United, describing the Argentine star in the most exalted terms shortly after arriving at the Major League Soccer club.

Inter Miami, co-owned by David Beckham, announced Casemiro’s signing immediately following the conclusion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup last month. The contract runs through 2027 and includes an option for a two-year extension. Speaking to the outlet All About Soccer after training alongside Messi at the club’s facility, Casemiro did not hold back in his assessment of his new teammate. “Messi is one of the gods of football, no, he is simply ‘the god of football’ itself,” Casemiro said, according to the report.

Casemiro, 34, spent nine years at Real Madrid, where he played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and the two combined to win the UEFA Champions League four times together. During that period, Real Madrid and Barcelona, Messi’s longtime club, formed one of soccer’s fiercest rivalries through the annual “El Clásico” matches, meaning Casemiro faced Messi repeatedly as an opponent throughout much of his career before now joining him as a teammate for the first time.

Reflecting on the shift from rival to teammate, Casemiro described the early days of training alongside Messi as a striking experience. “Training with Messi for two days was an unbelievable experience,” Casemiro said. “I already knew it was impossible to stop him because I faced him as an opponent. Now that I’m on the same side, I’m really happy. I want to keep enjoying this moment.”

Advertisement

Casemiro made his competitive debut for Inter Miami in an away match against CF Montreal on July 26, helping the team secure a 1-0 victory that was decided by a goal from longtime Messi collaborator Luis Suarez. The result marked an encouraging start for Casemiro as he begins integrating into a squad already built around some of the sport’s most recognizable attacking talent.

Casemiro is expected to line up in Inter Miami’s midfield alongside Argentine international Rodrigo de Paul, forming a partnership intended to provide greater defensive stability for a team that had previously struggled with an unsettled back line. His arrival is expected to serve as a defensive foundation that allows the club’s attacking players, including Messi, Suarez, Mexican forward Germán Berterame and Argentine forward Mateo Silvetti, to advance further up the field with less defensive risk.

Beyond his on-field role, Casemiro explained that his move to Miami reflected a rare degree of personal agency in choosing his next club. “For the first time in my career, I was able to freely choose where I wanted to go,” Casemiro said. He went on to describe a longstanding connection to the city itself. “I have always had a special affection for the city of Miami, and I am very happy because of the tremendous effort the club showed to bring me here.”

Casemiro also used the moment to push back against perceptions of Major League Soccer as a lesser competitive league relative to Europe’s top divisions, pointing directly to Messi’s continued presence in MLS as evidence of the league’s growing stature. “Many people think the MLS still has a long way to go, but we must not forget that it is a league where the best player from the last World Cup is playing,” Casemiro said, a reference to Messi’s continued individual excellence on the world stage even as he enters the later stages of his career at Inter Miami.

Advertisement

Casemiro’s move to MLS adds another prominent name to a growing list of established international stars who have joined the American league in recent years, a trend that accelerated significantly following Messi’s own arrival at Inter Miami in 2023. The club has continued building out its roster with experienced, championship-caliber players in the years since, aiming to pair that veteran talent with rising South American prospects like Silvetti as the team competes for MLS Cup and continental honors.

With Casemiro now settled into the squad following his competitive debut and early praise for his new teammate, Inter Miami will look to build on its win against CF Montreal as the club continues navigating the remainder of its MLS season, with expectations elevated given the star power now assembled across the roster following Casemiro’s arrival alongside Messi, Suarez, de Paul and the club’s younger attacking talents.

Continue Reading

Business

How to Invest in Bonds Now

Published

on

How to Invest in Bonds Now

How to Invest in Bonds Now

Continue Reading

Business

Colgate-Palmolive Company 2026 Q2 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (NYSE:CL) 2026-08-01

Published

on

OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

This article was written by

Seeking Alpha’s transcripts team is responsible for the development of all of our transcript-related projects. We currently publish thousands of quarterly earnings calls per quarter on our site and are continuing to grow and expand our coverage. The purpose of this profile is to allow us to share with our readers new transcript-related developments. Thanks, SA Transcripts Team

Continue Reading

Business

Vesuvius plc (CKSNY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Published

on

OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Patrick André
CEO & Executive Director

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Vesuvius Half Year 2026 Results Presentation. My name is Patrick Andre, Chief Executive of Vesuvius. And with me this morning is Mark Collis, our Chief Financial Officer.

I will start with some updates on our performance during the half year. Then Mark will give you more details on our financials. I will conclude at the end of the meeting with some perspectives for the full year 2026 and beyond before opening the floor for questions.

Our performance for the half year was resilient and in line with last year’s, driven by self-help actions offsetting temporary operational disruptions. Our revenues slightly increased by 1.5% on a constant currency basis. Our trading profit at GBP 74 million was similar to last year’s, also on a constant currency basis. Our return on sales decreased marginally by 10 basis points as compared to last year on a constant currency basis. As expected, our free cash flow generation increased significantly by GBP 41.4 million year-on-year to a total of GBP 27.5 million, driven by improved working capital discipline and stronger operating cash generation.

Advertisement

Working capital intensity declined from 23.6% to 23.1% and is expected to improve further in the second half. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 1.9 on a pro forma basis and is expected to improve further in the second half. These positive trends in cash generation made the board confidence to

Continue Reading

Business

SpaceX Stock Nears All-Time Low as Investors Weigh Coming Insider Lockup and Its Long-Term Growth Story

Published

on

Apple logo at an Apple store in Paris

SpaceX shares closed at $108.37 Friday, down 3.41% for the session, trading within striking distance of the stock’s all-time low of $107.01 set just days earlier, as investors weigh a wave of upcoming insider selling against the company’s long-term growth ambitions. Because this involves an individual investment decision, the following covers the publicly available facts and differing analyst views rather than a recommendation, and it isn’t a substitute for advice from a licensed financial professional.

SpaceX completed the largest initial public offering in history on June 12, pricing shares at $135 and raising approximately $75 billion, an offering that valued the company at nearly $1.8 trillion. The stock surged in its opening days of trading, briefly pushing SpaceX past both Amazon and Microsoft in market capitalization and reaching an intraday all-time high of $225.64 on June 16, according to TradingView. Since that peak, however, the stock has fallen sharply, dropping more than 50% to trade around $108 to $113 as of late July, according to Investing.com, putting shares roughly 19% below their original IPO price and just above the stock’s 52-week low.

A significant driver of recent selling pressure has been the approaching expiration of insider lockup restrictions, the contractual period following an IPO during which company executives, early investors and employees are barred from selling their shares. CNBC’s Jim Cramer addressed the dynamic directly in commentary published July 28, advising investors interested in the stock to wait for that initial wave of insider selling to play out before considering a purchase. “If you want to buy SpaceX, let the first wave of insider selling lockups expire,” Cramer said, according to CNBC. In a separate piece of commentary the same day, Cramer counseled patience more broadly, saying, “It probably pays to be patient with SpaceX.”

The scale of expected insider selling once lockup restrictions lift has become a central concern for analysts modeling the stock’s near-term trajectory. Motley Fool analyst Geoffrey Seiler wrote that a substantial increase in the number of freely tradable shares could weigh on the stock for an extended period. “With a deluge of shares expected to exponentially increase the amount of SpaceX stock available on the open market, this is a headwind the stock will have to contend with for most of the rest of 2026 and into 2027,” Seiler wrote, adding that “SpaceX’s stock price could get cut in half from here by year-end.”

Advertisement

Options markets have reflected similarly cautious positioning among some traders. According to TipRanks, options traders have placed approximately $26 billion in short bets against SpaceX stock as of late July, indicating a meaningful segment of the market is betting on continued near-term price declines rather than a recovery.

Valuation remains a central point of debate among analysts covering the stock. Even after its sharp pullback, SpaceX carries a market capitalization of roughly $1.49 trillion to $1.7 trillion, according to figures from TradingView and Motley Fool, for a company that generated less than $19 billion in revenue during 2025 and posted a net loss of $4.3 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to TradingView. Morgan Stanley, which maintains a bullish stance on the stock, projects SpaceX’s revenue could reach $45 billion this year, driven substantially by growth in the company’s Starlink satellite internet business, but the bank does not expect SpaceX to become free-cash-flow positive until 2035, according to Motley Fool’s reporting.

Despite the stock’s recent decline, Wall Street’s overall analyst consensus on SpaceX has remained decisively positive. According to Investing.com, 27 analysts currently recommend buying the stock while only one suggests selling, resulting in an overall buy rating. The average 12-month price target sits at $236.71, with estimates ranging from a low of $62 to a high of $800, implying more than 119% potential upside from Friday’s closing price, though the unusually wide range of those targets itself reflects significant uncertainty among analysts about how to value a company this large that remains deeply unprofitable.

SpaceX’s business has continued to expand beyond its traditional rocket launch and Starlink satellite internet operations. The company completed its acquisition of xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, in February 2026, adding AI operations as a third major business segment. More recently, reports have indicated SpaceX is exploring a potential move into offering wireless phone service in direct competition with traditional carriers, according to Semafor reporting cited by CNBC, a development that contributed to declines in shares of AT&T and Verizon in late July amid concerns about new competition tied to SpaceX’s expanding satellite spectrum ambitions.

Advertisement

SpaceX’s ownership structure has also drawn separate scrutiny. Musk has publicly declined to rule out a potential future merger between SpaceX and Tesla, remarks made July 22 that added another layer of speculation to how investors should value the space company relative to Musk’s other ventures. Congressional stock trading in SpaceX shares has separately drawn attention, with reports in late July raising conflict-of-interest concerns tied to purchases by members of Congress, according to CNBC.

With the stock trading near its post-IPO low, a substantial insider lockup expiration still ahead, and analysts sharply divided on how to value a company burning significant cash while pursuing an ambitious, capital-intensive growth strategy, prospective investors are likely to want to weigh their own risk tolerance, time horizon and portfolio diversification needs carefully, and may wish to consult a licensed financial advisor, before making a decision about whether current prices represent an attractive entry point or a stock still working through the aftermath of an unusually volatile public debut.

Continue Reading

Business

Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. 2027 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (OTCMKTS:DNPUF) 2026-08-01

Published

on

OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

This article was written by

Seeking Alpha’s transcripts team is responsible for the development of all of our transcript-related projects. We currently publish thousands of quarterly earnings calls per quarter on our site and are continuing to grow and expand our coverage. The purpose of this profile is to allow us to share with our readers new transcript-related developments. Thanks, SA Transcripts Team

Continue Reading

Business

Indian Oil Q1 FY27 slides show sharp loss amid crude volatility

Published

on

Indian Oil Q1 FY27 slides show sharp loss amid crude volatility


Indian Oil Q1 FY27 slides show sharp loss amid crude volatility

Continue Reading

Business

Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions posts Rs 55-cr profit in Q1

Published

on

Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions posts Rs 55-cr profit in Q1
Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions has posted a net profit of Rs 55 crore in the June quarter mainly on the back of higher revenues.

The company had reported a loss of Rs 17 crore in the year-ago period, a company statement issued late on Friday evening showed.

According to the statement, the revenue from operations grew 107 per cent year-on-year to Rs 832 crore in Q1 FY27, compared to Rs 402 crore in Q1 FY26, led by a larger operational asset base and ramp-up in the RE Services segment.

The company reported PAT (profit after tax or net profit) of Rs 55 crore in Q1 FY27 aided by operating leverage and a larger base of stabilised assets.

Advertisement

CleanMax’s total contracted capacity, including the RE Services segment, stood at 6.8 GW as of June 30, 2026.


The board has also approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore through issuance of listed, rated, redeemable, non-convertible debentures/bond on private placement basis.
Kuldeep Jain, Founder & Managing Director, said in the statement, “We added a record new capacity of over 500 MW in the first quarter, and are well on track to meet our guidance of adding a minimum of 1,500 MW of new capacity during the year.”

Continue Reading

Business

Dhaval Packaging’s Rs. 36.36 crore IPO to open on July 30

Published

on

Dhaval Packaging's Rs. 36.36 crore IPO to open on July 30
Ahmedabad-based plastic packaging manufacturer Dhaval Packaging Limited (DPL) will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on July 30, with the issue closing on August 3. The company aims to raise Rs. 36.36 crore through a fresh issue of 37,48,800 equity shares.

Dhaval Packaging has fixed a price band of Rs. 92 to Rs. 97 per share for the IPO. The net proceeds from the issue will be utilised for capacity expansion at its manufacturing facility at Sanand-II Industrial Estate, for which Rs. 27.19 crore has been earmarked. A further Rs. 3.75 crore will be utilised for the repayment or prepayment of certain loans, while the rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

Of the total issue of 37,48,800 equity shares, 17,18,400 shares (49.95%) are allocated to the QIB category, 5,17,200 shares (15%) are reserved for the HNI category, while 12,04,800 shares (35%) are reserved for retail investors.

The lot size is 1,200 shares. The minimum investment required by a retail investor is Rs. 2,32,800 (2,400 shares), while for HNI investors, the minimum investment is 3,600 shares, amounting to Rs. 3,49,200. The allotment is expected to be finalised on August 4, while the shares are slated to list on the BSE SME platform on August 6.

Advertisement

Established in 2015, Dhaval Packaging is engaged in the design, manufacture and supply of plastic packaging products for domestic and international markets. Led by Chairman and Managing Director Manish Dagla and a promoter-led management team with more than 75 years of combined industry experience, the company operates across two core business verticals: In-Mould Labelled (IML) food-grade packaging containers and SAW pipe protection plastic caps for industrial applications.


The company operates three manufacturing facilities at Sanand, spread across more than 60,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing area. Equipped with 21 injection moulding machines and one vacuum forming machine, the facilities have a production capacity of approximately 8,400 kg per day.
The company serves customers across food, dairy, confectionery, FMCG, pharma, construction, infrastructure, oil & gas, automotive, paint & coatings, and chemical & petrochemical sectors. Its integrated manufacturing capabilities, in-house tooling and design expertise, automation-led production processes and internationally recognised certifications have enabled the company to expand its presence in domestic as well as international markets. For the financial year ended March 31, 2026, the company reported revenue of Rs. 65 crore, up 24.4 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA increased 36.2 per cent to Rs. 13.9 crore, while profit after tax rose 33 per cent to Rs. 8 crore. During the year, Dhaval Packaging also expanded its export footprint by entering the Australian market and introduced a stackable tin-plastic hybrid packaging solution for premium food applications.

Rarever Financial Advisors Private Limited is the book-running lead manager to the issue, while KFin Technologies Limited is the registrar. New Berry Capitals Private Limited has been appointed as the market maker.

(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PNN and takes no editorial responsibility for the same.)

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025