For the most part, single-family office senior executives work very hard to enhance and capitalize their networks. This includes the personal and professional networks of their ultra-wealthy families. For example, connecting with peers to share best practices and to act as sounding boards is increasingly common. This is giving rise to more and more conferences throughout the world geared to single-family offices.
At the same time, a pronounced trend is for single-family offices to attend various conclaves replete with attendees who are not from single-family offices. For example, senior management along with family members from single-family offices are increasingly attending elite mastermind groups, partly to find investment opportunities. Attending major international conferences and events, such as the World Economic Forum, is also slowly becoming more common, especially among the most successful single-family offices.
Speaking of rich families attending the forum, Angelo Robles, founder and CEO of the Family Office Association and author of "Effective Family Office," said, “A growing percentage of [family offices] are increasingly looking to connect with other globally focused individuals to find areas of commonality that translate into meaningful business opportunities and possibilities for making the world a better place. The World Economic Forum provides an astounding opportunity to connect with key entrepreneurial decision makers from around the world.”
Although many attendees from single-family offices find the formal agenda very informative, the “real magic” occurrs outside the presentations. For example, the parties are often where more actionable insights are shared. Also, the ability to set up and participate in side meetings is very advantageous.
“While a few attendees may leave the World Economic Forum with possible business deals, most find the connections they make a constructive valuable start to future business possibilities,” says Robles. “The attendees from the single-family offices that are attending the World Economic Forum regularly find it was highly worthwhile and plan to do so again. They are also going to look to build stronger relationships with the people they met at the event.”
While senior executives and family members of single-family offices will continue to attend industry conferences and events, a small but growing percentage is focusing on gatherings where there are potentially exceptional business opportunities. Elite mastermind groups are one example. Conferences and events geared for an international, diverse assembly of high-powered decision makers, such as Bilderberg Meetings, the Milken Institute Global Conference and the World Economic Forum are proving quite appealing to a growing number of them.
Russ Alan Prince, president of R.A. Prince & Associates, is a consultant to family offices, the ultra-wealthy and select professionals.