Charles Schwab & Co. has scaled back its annual IMPACT conference again, announcing it has scratched the in-person receptions it had planned for 10 cities on Oct. 18, a day before the two-day conference is set to begin, according to a company spokesman.
Peter Greenley in an emailed statement said based on the current state of the pandemic and on feedback from advisors and employees, the 10-city roadshow will not go on.
The company in April announced that its two-day conference on Oct. 19-20, which was scheduled to be an in-person event, would be predominantly virtual. But Greenley said Schwab has decided to keep IMPACT 2021 completely virtual again this year. “The team has been working hard to put together two days of thought-provoking speakers and unique education sessions that will be free of registration fees for all invited attendees,” he said.
Greenley said registration for advisors opens September 14. He added that they are “planning and hoping for an in-person event in Denver in 2022, likely also with a virtual component.”
Concerns over the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant has forced many others to switch their conferences to a virtual format or to cancel them entirely.
The Financial Planning Association last month called off its annual conference, which was scheduled for September 22-24 in Columbus, Ohio. FPA CEO Patrick Mahoney said the FPA board’s decision to cancel the conference was a “difficult one, but it was the right decision considering the current state of the pandemic and the significant landscape challenges facing in-person events this fall.”
The FPA said it intends to make several of the sessions, including keynote presentations, available for free to members via a pre-recorded format in the coming months.
In June, BNY Mellon | Pershing held its three-day INSITE conference virtually. LPL Financial did the same with its annual FOCUS conference. Others are opting for a hybrid in-person event.