Dear SFNet Community:

As you may have heard, SFNet and our Management Committee have made the difficult decision to shift our Annual Convention this November 17^th-19^th from our planned venue in New Orleans to a live, online event.  While we are thankfully seeing parts of our economy begin to re-open, large gatherings in New Orleans are currently illegal and even if that should change, it is impossible to adequately ensure the well-being of our attendees, staff and volunteers.  Focus groups have reinforced that the majority of firms and individuals would not support an in-person Convention this year.

While we understand this is disappointing, the good news is that SFNet has made a hard pivot to virtual programming since the start of the crisis and has been investing heavily in new technologies and design concepts to make these experiences increasingly rewarding and fulfilling.  We are confident we can produce a live online Convention that will open up exciting new possibilities that can far exceed your expectations. 

The capabilities of our new and enhanced digital platform go well beyond our Crucial Conversations Webinars, which have had well over 5,000 registrants and enjoyed the highest possible net promoter and utility scores.  Many of these new features will be on display at SFNet’s Women in Secured Finance Conference, Young Professional Leadership Summit and Cross-Border Lending Summit live online events over the coming months.  These experiences will include:

• Higher profile speakers (not constrained by travel plans)
• More diverse attendance (companies can send colleagues from different disciplines and career levels within their organizations who may not have been able to participate before)
• Richer, broader and more highly interactive content (not restrained by the hours in a day or available space, that may be consumed in live group formats or at your leisure)
• Greater exhibitor and sponsor accessibility (leveraging multi-media, data capture and novel formats)
• Unique opportunities to network (artificial intelligence matching and enhanced one-on-one video may actually make it easier to target specific individuals and connect than at live events)
• Surprises to entertain, engage and inform you in new and compelling ways

We will be sharing much more about the program including new pricing options and registration information in the weeks and months ahead.  Check the Annual Convention Website for updates and get ready for SFNet’s 76^th Annual Convention – This Way Forward.

Best, 

Rich