After much deliberation over the past several weeks, the leadership team at LendIt Fintech have made the decision to move all of our major events in 2020 to an all-virtual format.
While many cities throughout this country and the world continue to open, we are still a long way from being able to host business events in convention centers with thousands of people. The reality is that we don’t know when exactly it will be safe to have live events like LendIt Fintech USA.
We all want certainty as we start to plan the second half of the year. And there is only one way we at LendIt Fintech can provide certainty for our USA, Europe and LatAm events in 2020, and that is to move to an all-virtual format.
The reason events like LendIt Fintech are so popular is that we can learn the very latest trends from the experts, meet with the people who matter most to us, and create new connections. At our live events, these three goals are met very efficiently in a compressed time period with thousands of like minded people.
However, with this apparently slow and uncertain reopening of commerce that we are now experiencing, it is not clear that we can successfully host a LendIt-quality event in 2020.
Now, with more than seven years of history as a leader in content production, networking innovation and journalism, and after receiving glowing reviews about LendIt Fintech Digital, we are confident that our virtual events will provide excellent value for our audience. You see, we aren’t trying to digitally replicate a live event, we are reimagining the best components of our live events within a virtual world. We will provide an experience that is as good or even better than what we can offer at our live events, all without the expense of travel.
We will have:
- The highest quality speaker roster in the industry.
- Interactive breakout rooms.
- 1-on-1 networking with Brella
- All sessions available on demand
- A huge and diverse audience
We will be launching our virtual events next week with some really special deals. We will also be cooking up some surprises for all of you that we will share at a later date.
If you have already bought a ticket or sponsorship for LendIt Fintech USA you should have received an email earlier today telling you about the benefits you will receive for your early support of us. If you are a confirmed speaker we will be reaching out to you over the next week or so.
We look forward to returning to live events in 2021. In the meantime, we understand you need to stay ahead on your fintech news, knowledge and relationships, and we are here to help you do just that.
Get ready to grow. Look for the launch of LendIt Fintech Virtual events next week.
Just reschedule
Hi Mike! We are really excited about virtual for a number of reasons. We’re going to feature bold content, high-quality production, interactive breakout sessions, and stellar 1:1 networking opportunities. We have reduced the entry price for attendees (more on this soon) to make it accessible to a broader audience, so I strongly believe that we’ll have huge reach with this online version of LendIt. When considering the cost of travel, accommodation and ticket for a live event, each attendee of the conference will be saving thousands of dollars and yet — in my opinion — gain as much value from the event.
Reschedule, you say? We’ve tried that, and still we are faced with the uncertainty of NYC shutting down the Javits Center in September. Our community needs certainty, and we believe we are providing both certainty and value with this move.
This is very disappointing. I have been going to the Lendit Conference for several years. It is an amazing opportunity to network in-person with your fellow colleagues.
Did you consider rescheduling the conference as opposed to switching it to a “virtual” platform which defeats the purpose of a conference?
Were any of the attendees, sponsors or exhibitors asked for their opinions?
Hiya Jonathan. Yes, we’ve been in constant contact with all of our 170+ sponsors and 1000+ already-registered attendees. We’ve considered opinions from all corners, and we think this is a very good move in service to to the industry. More importantly, our sponsors, exhibitors and attendees are showing very strong support for the transition to virtual.
In addition to what I mentioned to Mike above, I am particularly excited that we will be running the entire virtual event on the Brella platform. Brella has done an excellent job of adding live video support to their app, so our conference will feel quite familiar to you in this virtual format. We will be very networking-forward. The content will be excellent. And interactions with sponsors and exhibitors will be seamless. We’ve put a ton of work into this and we think you’re going to love the experience.