We started LendIt in 2013 because we wanted to attend a conference that had all the leading players in the online lending industry in the one place. No such conference existed so we decided to create one. Now, LendIt USA is in its fourth year and it has become the largest lending event on the planet.
In 2016 we are heading back to San Francisco, to the birthplace of so many of the leading platforms in this industry. After an event that far exceeded our expectations in New York earlier this year with 2,500 attendees we expect LendIt USA 2016 to be bigger and better with around 4,000 people anticipated.
Two Different Levels of Attendee Passes in 2016
The biggest change for our 2016 event will be the introduction of two tiers of attendee passes. Attendees can choose from an All Access Pass or an Expo and Workshop Pass. The big difference between these passes is access to the main ballroom for keynotes and panels. The Expo and Workshop pass does not give you access to this room but it does give you access to the rest of the conference.
Let me provide you with some back story here. We booked the venue of LendIt USA 2016, the Marriott Marquis, back in late 2014 when we had no idea that LendIt was going to take off the way it did. We under estimated the growth of our conference – we expected we would have 2,000 people or so in 2016. But after 2,500 people attended our 2015 event we knew that estimate for 2016 was way too low.
The main ballroom at the Marriott Marquis can only fit around 1,400 people seated. So, if we sold 4,000 tickets there would be many people who would be disappointed. So, we have introduced two ticket tiers and only those people with an All Access Pass will be able to get into the main ballroom. The rest of the event will be open to all attendees.
Early Bird Pricing for LendIt USA 2016 is Available Until November 20
We have just opened registration for LendIt USA 2016 and those who act quickly will get the best deal. The All Access Pass early bird price is $1,495 and the Expo and Workshop Pass is $995. But as a Lend Academy reader you never pay full price for a LendIt event. Just use the discount code LENDACADEMYVIP at checkout to get 15% off either pass. While the discount code is always good for 15% off the pricing will go up after November 20.
The Biggest Speaker Roster Ever Assembled
We are still working on the agenda for our 2016 event and we expect to have a framework ready shortly. We do have four of the biggest names in our industry already confirmed for keynote presentations. We will be opening LendIt USA 2016 with Renaud Laplanche, the CEO of Lending Club. There will also be presentations from Ron Suber, President of Prosper, Noah Breslow, CEO of OnDeck and Al Goldstein, CEO of Avant.
There will be more tracks this year than ever before. We will continue our Real Estate track that was so popular at our 2015 event but we will be adding several tracks focused around specific topics. We are still formulating these topics and potential speakers so if you have an idea and would like to nominate yourself or someone else as a speaker fill out our speaker signup form.
Kicking Everything off with a Pre-Conference Cocktail Party
Like we have done before we will kick everything off the evening before with a pre-conference cocktail party on April 10th at 6pm. There is a great venue called Metreon City View that is just across the street from Marriott Marquis. Anyone can attend this party for an additional cost of $150.
I am looking forward to another great LendIt event. While organizing these conferences is a huge amount of work putting them on for the online lending community is a labor of love. We create the kind of conference that we would like to attend to learn and network with everyone in our industry.
Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of LendIt Fintech, the world’s first and largest digital media and events company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series. Peter has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The New York Times, CNBC, CNN, Fortune, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times, and dozens of other publications.