Nearly 2,400 delegates are expected to attend the Personal Finance Society’s four Financial Planning Symposiums around the country which start next week.

Attendance for the fully-booked conference and exhibition at Wembley Stadium in London on 24 November is set to top 900, the PFS told Financial Planning Today. Following the London Symposium on 24 November, the PFS will host its Annual Awards dinner, bringing together more than 550 members of the profession and VIPs.

The Birmingham Symposium on 29 November is expected to be the second biggest with nearly 650 booked while 420 have signed up for the Edinburgh event.

Some 415 are due to attend Celtic Manor resort in Newport, Wales next week on 10 November, the first event in the series. The 5 Star Celtic Manor Resort is the same venue that hosted the CISI’s first ever Financial Planning Conference recently. It replaced the old IFP Annual Conference, which had been held at the venue for most of the last 10 years until the IFP merged with the CISI last year.

Former IFP chief executive Steve Gazzard will be among the PFS line up of key speakers for all four events. Other speakers include PFS chief executive Keith Richards on the evolution of advice and Chartered Financial Planner Jason Butler who will look at how the way people access, experience and pay for financial advice will undergo a radical transformation due to technological innovation.

The PFS says there is now limited capacity at some venues following a decision to lift previous restrictions, but London is fully booked. Full details of speakers and updates are on the PFS website.
Although not part of the Symposiums, the PFS will be holding a Financial Planning in Focus event in Belfast next week on 8 November. It is the PFS’s major conference in Northern Ireland and will see approximately 200 attendees gather.

The PFS events will “celebrate the evolution of the story of Financial Planning” by taking inspiration from William Shakespeare. Each symposium will also have 36 exhibitors who will have access to two additional delegate passes - meaning numbers are boosted by an extra 72 at each venue.

Personal Finance Society chief executive Keith Richards said: “We are looking forward to welcoming close to 2,500 delegates to our flagship National Symposiums this month, and we’re thrilled with the response from members who continue to engage and network with like minded professionals.”

“Our National Symposiums represent the pinnacle event for the professional advice community, and this year’s events represent the biggest gathering of Financial Planning professionals in the financial services calendar.”

“We have assembled an impressive line-up of guest speakers and subject matter experts, as well as award winning actor, business coach and keynote speaker Ian Hughes, who will draw on the Shakespearean theme by explaining how the power of storytelling can increase the impact we make when telling our own story.”

“Delegates will hear from a range of inspirational speakers as well as former Lloyds Bank chief economist Trevor Williams, who will dissect the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. We will also be updating members on a number of key initiatives that the Personal Finance Society is spearheading.”

• The Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) has revealed the final line-up of speakers for its inaugural Financial Professionals’ Forum. The half-day conference, organised in partnership with Deepbridge Capital and APFA’s Associate Partners, will be held in London on 22 November, at Schroders, Gresham Street, City of London. Attendees will hear from senior regulators, industry thought-leaders and policymakers on the “key issues affecting advisers and advisory businesses.” APFA members are eligible for a discount on tickets.

Speakers and experts on hand will include, Graeme Abell of M&G, Paul Fidell of Prudential, Chris Hannant of APFA, Simon Massey of MetLife, Graeme McLean of the FCA, Stuart Podmore of Schroders, Fiona Tait of Royal London and Ian Warwick of Deepbridge Capital plus many other speakers including representatives from the Treasury and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Chris Hannant, director general at APFA, said: “We are delighted to have such high calibre speakers, representing key regulatory bodies as well as the entire breadth of the adviser sector, taking part in our inaugural Financial Professionals’ Forum. It was important to us that the events not be ‘preachy’ in tone and that each panel had a voice from the advice profession. We hope that doing so will ensure our conference is as relevant as possible to advisers and will provide them with fresh insight into some of the most pressing issues facing the advice community today.”

More details at the APFA website.