People often ask me why we put so much effort into our treasury events.
After all, they’re free to attend, so what’s in it for me?
And the answer is pretty simple.
Because when I looked around the treasury profession a few years ago, I realised something was missing.
There were conferences, industry events, and networking evenings.
But too often there was an agenda attached.
A service would want to sell something, or a sponsor would want stage time (I know because I’ve had to turn down plenty of them myself!).
I wanted something different…
My goal was to create a space where treasury professionals could simply learn from and meet each other without the sales pitch.
That vision came to life once again at what has now become our biggest-ever Treasury Career Corner LIVE event in London last month.
We had 32 senior treasury practitioners sitting around the room from 3pm to 6pm discussing the challenges they’re facing right NOW!
What’s working.
What’s not working.
Career development.
How they’re approaching treasury systems. New technology.
It was amazing, but to me, it wasn’t the best bit.
You see, I’m often at events filled with people at the start of their treasury careers… but how often do those people actually get the chance to sit down with an experienced Group Treasurer and ask whatever they want?
For most people, probably never.
But we gave people the chance to change that; to learn from people who’d already walked the path ahead of them.
We had 24 treasury professionals from Treasury Assistant to Senior Treasury Manager sitting with Stuart Case the Treasurer at Sky, Louise Woodroffe, Head of Treasury at Hastings Direct and Tanja Holden the International Treasurer from Acrisure sit with each group and answer the questions they wanted to ask about their treasury careers.
- How did they get into treasury?
- What mistakes did they make?
- What would they do differently?
- What advice would they give their younger selves?
Those are the sorts of questions that can genuinely change someone’s career trajectory.
And afterwards, I got the same feedback from everyone…
“That was incredible.”
People often think networking means awkward conversations, business cards and LinkedIn requests. But that couldn’t be more wrong.
The best networking happens when people are learning together, sharing experiences, and building relationships BEFORE they actually need them.
That’s what this event was designed to do.
And this event itself was a great reminder of why networking matters.
Because throughout the questions, conversations, and stories, one theme kept coming up:
The strongest careers are rarely built alone.
So, a huge thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making our London event such a success.
Whether you joined the roundtables, the panel discussion, the networking afterwards, or all three – you helped create exactly the sort of conversations we wanted these events to encourage.
And if you missed this one…
Don’t make the mistake of saying “Maybe next time.” Instead, make sure you’re there!
I’ll see you at the next one.
Best regards,
Mike
