Speaking at the Forum

Attendees want sessions that have been specifically tailored to address the priorities and concerns of retail banking institutions. They are generally not interested in sessions that present research findings (e.g., data dumps).

• Digital banking trends and the future of retail banking
• Digital banking products and innovative retail delivery models
• Advanced digital UX and CX trends and strategies
• How open banking, APIs and fintech integrations impact growth strategies
• Advanced data analytics strategies for financial marketers
• Predictive analytics (how banks are- and should be using it)
• Machine learning and deep learning (how banks are- and should be using it)
• Natural language processing, AI and chatbots
• Strategies that accelerate growth, grow relationships, and increase depth of wallet
• Streamlining and accelerating the new account opening process
• Deposit/checking account marketing, switching, and acquisition strategies
• Onboarding and cross-selling strategies
• Loan marketing and strategies to increase lending volume
• The latest trends and innovations in payments (e.g., how banks should deploy instant payments)
• Advanced digital marketing strategies
• Martech stacks and strategies for banks and credit unions with less than $20 billion in assets
• Marketing segmentation, personalization, and automation strategies
• Marketing personas and demographic targeting (e.g., Gen Z, mass affluent, Hispanics, etc.)
• Advertising, content marketing & SEO strategies to increase website traffic
• Leveraging financial health/wellness strategies and tools to fuel growth

Attendees at The Financial Brand Forum don’t want just “great speakers” who are interesting. They want great teachers. They want people to show them “how to” instead of explain “why you should.”

Attendees enjoy learning about what the future holds, but what they really value is learning what they can do now — today — ideas and insights that will help them do their jobs faster, more effectively, more efficiently and with greater impact/ROI.

Attendees also want sessions that have been specifically tailored to address the priorities and concerns of retail banking institutions.

They are generally not interested in sessions that present research findings (e.g., data dumps). And no one has ever complained that the material presented in a breakout session was “too advanced.”

To be considered for a speaking slot at The Financial Brand Forum, please provide the following:

• The name, title/position and company of the speaker who will be presenting
• The proposed title of the session along with a narrative description at least 500 words long
• At least 8-10 bullet points summarizing what you will teach attendees (we prefer outcome-oriented, growth-focused, how-to sessions)
• A sample PowerPoint presentation so we can see what kind of slides you create
• Video of the speaker presenting a session (not mandatory, but definitely preferred)

The Financial Brand Forum is built for senior-level decision-makers working in the North American retail banking industry.

Over 2,000+ people are projected to attend The Financial Brand Forum 2025, representing over 700+ different financial institutions and nearly $10 trillion in combined assets.

Attendees work at financial institutions with an average asset size of $20 billion and a median asset size of $1.3 billion, with 91% of attendees coming from the U.S. and 5% from Canada.

Roughly two-thirds of attendees work directly for a retail financial institution. 63% of the attendees are VP-level or higher. The most common titles attendees hold include CEO, CMO, COO, EVP, VP, and AVP.

Attendees at The Financial Brand Forum have told us few things aggravate them more than conference speakers who turn their sessions into sales pitches. Here are some verbatim statements from past attendees:

• “A few of the sessions were basically a one-hour pitch for whatever the presenter was selling.”
• “Many sessions were thinly-veiled product demos.”
• “Some of the vendors gave overviews of what they do instead of giving me takeaways.”
• “I come to the conference to hear about best practices, not from vendors selling their services.”
• “It seems like some sessions were ‘pay-to-play’.”
• “A few of the ‘classes’ I went to were much more ‘sales pitch’ than informational.”

That’s why we have a simple promise: Any speaker who sells from the stage will be banned from the conference for life.

We realize that most company’s see public speaking as a business development tool. Every speaker wants to walk away from their session with dozens of new leads, but if any part of your presentation includes a “sales pitch,” it will backfire.

Follow these tips and the odds that attendees will want to do business with you will increase exponentially:

• Make your session educational and teach people how to accomplish something important — whether they work with your firm or not.
• Avoid mentioning your company during your presentation.
• Don’t talk about any proprietary tools/solutions, or any branded products/services your company offers.
• Keep your session focused on “how-to.” If you spend too much time on “why you should,” attendees will assume you’re just trying to justify why they should work with your firm.
• Don’t include case studies and examples of client work unless it’s absolutely relevant.
• Include examples and case studies of work your company didn’t do. This builds a lot of credibility.