Top Must-Attend Fintech Conferences [2024]
Looking for a list of the best fintech conferences?
You’re in the right place.
We’ve put together a list of the top must-attend conferences for 2024. We’ve crowdsourced these so you won’t find some of these events and conferences elsewhere.
We’ll be continuously updating this page throughout the year so make sure to bookmark it.
Towards the bottom we also share some tips on how to make the most of a conference.
Top fintech conferences in 2024
Tips on how to make the most of going to a conference and/or paying for a booth
A lot of advice when it comes to fintech conferences boils down to one key piece of advice: don’t expect to pay the booth fee and automatically get a lot of leads. You need an actual strategy.
Conferences can be very much worth it, but a lot of work needs to go into a conference in order to get a good return on your investment. We’ve put together some tips from our own experience, others’ experience, as well as what based on what others shared in the Fintech Marketing Slack group.
Be everywhere your prospects are
This is a top tip from Sam Blond, ex-CRO of Brex, who shared his own experience of what works in a Twitter thread. He explains how Brex was able to make the most out of SaaStr, a SaaS conference, while spending a third of the budget that other companies were paying.
Instead of paying for the sponsorship and hoping for the best, Brex went full on for the conference. Their strategy was simple: they wanted the attendees to feel like Brex was everywhere.
There are four key ways Brex achieved this:
Sponsored key cards. They designed the hotel keycards to look like a Brex credit card. This meant that attendees had these keycards on them at all times, and constantly using and seeing them.
Gave out “Brexfast” burritos. They hired people dressed head to toe in Brex swag and paid them to give out burritos outside the conference centre.
Hired a magician. At their booth, they hired a magician that did tricks that incorporated the Brex card. There was also always a big crowd at their booth, which attracted more people.
Bought bus shelter billboards. They bought up all the billboards within a mile of the event, which was cheaper than buying other visual space within the conference centre.
As Sam explains in his thread:
“An attendee would check in to their hotel and get a Brex credit card they need to use several times a day to get in their room. They pass our shelter ads to and from the conference, lunch, dinner, etc. They get a Brexfast burrito as the first thing they experience at the event. They see a crowd standing at our booth and join to watch the magic show.”
That’s how they got attendees feeling that Brex was everywhere for a third of what other sponsors were paying.
Sam’s overall tips are:
Pick the 1 - 3 top events of the year for your target market, no more.
Schedule brainstorming sessions with important stakeholders and ask each person to come up with 3 out of the box ideas per session.
Pick your favourites and then the person who came up with the idea organises it and makes it successful.
Read his Twitter thread: Sam’s Twitter
2. Put a lot of effort into the design
Jeffrey Romano, Head of Marketing at FinXP, shares this tip:
“If you're exhibiting, it's really important to get the layout and messaging on the booth right. Often there is an over-emphasis on aesthetics but then the messaging isn't clear, which defeats the purpose.
Or sometimes the layout doesn't take into consideration the traffic flow, which is a huge mistake. I've had direct competitors have bigger and nicer booths right next to mine, but they had probably 60% less traffic due to bad design.”
Essentially, you want to make sure you pick the right colours but don’t overwhelm attendees either. A good rule of thumb is the 60/30/10 design rule:
60% of your space will have your primary colour.
30% will be your secondary colour
10% will be your accent colour
3. Run a giveaway or do something very different
Ilias Tsatalmpasidis, Growth Marketing Director at HyperJar, shares this tip:
“I always recommend having an interesting (but ideally relevant) giveaway. For example, sign up to our newsletter, be in a chance to win an amazon echo/ipad, etc.
You get the chance to speak to more people than without it in my experience. Also ask people an open question also goes a long way (ie what are you most proud of the last year or so), it gives you opportunities to build rapport quickly on things they care/proud about.”
In the same vein as Sam Blond’s tip, you want to try and create a buzz around your booth, and attract crowds.
As Todd Kuna, Senior Account Director at CG Life explains “The best trade show booths are the ones that create an experience”. Doing an interactive exercise or something like a VR game is a great way to get creative, engage people and create an experience that is memorable.
Examples of stunts or experience you can run are:
Hire a masseuse
Vending machine puppet show (see how Exploding Kittens did this)
Speaker trivia
A game show with prizes
Video game console and controller
4. Do a side fintech event
Everyone knows that the best connections and networking opportunities usually happen at the side events. That’s where you’re really able to connect. In fact, at certain fintech industry conferences some people pay for travel and meet with prospects just outside the conference location!
So why not take advantage of that and run a side event? A really fun side event can help enable connections and people will remember you for helping them meet others.
This could be a party, but it could also be a dinner – not everyone has dinner plans after the conference, especially when it’s multi-day. You could set up a dinner and invite your prospects, or you could invite industry leaders, thought leaders or key influencers to give a short talk.
Whatever the goal is, make sure your side event is in a relaxed environment, where people can get to know each other on a personal level (no demos!). Ideally it’s a nice getaway, rather than an extension of the conference.
It’s also a great segue when meeting decision makers and cementing a relationship. If you’re meeting a prospect for the first time at a conference, you can continue the conversation by inviting them to your side event.
Some ideas to make the side event entertaining:
Do the opposite of the conference: if there was a lot of sitting down, make it ambulatory.
If there were a lot of panel discussions, do a presentation, talk or roundtable.
Put together a signature cocktail with your logo and brand colours.
Live music and DJs are always a good idea
Whatever it is, you want to make it different from the rest of the financial services conference. That way, your brand will remain memorable.
Fintech conferences: even more relevant in a remote world
In a world that is increasingly remote, it’s hard to find a physical concentration of your prospects and target market.
And that’s where in-person networking events and conferences can fill in. With the right events strategy and presentation, you can get an incredible ROI out of financial technology conferences and events.