The Essential Guide to Successful Conference Calls with Investors

As an investor relations professional, it can be impactful to engage your shareholders with a conference call. It provides transparency and allows you to address multiple parties at the same time, wherever they are based. This article investigates how conference calls work in IR, what sets them apart from other communication methods, how to select the right solution and how to run a successful one.

• Internal business matters, connecting colleagues who work from home with those in the office
• Conversations with multiple suppliers to manage the smooth movement of raw materials across entities
• Engaging investors to update them on corporate strategy and answer any questions they might have about the organisation’s direction of travel.

Holding a conference call meeting for multiple key shareholders can be an effective way of maintaining contact with shareholders, allowing you to show how you value their input and gain insights on voting intentions, amongst other outcomes. As the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance reports: “Sustained engagement helps companies communicate their strategy, understand shareholder perspectives and even receive early warnings about impeding shareholder activism.”

And investors appreciate this form of engagement, ranking conference calls as the second most effective form of communication with issuers, just behind in-person meetings in IR Magazine’s IR Playbook. In a world where your shareholders are spread far and wide across the country, continent and even world, getting your conference calls right is essential. This guide provides the steps you need to take to ensure you make the most of your conference calls with investors.

Key takeaways

• Investor conference calls are a vital tool for engaging shareholders
• Investors value them as a method of maintaining communication with issuers
• You must plan conference calls meticulously to ensure accuracy and compliance
• Choose a platform that allows for the greatest engagement
• Follow up on your conference call to maximise its impact and reach.

What is a conference call?

A conference call is a meeting conducted with attendees who access remotely via telephone or online platforms. This allows multiple people to contribute to the discussion, no matter where they are.

Although the first conference call device, introduced in 1964, actually included a video screen to view other participants, its bulkiness and the poor quality of the picture meant that it didn’t take off. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the technology started gaining traction.

Today, businesses can take advantage of secure, interactive conference call platforms that allow for effective and productive meetings of multiple participants.

Choosing the right conference call service

There are several features you should look for when considering conference call services for your business:

Organise professional conference calls with ease

Euronext Corporate Solutions’ virtual event solution, EngageStream,  provides a secure and stable experience and allows you to engage large numbers of participants in your conference calls at once. With reliable, branded, broadcast-quality streams and features to allow your participants to interact throughout the meeting, the platform brings together everything you need for a successful conference call.

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Conference calls in investor relations: What makes them different?

When you use conference calls for investor relations meetings, there are several considerations you must make. This is what makes engaging multiple shareholders at a time different from a regular conference call meeting:

• The stakes are high with any direct investor engagement. Whether you are making financial disclosures or discussing other matters related to the business that concern shareholders, you must be transparent and honest. If you misspeak, you can negatively affect shareholder perception or make investors question their trust in your business and its communications.
• A varied audience can consist of many different types of attendees, each wanting to find out about matters that relate to them. This means you must plan your content to satisfy not only institutional investors, but also retail investors, analysts and members of the financial media.
• There are multiple regulatory requirements to consider when you plan your content. As well as being cautious not to reveal inside information, which would put you in contravention of the Market Abuse Regulation, during your meeting you must be careful not to make disclosures that give your attendees an advantage over other members of the investment community, even if they don’t count as insider information. This could cause those investors not in attendance to feel left out and unappreciated.
  
  

Receive expert support for investor conference calls

Managing these challenges requires expert planning and professional advice. Post-Listing Advisory is a service from Euronext Corporate Solutions that provides support throughout the IR calendar, helping you refine your messaging, understand market sentiment and anticipate the questions investors will ask. You can also combine Post-Listing Advisory with our webcasting solution to drive professional-grade investor conference call events.

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How to set up an investor conference call

This is a guide on how to set up a conference call for a successful meeting with investors:

How to run a successful conference call

On the day of the conference call, these are the steps you should take to create an engaging and effective meeting: 

1. Start by setting out the agenda for the call and informing the audience of the purpose of the meeting. This helps manage expectations for the event and focuses the attention of attendees on the matters at hand.

2. If you are hosting an earnings conference call, communicate the results with clarity, accuracy and compliance in mind. Although in many meetings, you might improvise around what is scripted, make sure any mandatory disclosures are pre-written, and the wording is approved by the General Counsel to be certain it meets your regulatory obligations. Then deliver this section as it is written.

3. Engage your participants by asking questions and opening the floor for discussion. If you are using a webcast platform, you can use polls and live chat to encourage interaction with your audience.

4. Follow up after the event by posting a recording on your IR website, sending the link to attendees and providing transcripts to the investment community to ensure you spread your message as wide as possible.

Conclusion

Well-executed investor conference calls are essential for engaging investors and analysts, allowing for interaction and collaboration to strengthen the relationship between the issuer and its shareholders. To achieve this, it is important to use professional services to help you prepare for a compliant event and to engage attendees in a stable and secure environment that allows for large numbers of participants without buffering or dropping out.

Use EngageStream  to host the conference call with confidence thanks to its security protocols and robust streaming capabilities. In addition, interactive features engage your audience and the ability to share the recording after the event means that you get the maximum reach for your meeting. Request a demo of EngageStream to find out how it can provide the perfect basis for your investor conference call meetings.

FAQ 

What is an investor conference call and how does it work?

A conference call is a remote meeting where multiple participants join via phone or online to discuss company matters, often enhanced with webcasting to add a visual element to the event.

How often should public companies hold investor conference calls?

Public companies typically hold investor conference calls quarterly to coincide with earnings releases and provide financial updates. However, you might also choose to hold them at other times to further engage investors and analysts on important matters.

What are some pitfalls to avoid during a conference call with investors?

Avoid unclear messaging, selective disclosure, overly technical language and failing to adequately prepare for the Q&A session.

References and further reading

• Prepare for a stress-free investor day
• Practical guide to hosting investor days that captivate
• How to tell a powerful equity story
• Engaging with investors remotely
• How to do an investor perception study