This year, at least since March for obvious reasons, has been a wipe-out for Financial Planner events culminating in the postponement of the Personal Finance Society’s much-anticipated Festival of Financial Planning.

Calling off the event makes sense, however, disappointing it will be for attendees.

Last time the event took place at the NEC in 2018 in attracted 3,500 attendees making it the largest Financial Planning event in the UK and probably the most spectacular with live bands, amphitheatre seating and its own radio station.

PFS postpones Festival of Financial Planning

Almost inevitably Financial Planning events have had to move online this year and some huge effort has been put into some with often impressive results. PIMFA has run a 2 day online event and the CISI has put great time into online sessions, bringing experts from all over the world to members via the internet.

To be fair there are some benefits in online events; less time spent travelling, the ability to rewind and watch at a later date and the productivity enhancements from focusing on just the elements you want to see.

More online events are likely and I believe we’ll see a permanent shift to more online events next year and they will get better technically and in terms of professionalism.

Despite this I suspect many planners cannot wait for live physical events whether they be branch meetings or conferences. It’s difficult to have a beer or a coffee with an old industry pal virtually.

There’s also the loss of the spark that a live event can bring, the chance encounter with an expert or new business acquaintance that brings a business-changing idea, the random session that opens the door to a pivotal new idea and so on.

Anecdotally, I hear that some smaller events will likely re-emerge in the autumn and winter and perhaps one or two bigger events at the end of the year. These will require social distancing and careful health measures but they could work well and will provide experience for event planning for 2021.

The likelihood is that it will be well into 2021 before regular live and in person events take place but I suspect they will be greeted with enthusiasm many planners fed up with the isolation of working from home. It is most definitely a people profession.

• Separately, many of you will have seen the debate about the renaming of the Paraplanners Powwow to Paraplanners Assembly to avoid issues of ‘cultural appropriation.’ We broke the story earlier in the week on Financial Planning Today. Some of the debate about the change on Twitter has been heated and fascinating but it’s been disappointing to see some professionals engage in juvenile name-calling.

It’s up to the Powwow / Assembly people to decide on whatever name they feel comfortable with and I’m sure there was internal debate on the matter. We should accept and respect that they came to the right decision for them. I did think one day they would come to review the name. I also believe that other fellow Financial Planning professionals have a right to voice their opinions and free speech is vital. Just because you do not agree with someone does not mean they are wrong. Respect is key in any debate.

Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a financial journalist with 30 years experience.  This topical comment on the Financial Planning news appears most weeks.

Follow @FPT_Kevin