The newly launched CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021 is the first event to kick off The Accounting & Finance Show Asia 2021 series and will bring together the finance leaders and corporate treasurers from medium and large enterprises across Asia. Broadcasting more than 14 hours of curated content, this one-day virtual summit will feature the most inspirational CFOs, treasurers and finance leaders speaking across 2 key channels, Future Finance and Digital Treasury. In a conversation with CXO Outlook, Laura Binns, Project Director, Accounting & Finance Show Asia, Terrapinn Asia, gives an overview of CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021, challenges of organizing a massive summit like this virtually, speakers of this year’s summit and much more.
Please give us an overview of what the CFO & Treasury Summit 2021 will entail and what you hope to accomplish with conferences like this?
We have launched the CFO and Treasury Summit Asia to bring together finance leaders and corporate treasurers from around the region for a one-day virtual event. Through expert-led presentations, interactive panel sessions and live virtual networking, attendees will have an opportunity to discover how the past year has affected the future of finance and treasury, and how digital technologies will impact and assist the leaders of today and the future.
Key themes of CFO & Treasury Summit 2021 include Finance Transformation, Digital Treasury, CFO of the Future, BCP, Cash and Liquidity Management. What went into the thinking behind putting this on?
The digital transformation of finance and treasury is not a new topic. However, the events of the past year have proven to be a significant catalyst for digital adoption amongst medium and large enterprises. The events of the past year have been unprecedented and have led to an enormous shift in how we work. It has become crucial for finance and treasury teams to be agile, and to be able to react quickly to change and plan for uncertainty. We have designed our conference to provide attendees with the opportunity to reflect on the events of the past year and review their digital strategy for the months and years ahead.
What are the benefits professionals would get when they attend the CFO & Treasury Summit 2021? Please tell us about the speakers of this year’s summit.
The professionals who attend the CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021 will have access to a whole host of sessions covering a curated selection of the main topics and challenges facing finance and treasury leaders today. It is also completely free to attend. In addition, the virtual event platform allows for the professionals to network with others in their industry, or individuals working in similar roles but in a completely different sector, to share their challenges, make connections and learn from their shared experiences. There will also be an opportunity to learn about a whole range of market-leading technologies that can help their businesses to streamline their ways of working.
By joining the online event, the professionals who attend will have the chance to hear from over 30 expert speakers, who are finance and treasury leaders from the likes of GE, General Mills, Alcon, Stripe, Dyson, Maybank, Puma Energy, and Air Asia. Attendees will also have the chance to hear client case studies from the Summit’s Sponsors, who include Blackline, Esker and ITILITE.
Will the pandemic have an impact on the CFO & Treasury Summit 2021 this year? If yes, what are you doing differently this year?
The pandemic has created the opportunity for us to bring together a series of more focused virtual events, hence the launch of the CFO & Treasury Summit Asia 2021. Previously, the Summit’s parent event, the Accounting & Finance Show Asia, ran as an annual in-person event catering to finance professionals in businesses of all shapes and sizes, and those in accounting and bookkeeping firms. We also hope to see the return of the Accounting & Finance Show Asia as an in-person event in September.
What are the challenges of organizing a massive summit like this virtually? How has been the preparations so far to make the event flawless?
In 2020, Terrapinn was forced to take all its entire global event programme virtual. As a global events company we have dedicated a huge amount of time and resources to identify market-leading virtual event solutions, to develop our virtual event offering, and re-train our teams in delivering flawless virtual events. Last year alone we ran over 80 virtual events. Our virtual summits receive fantastic feedback from our attendees and sponsors alike and run seamlessly.
What advice do you have for a first-time attendee to help them get the most out of CFO & Treasury Summit 2021?
Make sure to log onto the virtual event platform in the days before the Summit starts and take some time to plan your event. Save the sessions you want to attend, take a tour of the virtual Exhibition Hall, view on demand content and attendee list and start networking! You will get much more out of the event by taking a few minutes beforehand to plan your day.
About Laura Binns
Laura joined Terrapinn in 2018 and launched the first edition of the Accounting & Finance Show Asia. The show works to drive up the adoption of digital technologies amongst SMEs and accounting firms in Asia. With the show now in its fourth year, Laura and Terrapinn team are now extending the event into a whole series running throughout the year.