Inderes recently held its inaugural Capital Markets Day as a listed company. We found ourselves in a paradoxical position: as a company we were newcomers organizing our first CMD, yet our team has years of experience helping other companies run theirs. Here is what we learned.
Tight Agenda Forced Us to Sharpen Our Messages
The event team’s two-hour maximum duration seemed daunting at first. As a former equity analyst, I was accustomed to full-day CMDs with lengthy presentations. However, hybrid event data showed audiences struggle to stay engaged beyond 90 minutes.
This constraint proved beneficial but demanding. As the saying goes, it takes much more work for a speaker to give a 10-minute presentation than a 30-minute one. The accelerated pace maintained audience interest while respecting participants’ time constraints.
Pre-Marketing Pays Off
Digital CMDs eliminate audience size restrictions — whether 50 or 1,000 participants doesn’t affect costs or logistics. Inderes leveraged multiple channels: press releases, social media, homepage banners, digital advertising, email campaigns, and personal invitations.
Our CMD attracted approximately 300 live participants; the recording reached 600 unique viewers — solid numbers for a smaller company.
Hybrid Events Require Intentional Design
True hybrid events differ fundamentally from streamed physical events. Rather than adding streaming to an in-person format, successful hybrid events are designed around both audiences simultaneously.
Paying attention to the right details and brand elements makes the event look and feel like the company it represents — through insert videos, set design, lighting, and speaker staging. The production quality signals to investors that you take communication seriously.
Internal Communication Benefits
CMDs often coincide with strategy announcements, making them powerful internal communication tools. Recordings enable staff participation across locations and support employee onboarding. When your entire organization can watch the same CMD, it creates shared understanding of company direction.
Preparation and Timing Matter
Adequate preparation time reduces last-minute stress. I recommend synchronizing strategy development with CMD planning, establishing firm material deadlines, and scheduling sufficient dress rehearsals before the live event.
The biggest lesson: the work you put in before the day determines how well the day goes. A CMD is not just a presentation — it is a statement of who your company is.