The genesis for That 401(k) Conference can be traced to two things: 1) my experience at other 401(k) events and 2) my experience of running events for my old synagogue.

I ended up as a Vice President of the synagogue and I ran several events without much help of the fundraising committee. Why? I’m a control freak and I wouldn’t let my events die at the hands of the fundraising committee chairman.

Barry was a nice guy. But he was awful at advertising events. He’d wait until two weeks before the event to start advertising even though he had the event booked for the prior three months. Once I booked my comedian events, I’d start advertising it on our social media spots to let people know they should save the date. People are busy and if you want to build word of mouth, that takes time. So I did all the advertising for the events on my owned and I drove in triple-digit attendance at both events including a lot of people from the outside community.

For my 401(k) conference events, I’ll announce dates and times once the events are booked and once I have my logo for the event done. You should never run your events as if they’re surprise parties, you should let everyone know well in advance because people are busy. Whether it’s a plan sponsor or plan provider related event, let them know well ahead of time.