LPL Financial is one of the nation's leading diversified financial services companies and the largest independent broker/dealer supporting more than 11,000 financial advisors nationwide. They are also an enabling partner to a broad range of banks and credit unions, as well as broker/dealers at leading financial services companies. In 2010, Financial announced that they were taking the company public. Having been a strategic partner to LPL for more than 5 years and numerous projects, Opts had proven to be an experienced partner who could help support LPL's entire marketing and conference services group with strategic planning, logistics, budget, messaging, design and ROI measurement.

LPL Financial asked the partners at OPTS to prepare a creative and strategic plan that incorporated a clearly articulated set of goals and objectives and addressed concerns expressed by top company executives.

The theme for the 2010 conferences was the middle part of a three-part plan; 2009 was Focus on Main Street, 2010 Focus on the American Dream and 2011 Focus on the Future. Opts Ideas presented this tri-fold theme as a means of extending LPL's message to their clients – we understand who you are, what you represent and what you need moving forward.

Opts Ideas approached the LPL annual National conference, help in Boston, with a creative and strategic plan that incorporated a clearly articulated set of goals and objectives, and addressed the concerns and challenges created by their rapid growth.

Opts' role includes not only the annual National Conference, but also LPL's top producer incentive meetings, which together with the National Conference provide the platform from which LPL executives address their clients with new initiatives, training and support. The incentive programs, which occurred in early 2010, offered the highest-level advisors, a prestigious look into LPL's vision. They were invited to take part in the conversation, in meetings that were much more intimate and keynotes that were much more directed to their roles and responsibilities as head of their companies.

The National Conference was held at the Boston Convention Center in August 2010. The 5,000 attendees came from all over the United States to get advice, insight and networking opportunities – as well as hear an impressive line up of speakers and entertainers, including former President William Jefferson Clinton, Jack Welch, Benjamin Zander and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Their explosive growth required that LPL re-evaluate everything about how they planned and produced their largest meeting, the National Conference. This year was especially important after the announcement of going public. LPL wanted to ensure that they were maintaining a company culture that valued personal interaction—simply put, how to evolve into a large company without alienating clients who had enjoyed years of intimate gatherings. In the wake of the recession, the audience was still looking for guidance on how to recuperate and rebuild, but also a fresh outlook on what was to come. They needed optimism, and forward thinking. They needed to be wowed.

Visual Immersion

In previous years, LPL chose to tell their story to their clients, providing an inward looking narrative that could grow year-to-year, but that remained rooted in the company's core values. This objective had been met throughout the 2006 – 2009 conferences - this year it was time to look outwardly. What were the advisors' stories? What was their American Dream?

2010 was going to be a visual journey into the ideals of the American Dream. The biggest change to the show this year was the idea of stepping out of the comfort zone of traditional stage sets, and instead immerse the audience in a 200-foot wide screen, providing a powerful means to introduce drama, inspiration and pathos in a visually stunning way into each of the three days of General Session at Focus 2010. The highly immersive graphic environment communicated the American Dream message in a way that resonated with the audience and enhanced the presentations from the main stage.

What's Different

This year the client was looking for something more graphically based, maybe a bit edgier. The "Talking Heads" (individuals speaking directly to the screen) had run its course. We did, however, want to maintain the personal touch that our opening and closing videos had always brought to the conferences. We needed an approach that was warm and interesting yet new and exciting.

We chose to make the central visual theme a wall of family portraits. The portraits are typical photos you would see in any American home, sepia tone photos of grandparents, vacation pictures, wedding pictures, graduation photos, etc. The wall looked warm, and evokes a sense of Americana and would be a home base as well as a tool for our story telling. We went in and out of the portraits, bringing them to life as we entered each image. Each picture has a story, and we were going to spend 3 days immersed in the telling of the stories.

Screens:
Easily put, these three screens were enormous. With our highly professional group of graphic experts, the wall looked seamless. Three screens combined to provide an overall screen surface that was 200ft x 20 ft. this size and the fact that it was three separate screens and having to work around existing columns in the room presented a very complex production challenge. The pixel count alone made High Definition seem obsolete. With the use of WatchOut, we were able to have 1 wholly integrated image across all three screens with mixed medias including Power point, Keynote, high def video and animation files.

Walk In:
We wanted the attendees to become immersed immediately upon walk, the 200+ foot screen came to life with our portrait wall, subtle enough to allow the guests to mingle and get settled, yet intriguing enough to keep their attention. Throughout the vast wall still images within portrait frames came to life with videos, portraying Americana "dreams" coming true. Children and their parents playing together, a high school graduation, a wedding ceremony, buying a home–just to name a few.

American Dream: Past, Present and Future.

Each day of the conference opened with a different aspect of the American Dream and a completely different visual journey through the portrait wall. The opening videos for the three days represented not only different messages, but also different visual techniques.

Day One took the audience on a journey defining the American Dream at its inception - coming across the ocean and discovering the Land of Opportunity.

Day Two told us the story of the American Dream form the advisor's perspective.

Day Three was a look into the future beginning now in 2010 by following the life of one little girl from the age of 5 to the year 2095, where she is 96. We explore the possibilities that the future will hold, how within our lifetime our experiences may expand beyond what we know today. All done in the setting of a starry night sky – the place where possibilities have always seemed endless.

The Result

The partnership between LPL Financial and Opts has thrived and expanded over the past 3+ years. During one of the most tumultuous financial markets in history, the team has adapted to address uncertainties and new expectations. The feedback from the executives, the sponsors, and most importantly, the audience, the executives were overwhelmingly positive. The post conference surveys have never been better— with all post-conference surveys reflect a high level (Excellent or Very Good) of satisfaction for every key measurement. Numbers were up markedly over previous years, where the benchmark was already very high, over 80%.

The media, namely the digital films, that Opts created for the National Conferences struck such a chord with LPL Financial that they have been integrated into employee training and recruiting. Since the conference, the Day One Opening video has been visited online by over 1,500 advisors who attended and those that simply heard how remarkable it was.

"Of the 18 conferences I have attended in my 20 years with LPL, I think this one was the very best. Please past my sincere thanks and gratitude to whoever you know on the LPL staff that was responsible for this awesome event. I consider myself very blessed to have, by sheer accident, discovered LPL when I did and to have played a small part in the wonderful journey of fantastic growth that has brought LPL and its unique culture from its humble beginnings to the prominent position it now occupies in the financial services industry. LPL is recognized as the independent leader in our industry and rightfully so.

For the rest of my life I will remember Benjamin Zander's inspiring talk. The opening music and accompanying monologue on Thursday morning took my breath away, brought tears to my eyes and reminded me how proud and how lucky we are to live and work in America and have the opportunity to make our dreams a reality. Absolutely awesome!"

- Tom Grella, LPL Advisor

"It was flawlessly executed and really impressive. You have managed to make a professional and corporate event come off as also warm and inviting. It was just perfect."

- Mark Casady, CEO LPL Financial