Branch matters: The Jersey branch restores a traditional annual event back to its former popularity
Peter Lucas, Chartered FCSI, CISI Jersey Branch President, breaks down the obstacles faced when arranging the annual dinner and how they responded
I became president of the Jersey branch of the CISI in May 2015. In many ways the Jersey committee is in a very fortunate position. With a membership of over 800, it is the eighth largest branch in the country. Adjusted for population, I reckon that makes it one of the biggest. These numbers give us economies of scale, which enables us to do things that are not feasible in smaller branches and makes it easier to attract big name speakers to the island. And because we are located in a jurisdiction dominated by finance, we have great buy in from local schools and the local press.
Having said that, not everything in the garden was rosy when I assumed my role. In particular, we were disappointed by the fact that the number of guests at the annual dinner had been declining year after year for some time. 20 years ago, the event was one of the most keenly anticipated events of the business calendar, and yet we had got to the point where we only had 170 attendees in 2015. Set against our total membership, that is a disappointing number, particularly when you consider that some of the attendees were guests who were non-members. As an investment manager, I am acutely aware of the fact that things move in cycles, social events included. An average or disappointing evening will lead to fewer numbers next time around, and in the following year smaller numbers will give the sense that an event is failing in some way and lead to an even lower attendance in the year after that. When faced with a ‘failing’ event it is essential to break the cycle – to do something different to lay the foundations for the next upswing.
So how did we respond? As far as we were aware, the dinner had been held at the same venue for over 20 years, a venue that was actually in the most inconvenient part of the island for the majority of attendees. Moving the event to St Helier, which is in relatively easy reach for everyone, was an obvious change. We also arranged a top notch speaker, offered guests a choice of food options and laid on a live band to round things off properly. And crucially, we got on the phones to sell tables as early as possible, selling out the event with two months to spare.
Cutting a long story short, the evening was a big success, with many describing it as one of the best ever. Hopefully that means that many will return next year and, as positive word spreads, others will be persuaded to join the bandwagon. Fingers crossed, it would appear that the down-cycle has been broken, for now at least.