Evidence Based

EARCOS was overall a splendid experience. Never before had I been to an EARCOS conference with two young children though. This meant that my wife and I had to be organized and on the ball as we both were there to attend sessions but at the same time had to split child-watching duties. I felt as though I was either in a rushing to a session, in a session, or rushing back to relieve my wife so she could attend a session.

I felt the wide range of topics ensured that almost everyone could find something they felt was useful. I usually try to attend a couple sessions outside my specific area of teaching, which at this particular time is Kindergarten. Andrew Hallam who is a teacher in Singapore gave one such session. Andrew discussed what he termed “Evidence Based Investing”. Andrew broke up his presentation over two sessions. I will only discuss the first session in this post.

Right off the bat he mentioned that he was not there to sell the audience anything but rather he was merely trying to educate or spark an interest in people so as to encourage the audience to better understand the relationship a financial planner has to their clients as opposed to the company they work for. Shortly after Andrew began speaking two financial planners in the audience began to ask questions in what appeared to me as an attempt to discredit the speaker. He answered their questions in what appeared to be an honest and thorough manner. As the presentation progressed they became more aggressive in their questioning until finally two audience members interjected and reminded them that people had come to see the presenter and that they should refrain from interrupting any further. Many others seconded the motion and they did not interrupt any more in the session.

I felt the session went well as he did most of the talking and only used slides when a graphical representation was appropriate. He was well spoken and spoke in term that everyone seemed to understand. He strategically placed books throughout the room and asked audience members to read from place marked sections of the books to add validity to what he was saying. He was approachable and very patient with audience questions. He often repeated people’s questions back to them in a slightly rephrased way to make sure he understood them correctly.

One of the people he mentioned most was Warren Buffet. He started a company called Berkshire Hathaway.

I feel I definitely took something away from this session and will continue to explore some of the ideas he presented. I wasn’t expecting to be engaged or take away anything concrete from this session and I did just that. In that respect I feel like he was a successful presenter.