Recently I had the privilege of attending the lang cat’s event New Blood: No Wrong Path.
I had only spent a few hours at a conference before, mostly looking bewildered due to the amount of people being introduced to me, so this still felt like a new experience after only six months in the industry.
I was there early due to my wonderful bosses at Financial Life Planning, Kate Shaw and Rebecca Tuck, being the stars of the show and needing to get ready. This gave me plenty of time to mooch about the venue, chat to people and, of course, steal as many pens from as many stalls as I could get my mitts on.
More people started to flood in, the atmosphere picked up, and eventually after a good amount of yapping we made our way into the main hall for the real show to begin.
The lovely folk at the lang cat introduced the day and set the scene for a day full of wonderful people saying wonderful things. After the intro, Kate and Rebecca took to the stage to show everyone how it’s done. Despite them being my bosses and me usually being part of the process, it was phenomenal to watch live financial planning like a fly on the wall.
After more mingling and lunch, while the other members of FLP were locked in a cupboard somewhere, we got to experience some panels, and getting to hear and read lots of nerdy stats from the brand new State of the Advice Nation (SOTAN) was definitely a highlight.
While I’m still technically part of the new generation, I’m not a student, though there’s plenty for me to learn. The day felt like everything blended together to a point where there was something for everyone to take away, regardless of experience.
New Blood was absolutely the most enjoyable day I’ve had in this job so far (and no, I’m not being paid to write this).
Whether it be the variety of opportunities provided to learn something new, the vast array of simply lovely people that attended, or the mild amount of roasting I got from some comedians in front of half of the industry, it was an event to remember. The next event has some very high standards to live up to. Roll on HomeGame 6!
Joe Jacob is technical support at Financial Life Planning
