Summary

Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP) is the largest pension plan in Alberta and the 7th largest in Canada. With over $60 billion in assets, they provide retirement security for 280,000+ members working in health, education, and municipalities.

Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) is one of Canada’s largest and most diversified investment managers. With over $150 billion in assets, they invest globally on behalf of 32 pension, endowment, and government funds in Alberta.

Together, LAPP and AIMCo jointly hosted the only public pension conference in Canada, welcoming pension and investment colleagues from across the country. The conference’s goal was to examine the challenges and key learnings in the investment industry and develop plans to build sustainable value for public pensions in the future. VANTAGE brought together peer organizations to converse, share, and identify opportunities to create a community of innovative relationships.

Our Role

The BUKSA team was tasked with providing full Conference Management services to LAPP and AIMCo. This included conference administration, project management, financial management, speaker management, registration management, sponsorship management, exhibit management, venue and accommodation management, onsite staffing, and conference evaluations.

Most importantly, BUKSA’s job was to bring two successful companies together to create a cohesive conference experience for all stakeholders, guests, and sponsors. BUKSA was thrilled at this opportunity - our team excels at navigating the complex.

Value Add

Personalized Speaker Management

Our team used our proven BUKSA speaker management processes to provide an elevated speaker experience. We offered concierge services to each speaker, helping them book travel and accommodations as well as individually addressing their requirements for accessibility, technology, and dietary needs. We were proud of our ability to provide concise and tailored speaker communications with a dedicated single point of contact both pre-conference and onsite.

We received a 94% rating of our speaker quality and relevance - an impressive score! Not only did we receive phenomenal feedback post-event - during the conference we saw almost perfect attendance at each session over all four days. To us and our clients, this proved that what we did worked - it meant a lot for us to hear that our speakers enjoyed their seamless experience.

Vibrant Social Programming

Our clients wanted this conference to feature a diverse range of social programming throughout the four days – and these special events needed to welcome both attendees and their partners.

Our team produced an exciting and vibrant social calendar on behalf of our clients to make the guests’ networking experience memorable. We leveraged our decades-long vendor contracts to plan wow-factor experiences that highlighted the gorgeous scenery. These events included:

• A Cowboy Cookout, offering horseback rides, delicious BBQ, and ranch-themed games

• A day of canoeing on Barrier Lake, offering full gear and both tandem and voyageur canoes

• A morning of golf on the beautiful Banff Springs Golf Course

• A town pub crawl featuring Banff Ave Brewing, St James’ Gate Irish Pub, and the Rose and Crown

• An evening 60s Shindig, offering entertainment from Calgary’s Dueling Piano Kings, food and beverages, and an enticing dance floor

We were thrilled to have such a great turnout of guests and their spouses, and enjoyed the great reviews of the social programming.