Jonathan Moore is the driving force behind the Hard Assets shows. We sat down with him at the Hard Assets Conference at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. We asked him firstly how things were going.
“The show’s been going very well and we’ve got a lot of great feedback from the folks that are here,” he responds. “Obviously, the shows always directly correlate to what’s going on in the marketplace. So when we see softness in the market like we have over the past few months, it translates to attendance and to participation from sponsors and exhibitors. But we’ve been able to maintain a very solid core of attendees that have followed this show for years, very educated, savvy investors that come here because they know that there’s a great opportunity to interact face to face with the experts and face to face with the CEOs. The event still has that core group who continue to make it successful, even in markets where it’s not so perfect.”
Expert Speakers
The framework of every Hard Assets Conference has always been and continues to be presentations from the world’s foremost experts in mining, commodities and global macroeconomic topics. Speakers include Frank Holmes, Rick Rule, Eric Sprott, Paul van Eeden and Al Carlin, a group who have few equals in their subject and who help to make each event successful.
Wrapped around the experts’ contributions are presentations from mining companies that are undertaking projects all over the world. At the New York show, that includes a lot of representation from Canada, with CEOs talking about the projects they have underway and what the future holds for them. That gives the opportunity for attendees to hear directly from the person they’re potentially looking to put their money with.
A new venture is the Hard Assets Chicago Conference, which is set for the 21st and 22nd of September at the McCormick Place Convention Center, a part of the McCormick Center that attaches to the Hyatt Hotel. Jonathan says: “I’m very excited about it and it’s a great start with a great line up of speakers. You can see more about it at www.hardassetschi.com and it’s going to follow the same model. It’s a market that we’ve yet to tap, with representation of the exchange there and a savvy investment audience. It’s a great extension for us and so far there’s been lots of great feedback on the prospects who are going there, the list of speakers that we have and list of exhibitors that have signed up so far.”
Logical Choice
The choice of Chicago as a venue is quite logical, Jonathan believes, describing the existing events as “two book ends on either side of the country”. He goes on: “San Francisco is a great draw, especially with its proximity to Vancouver, and New York is the investment capital of the world. Chicago is a great city for investment and a great city for events, so the combination of us not having yet been there and us being able to bring the Hard Asset brand of event to that marketplace is very exciting. So far, everyone we’ve talked to about the concept has thought it’s fantastic and I’m sure we’re going to have a great show.”
After Chicago, there’s the San Francisco event in the fall, on November 16th and 17th at the San Francisco Marriott. This, again, is a well-established, always very well attended event and Jonathan anticipates this year’s program will be fantastic. On a global level, there’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, which takes place each year in Cape Town and ran 6th to 9th February this year. Also being newly launched this year is investing in Asian Mining Indaba, which will take place in Singapore on October 29th through to the 31st.
Further Information
Anyone wanting to know more about what’s coming up can access www.iiconf.com for information on all the Hard Assets events. Individually, there are details at www.hardassetsny.com on the New York show, www.hardassetssf.com for San Francisco and www.hardassetschi.com for the new Chicago event.
All the shows follow the Hard Assets brand, which Jonathan believes is very attractive for those planning to attend. He says: “I think the thing that we bring to the equation as show organizers is a combination of an event that focuses exclusively on hard assets, that’s targeted to a savvy retail investor, a professional investor and certain institutional investors. In one location, you can be front and centre, face to face with the foremost experts in the field and CEOs from mining companies that are actively seeking investment. You are able to do the combination of taking those expert viewpoints, getting your first-hand information from CEOs, conducting your own diligence and making intelligent decisions for your own portfolio.”