Metal News spoke to Jeremy Martin of Cambridge House at the Montreal Investment Conference about the status of the conference. He said, “It seems to be a success. It's a new venue for us so there are always a couple of tricks in figuring out how you are going to operate. It's got a very nice atmosphere and the exhibitors are happy because the speakers’ halls are filling up. There is a lot of good knowledge that is flowing from the speakers to the investors. I think, overall, everybody seems very happy, which, in turn, makes us very happy.”
Cambridge House offers a large selection of investment conferences throughout the year. Said Martin, “We've got a lot coming up. A lot that has just happened as well. We think of our conference schedule as operating from September to June.” The first conference that Cambridge House works is in Toronto. Martin said, “We kick it off in Toronto, which is a great success and then the Silver Summit, which is our ninth year, so next year will be our tenth anniversary. Right now, we are here in Montreal, then we are off to our Vancouver Resource Conference in January.” Martin believes that the upcoming Vancouver Resource Conference will be a momentous occasion. Said Martin, “This show is slotted to be one of the most historical events in the mining space that's ever occurred. We have over five hundred public companies that will be represented and sixty analysts, experts, fund managers and CEO's that are going to be giving a wealth of knowledge that will far exceed anybody's ability to capture in that amount of time.” Created to be a full two day event, Martin believes the results will last much longer than the conference time. He said, “There will be a tremendous amount of opportunities from the conference with all of the juniors that are in play, and some of the companies that are getting bought out right now are creating a lot of excitement around that.”
From Vancouver, Cambridge House moves south. Said Martin, “After that, we'll be moving into Palm Springs, California. We are hoping to attract a nice crowd with that. We are going to be bringing some good speakers to that spot. We have asset management companies behind us – Greg Weldon, and a number of other speakers who are excited to take part. We are very excited about that market.” Once the Palm Springs Conference is complete, Cambridge will be organizing an event in Calgary. “We will be going to Calgary which everybody knows is an oil and gas town,” said Martin, “We are going to put a big oil and gas spin on it. B.J. Shaffer and some others will be able to bring a good spin on that, especially with what has been happening with the discovery and the ability to use fracking technology. There is a lot of excitement around that industry so we are bringing in the junior miners, but they will be playing with the oil and gas giants as well.”
With the Calgary conference completed, Cambridge will focus on Saskatoon. Said Martin, “There are huge agriculture opportunities there as well as a tremendous amount of minerals including potash.” Finally, Cambridge will top off their conference year with a final investment event in Vancouver, the Vancouver World Investment Conference. Martin said, “This will be another big shebang, another three hundred companies. This is really a big opportunity where we get companies from all over the world. Vancouver in June is a lovely place so it is a great time to commit to the Europeans and to get the Australians to come up and it comes together in a really nice way.”
Cambridge House also offers symposiums from time to time. Said Martin, “The symposiums are very much a timely event, so depending on some of the economic standpoints we may decide to put a pre-conference on before the January show, but it very much depends on some of the economic standpoints and the importance of the issues.”
The flagship conference for Cambridge House is the Vancouver World Investment Conference which will be housed in a new facility this year. Said Martin, “It's at the new Vancouver Convention Center which is phenomenal facility built for the 2010 Winter Olympics. We are taking over the entire west side, so we have about 120,000 square feet which will be split up into 470 booths which will represent over 500 public companies. When you take into account that there are just over 1600 companies on the exchanges, you have just over a third of the companies with us under one roof. It's really just an electric feeling that exists. It is at the peak of the investing season, it's the new year and so much is happening. It's a 'must' attend.”
Martin believes that Cambridge House's conferences provide information that can't be gotten elsewhere, “It gives the investor that attends an edge over anybody that is not there. It is unique at these shows that you can walk up to a booth and talk to a CEO or CFO or to a geologist who spent months on the ground working on the project. It's not just a marketing person or someone doing promo. You are speaking to the people who know these deals inside and out and to be able to look them in the eye, shake their hands and really be able to appreciate what they are passionate about. By coming to the shows, you have an edge over anybody who doesn't come to the shows because you are hearing firsthand what is happening before anybody else.” In addition to the enormous amount of information that can be received from their conferences, Cambridge House has recently launched a blog with sideline viewpoint of how industry works.
For investors who are looking for cutting-edge information on investment opportunities in the mining space, attending a Cambridge House conference is one of the best ways to stay abreast of new developments.