>> We tested and learned with our community what would meet their needs… or not. We also offered many networking options, allowing our members to interact in a variety of ways, and we even organised between the (numerous) lockdowns, some key in-person events, such as the Paris Fintech Night and the Women In Finance Lunch. 

FF: That’s what you did. And in term of results? 

LN: The results were above our expectations.More than 1,500 people bought a ticket to become a member of those Paris Fintech Forum Communities. We hosted more than 300 CEOs and chairs from all over the word in various sessions, our members had countless networking meetings across the year on our platform, and more than 50 partners supported us. 

It is important to mention that we managed to host our annual Paris Fintech Forum Awards online with more than 600 applications received globally, 40 fintech pitches and a Q&A in front of an international jury. The awards ceremony was broadcast live from Paris in October 2021 with the participation of the French Digital Economy Minister. 

We learned a lot. We tried many formats; some did not meet expectations. 

FF: Could you elaborate on that? 

LN: To be honest, while the events community may be ready for digital content, they are not totally ready for online networking. Online stands don’t work at all, and believe me ours were good – we even implemented live video interaction on each booth, to mention just one innovation. But attendees and exhibitors, have not yet developed the skills and capabilities to make the most of these new tools. 

Another failure was our ‘speakers in your lounge’ proposal. This concept came about from what I witnessed at the in-person editions of the PFF. Participants were always keen – not to say very pushy – to speak to other speakers in the lounge. So, we had the idea for all our speakers to be in Zoom breakout rooms after their live panels, where any participant could join in a video call on the platform for private exchanges. Most of our speakers did try. But it wasn’t a great success in terms of participation. We tried to understand why, and it appears that, for many attendees, they are used to in-person interactions, but still very shy and even intimidated by doing the same online. 

FF: But you mentioned earlier that you did have a lot of networking on the platform, so what was the winning formula? 

LN: We did implement and test many networking functions: attendees list and direct video calls, AI matchmaking, etc. But the one that really made things happen was the speed meeting. In a nutshell, you log in at a specific time that’s been heavily promoted, and every three minutes you meet someone new from our community in a video call. It’s all random. We had tremendous feedback on that functionality last year. 

FF: So, that was 2021 for PFF. But still, that does not tell us why we did not see you in 2022 in Paris for the big comeback that so many of us were expecting. 

LN: Luckily for us, we did not plan such an event for January 2022. You will remember that, at that period in France, we had another kind of lockdown with no events happening at all until March. We’d taken a decision much earlier to continue with the Communities format. That was partly based on what we saw happening with COVID, and also on our members’ feedback. 

Of course, in 2022 we adapted the programme to reflect the experience we had in 2021. Namely, our events were no longer hybrid; they were either digital or in-person. Second, we reduced the number of online formats, and we introduced several exclusive, in-person networking events to cope with post-COVID aspirations. Third, we dropped the digital capabilities that were not working and amped up those that were like speed meetings. 

By the end of this year, we will have organised four exclusive in-person events (two debate dinners, the Paris Fintech Night and the Women In Finance Lunch); three live online panels, followed by speed meeting sessions; broadcast 40 episodes of our fintech leaders video interview series, hosted by me and Elliott Gotkine; and aired a new podcast mini-series featuring six very special interviews with fintech founders. 

FF: I heard that the new podcast season is very special. Can you tell us about it? 

LN: It is more a kind of an un-podcast, to be honest. Take all the advice you learn from the best voices on podcasting, do the opposite and you’ll have an idea of what to expect. 

There is no ‘long run and frequency’ as there are only six episodes broadcast over six weeks for the full season. They are not formatted, I adapt the discussion to each speaker. They are quite long, indeed episodes can run from one-and-a-half to three hours. And they are not suitable for commercials, as we are focussed on the life of entrepreneurs, not businesses. It is more an experience. 

I am particularly grateful to our sponsors – Crédit Mutuel Arkea, BPC and Rise – who have supported my vision to conduct those in-person, very personal conversations, many in their homes, with high-level figures in our common fintech history. I had a lot of emotions doing that mini series.

Huge thanks to our six tremendous featured guests, too: the founders of Lydia, Trov, Lending Club and Upgrade, Monese, Kabbage and Tandem. 

The first episode will be available from November 9. I would love your feedback! 

FF: Who were the other partners for that 2022 version of the PFF Communities? 

LN: In addition to Crédit Mutuel Arkea, BPC and Rise, we had many banks, financial and other institutions that are very active in the fintech space, such as BNP Paribas, Société Générale, BPCE, Caisse des Depots, Banque de France, Mastercard, bpifrance, Orange Bank and Sunrise Banks. We also had the continuous support of tech and fintech players such as Rapyd, Banking Circle, IDNow, Thought Machine, Solaris Bank, Dreams Technology, Openpayd, Viva Wallet, and Sopra Banking Software, to name but a few. 

Given all of the tragedy that COVID-19 has brought to the world, I am grateful to our partner base, which has stayed with us during our test-and-learn phase as we pivoted from an annual, in-person event to the Paris Fintech Forum Communities concept. 

FF: So, this is the definitive version of Paris Fintech Forum – there will be no more annual events? 

LN: Yes… and no! I do believe that we have entered a new era. How could we want to do the same thing as ‘before’ in a world that is facing so many changes all at once. Let’s think about it for a minute: in 2020 the world shut down, like it never had before. And everyone can see that we are still in the aftermath of that, both in terms of business and our personal lives – even as a society. For months now we’ve had a war in Europe. We are also on the edge of what some expect to be the biggest recession in a century. No one really knows, but still, that’s the situation. And of course, the climate emergency and energy transition, even if not really new, is now a clear reality for all of us. 

The world is still changing massively to adapt to this new reality, and it would take too long to outline how all these changes have impacted, or will impact, the international events industry if we do not transform ourselves. Also, our participants and partners were very appreciative of the innovation we applied to our own business and took advantage of less travel time and more opportunities for interaction. 

So yes, this pivot – which was originally a reaction to the COVID crisis – has evolved into something unique and effective…something of which we are very proud! >>