LSE Alternative Investments Conference - worth it?

Invites were sent out today. I'm trying to determine if it's worth the cost (international flight, hotel, etc.) to attend. I'm leaning towards no, but am interested to hear opinions from any past participants. Thanks in advance.

 
animalz:

No, def not imho.

Appreciate the reply. Do you mind elaborating just a bit more on why?

I'm assuming networking opportunities with the speakers would be relatively nonexistent despite the marketing pitch.

But I'm curious if there could be some value here for someone who'll be recruiting to PE in a year's time (displaying interest, developing "why PE" stories, Dartmouth Partners having your CV, etc.).

 
Best Response

It is a solid event if you study at LSE. All those conferences are geared heavily towards students from uni that organised them, which is fine. Not sure if networking with students will bring you much. That is usually a good thing at longer conferences but dunno in this case. Networking with professionals.. I did not have too much success tbh.

If you were based at least in UK, then I'd consider it since you can meet those people more often in person etc. But since they are not sponsoring anything and going there wont translate to any meaningful networking other then generic asking for business card, adding on linkedin and sending thank you note, I would not go.

Honestly you can check the speaker list and add them on linkedin regardless - they wont remember most of the people who they talked to, just mention LSE AIC and many will accept.

If you have money to burn and that is 0 issue in your case, then I dont know why are you even asking - go & enjoy, have fun. You might meet someone interesting or even get laid or sth.

 

Interesting, I actually attended this event last year. They don't lie about the demographics of their attendees - you really can see folks from the best unis in the world. In terms of speakers - they were astonishing! Perhaps I am a bit subjective because of my strong interest in HF and PE, but I think you can't get a better team of speakers of this profile anywhere in the world (on the student conference level). I'll defo apply for a place this year.

The only downside: they don't reimburse any costs :/ But if you treat the conference as an investment then I think that you should expect a strongly positive return.

 

advertising but got a job there last year!

I attended the conference last year as well. The line-up of speakers was high-quality and I particularly enjoyed the Josh Lerner / David Rubenstein (from Carlyle) keynote speech.

I am not sure it's the case for all the applicants (they say they forward the CVs to sponsors) but I got an internship after attending the conference. Given that I was pretty lucky to meet a speaker in one of the technical workshops organized there I recommend it.

I am graduating next year and will, hopefully, be attending again. Anybody else studying in the US like me thinking of applying?

 

I attended the conference last year and it was amazing. For a student conference, it was really professional. In terms of speakers, you can’t get a better line-up of Hedge Fund and Private Equity executives anywhere else. By the looks of things, this year’s panel looks just as good if not better. I will definitely apply again this year and would recommend anyone interested in a career in finance to apply as well.

 

Useless, full of drooling dipshits.

[quote]The HBS guys have MAD SWAGGER. They frequently wear their class jackets to boston bars, strutting and acting like they own the joint. They just ooze success, confidence, swagger, basically attributes of alpha males.[/quote]
 
Voodz:

Was considering it, but I don't think that they cover travel expenses, do they?

they do not (ridiculous expense for international students, thats why i did not go before) for me it was like 300gbp for return plane ticket and some money (sub 50gbp) for getting to the site from heathrow

as a student with very low budget, that was impossible for me wasnt able to find a sponsor or sth..

 

It looks interesting... and I'm currently on exchange in Madrid (from the US), so I might go (just applied). I don't suppose anyone here in London would like to host me for the days of the event... :p

 

Hi djehuty, check out these links:

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As someone who has attended this before, truthfully there is very little material gain from going.

However, I did find it enjoyable. If you have money and time to spare, I'd recommend going. Worst case, you'll make some new friends, and who knows, might even get laid.

Also, no, they don't forward your CV onto Sponsors. The only guys that really get exposure to the Sponsors are the LSE guys organising.

 

I was there last year and I am going back this year.

I did get an interview with one of the hedge funds, but I am aware I was quite an outlier. They tend to cherry pick people for private dinners (I think Liongate was keen on doing this). No recruiters from banks/HF/PE as far as I know, but there were some sort of headhunters around in the lunch breaks (you can recognize them because they do not have School name on their badges / their badge is handwritten).

Honestly, I do not know anybody that got a job from LSE AIC... essentially because people that go there tend to have things sorted out already. Nevertheless, networking with fellow students is great and the topics covered are inherently interesting.

 

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