The NASPP Blog

Our popular “Meet the Speaker” series, featuring interviews with speakers at the 25th Annual NASPP Conference, is a great way to get to know our many distinguished speakers and find out a little more about their sessions in advance of the Conference.

For today’s “Meet the Speaker” interview, we feature an interview with John Hammond of Aon Equity Services. John and his team created a nifty interactive video on all the great programs you can participate in at the NASPP Conference.  He will also lead the session “Pitch Perfect: Designing a Communication Strategy That Will Have Participants Singing” at the Conference.

Check out the video and read his interview below:

NASPP: Why is employee education a particularly timely topic right now?

John:  Effective plan communication is hot right now as companies are taking time to evaluate plan effectiveness while we have had a calming in legislation and other administrative upheaval that was so ever-present five to ten years ago. Achieving an employee perceived value that is at or close to the accounting value feels like today’s holy grail of stock plans. We know it’s out there, but how?

The abundance and variety of performance award structures has also made it very difficult to communicate value effectively, so our panel focuses much of our content around perceived value and performance awards, though there are still plenty of takeaways on broad communication strategies

NASPP: What is one action should companies be taking now?

John: Just do. Companies just need to do something. Communications is one of those activities that companies throw into a plan—”In 2019, we will buy a video”—but they tend to put it out far enough so that they know deep-down it will never be achieved, because of the 542 competing priorities that will pop up the day it hits the to-do list.

Start now. Start with something…an email, a flyer, a webinar, a pre-recorded PowerPoint. Anything is better than nothing. Then the communication task changes—it becomes ‘replace,’ which has a far-higher value on the administrative to-do list for some reason. Start small and the future takes care of itself.

NASPP: Is there a silver lining to employee education?

John: There is absolutely a silver-lining. We have two companies on the panel that will speak to successes. There is also the reality that communications are getting cheaper as technology advances. For people who have been around this industry a long-time, producing and mailing paper grant packages for a thousand participants was probably more expensive than a handful of quick, basic videos today. All of the forms of communication technology are coming down in cost—it’s a commodity. The differentiation is deployment and expertise—putting it in the right hands and doing it the right way. It’s a far easier hurdle to clear today which is great news for everyone.

NASPP: What is your favorite memory from a past NASPP Conference?

John:  This is my 19th NASPP conference—the memories are countless at this point. Washington, DC was my first in 1999 and it will be nice being there for the 25th anniversary. It is the evening networking events that offer the most memories. I remember playing washboard with a zydeco band  in some New Orleans dive bar in 2001. As it’s the only time I have played washboard in a zydeco band, it sticks out. There have been some wonderful pranks over the years. I will say the opening reception is consistently my favorite event. Reuniting with friends and watching others reunite is the part that makes this industry a family to me. A crazy, fantastic family.

Don’t miss John’s session, “Pitch Perfect: Designing a Communication Strategy That Will Have Participants Singing,” at the NASPP Conference!

About the NASPP Conference

The 25th Annual NASPP Conference will be held from October 17-20 in Washington, DC. This year’s program features close to 100 sessions on today’s most timely topics in stock and executive compensation; check out the full agenda and register today!