Last Thursday, I attended the Silicon Valley NASPP Chapter All-Day Conference. For something a little lighter as we head into the holiday weekend, I thought I would provide some illustrated highlights of the event (click on the pictures to enlarge).

But first, a little humor…

A Stock Plan Administrator and a Chicken Walk into a Bar
The day concluded with a lovely cocktail reception sponsored by AST Equity Plan Solutions.  Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were served with napkins featuring the following joke:

A stock plan administrator and a chicken walk into a bar and each orders a shot of whiskey. Bartender says, “Looks like you had a tough day.” The chicken says, “When I get back to the farm tomorrow, pretty sure the farmer’s going to whack me and I’ll be on the dinner table this time tomorrow night.” The stunned bartender says, “That’s awful–next round’s on me.” After a few more rounds, the bartender places the check in front of the plan admin and the chicken quickly grabs it and says, “I’ve got this… you’ve got that big vesting tomorrow.”

Ten points to anyone who can guess who penned this witticism (tune in next week for the answer). 

Barbara Richley, Madori Playford, and Jacobin Zorin cheerfully greet attendees at the registration desk.

A panorama of the afternoon general session.  As you can see, the chapter had a great turnout for this year’s program.

Keith Pearce of Intel, Fred Whittlesey, Jason LeBovidge of Fidelity, and Emily Cervino of the CEP Institute present on perceived value and stock compensation. I learned why perceived value differs from fair value; the formulas are different.  Perceived value = signal value (more on this in a future blog) + cash value; fair value = time value + intrinsic (cash) value.  For at-the-money stock options, time value is the largest component of fair value, yet employees don’t even consider this when they value options. 

The Equity Methods and AST Stock Plan Solutions booths in the exhibit hall.  Equity Methods sponsored lunch and AST sponsored the closing cocktail reception.   

The afternoon included a game show presented by Joe Purdy of Solium Transcentive, Angel Toussaint of Oclaro, Rachel Murillo, and Christine Zwerling: “It’s Time to Play: Stock Plan Checkup–Is Yours in Good Health?”  Here the audience races to respond to a question as they compete for prizes. 

Sinead Kelly and Barbara Klementz of Baker & McKenzie and Jon Burg of Radford listen intently to a question from the audience in their session, “Claw-Back Provisions in the US and Around the Globe”

Members of the Silicon Valley Chapter Board and Program Committee, who did such a great job with this event: Jean Wong, Lydia Terrill, Inta Abele, Karen Hertz, Britta Puschendorf, Madori Playford, Elizabeth Dodge, John McCann, and Jacobin Zorin.

Board members not pictured:  Barbara Richley, Jon Burg, and Carol Rose-Guerin.