Next week I’m going to be spending some time in one of my favorite cities: Boston. Not only is Boston rich in history and culture, but home to Solium’s 2012 Synergy Conference.

If you’re planning to be at Synergy, you’ll want to note that the NASPP will be involved in sessions on three great topics. I’ll highlight them here, so even those who are not attending can catch a glimpse of what will be presented.

Nuts and Bolts: Understanding Equity Compensation from the Other Perspective

Whether you’ve been in stock compensation for decades or just months, you’re likely to have some awareness that there are many parts of the organization that request and depend upon data and information from the stock plan function. I’ve always found this to be a unique aspect of administering equity plans versus other types of benefits. Stock compensation touches so many areas, such as Legal, Payroll, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Tax, and so on. Have you ever wondered what those other departments actually do with the information they request from you? Or, how their world works? A panel that includes experts from the “other” parts of the organization will share insight into what they really need and how they use the information. I haven’t often seen much discussion or sharing that originates from this perspective, so I’m really looking forward to interacting with issuers from this angle and helping to forge insight into how internal peers perform their jobs using the outputs from stock administration.

Participant Communications and Best Practices

I also have the pleasure of being a co-facilitator for two great roundtables at Synergy: Employee Communications and U.S. Best Practices. I’m excited about these roundtable discussions, because I want to hear what’s new and exciting on the issuer front in these categories. In a preview of the Best Practices roundtable, we’ll be discussing some trends from the NASPP’s 2011 Domestic Stock Plan Administration Survey and finding out what companies are really doing in these areas. Key topics include increased use of stock ownership guidelines and continued migration towards outsourcing.

If you’re planning to be at the Solium conference, I look forward to seeing you there. For those that aren’t, I’ll be sure to highlight any new information or interesting ideas about best practices and communications in a future blog.

-Jennifer