T3 Technology Hub Producer Joel Bruckenstein.
Three months after Ken Fisher's crude remarks at an industry event prompted several advisors and executives to speak out in favor of codes of conduct for conferences, the T3 — for Technology Tools for Today — conference group is instituting rules for its events.
"No one single thing triggered this," said Joel Bruckenstein, T3 producer, in an interview. "I've never heard about any misconduct at events I've attended over the years, especially at T3 events, and thus did not feel we had to do this earlier."
However, after the Fisher affair, Bruckenstein did get "a few emails from past attendees and speakers" suggesting the T3 group consider issuing such a code for its events.
A recent ThinkAdvisor poll of more than 1,300 financial professionals found that the majority of both men and women believe Fisher's remarks were inappropriate (70% overall) and that his banning from two events was appropriate (84% overall).
"We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Demeaning others in any form, be it words or imagery is not appropriate for our conference venues …," the T3 code states. "Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers."
