Top Proposal Examples

Check out the examples below of accepted sessions from past AFP Conferences with commentary on why they got the green light.

• The Private Debt Market: Accessing Capital in Turbulent Times
• Transforming Customer Collections Using Real-Time Payments
• Target Acquired: Now What?
• Straightforward Strategies for AI Implementation

The Private Debt Market: Accessing Capital in Turbulent Times

Proposal Description: Is your organization positioning itself to navigate volatility and uncertainty in factors impacting your business, like interest rates, regulatory changes, or a looming recession? This session is crucial for treasury and finance practitioners as it addresses the challenge of obtaining and managing capital in uncertain economic conditions, while offering insights on evaluating different types of capital and maintaining good relationships with providers. Learn from industry experts, who have successfully managed cash flow and accessed capital during economic downturns. Speakers share their insights into tapping into private debt markets, including partnering with specialty lenders, business development companies (BDCs), family offices, and non-bank lenders.

Why is This Topic Important for Treasury and/or Finance Practitioners: This session is relevant and important for treasury and finance practitioners because it addresses a common and critical challenge that many businesses face in 2024: how to obtain and manage capital in uncertain and volatile economic conditions. This session offers practical and proven insights from experienced treasurers who have successfully navigated uncertain economic situations. Treasury and finance practitioners who attend this session will gain useful knowledge and skills that can help them enhance their cash flow management and access to capital, and ultimately support their business growth and resilience.

Reviewer Feedback:

• This topic is highly relevant, especially with high interest rates being a major concern for corporates.
• Among the submissions on private debt this submission focuses on how to "pitch your story".
• The key takeaways on negotiating the best terms and preparing for raising capital are practical and actionable.   

Transforming Customer Collections Using Real-Time Payments

Proposal Description: With real-time payments now available in the industry for over five years, most corporations, small businesses, and individuals are reasonably aware of the concept of sending or receiving funds immediately. What's not as well understood is how businesses of all kinds can leverage the technology's groundbreaking capabilities to transform their business and customer experience. Presenters in this session showcase a real-life case study from a corporate practitioner that successfully differentiates their services with real-time payments, along with an industry provider of the technology. They delve into the central themes around successfully implementing—and offering—real-time payments that apply to any industry segment.

Why is Topic Important for Treasury and/or Finance Practitioners: There are many advantages to adding Real-Time Payments into the payments mix, mainly due to the unprecedented visibility and transparency this new payment type provides both payer and payee. In this real-life use case, we will unpack some of the many benefits and advantages of adopting this payment type, and also address some of the challenges faced by early adopters as they forge a new path toward digital payment solutions.

Reviewer Feedback:

• This submission stands out as one of the most effective covering real-time payments.
• The inclusion of a corporate speaker from a well-regarded company adds credibility and valuable insights to the topic.

Target Acquired: Now What?

Proposal Description: Completing merger activities is all-hands-on-deck for treasury and finance in the months leading up to the closing of the transaction, but it’s only afterwards that the real work starts for treasury professionals. With acquisitions comes duplicative treasury platforms and processes, new geographic locations, and solutions to manage, and extensive planning and coordination to ensure a smooth integration. There is no one-size-fits-all integration plan for post-M&A, but there are best practices that can be extremely valuable. In this session, leading treasury practitioners share how their companies have approached the challenges and complexities of M&A integration and discuss key steps and considerations in the integration process. Attendees gain invaluable insights for navigating their next acquisition, reduce the challenges and increase the opportunities to improve treasury efficiency.

Why is This Topic Important for Treasury and/or Finance Practitioners: M&A integrations present many challenges to a Treasury organization ranging from standardizing and establishing new processes and platforms, to learning and supporting new businesses and jurisdictions.  It’s important to get these done correctly otherwise companies end up with a lot of inefficiencies and risks in their infrastructure, which detract from expected synergies and benefits of the transaction. Treasury and finance practitioners will come away with practical best practice insights that can inform them on their next post-M&A integration initiative. Attendees will benefit from hearing from fellow practitioners who have successfully navigated the complexities of these activities. 

Reviewer Feedback:

• The inclusion of more than one corporate speaker will provide a range of perspectives.
• This is an important topic that though it does not affect treasury every day it is significant when it does.
  

Straightforward Strategies for AI Implementation

Proposal Description: Large Language Models (LLMs) aren’t just brainy repositories of knowledge; they're also adept at absorbing new, specific information on the fly. This session aims to demystify these tools by simplifying technical language and explaining how LLMs and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) function. Broaden the horizon of your AI by integrating agent capabilities, enabling it to retrieve and analyze data from diverse sources. This expansion not only boosts the AI’s versatility but also enhances its ability to offer comprehensive insights across a wider range of queries. Elevate your finance and treasury tasks with a fresh playbook to tackle next-gen challenges.

Why is This Topic Important for Treasury and/or Finance Practitioners: Diving into how Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language Models (LLMs) can spice up treasury and finance gigs offers a fresh playbook for those ready to tackle the finance world's next-gen challenges. This chat is all about cutting through the noise to show how AI can make data analysis a breeze, automate the mundane, and give you crystal ball-like insights for smarter, faster decision-making. It’s not just tech talk—it’s a practical guide to staying ahead in the game by leveraging AI tools that are reshaping finance's future. Perfect for treasury and finance pros looking to innovate, this session promises to arm you with the know-how to navigate upcoming complexities with ease, all while keeping it light and digestible.

Reviewer Feedback:

• This is a well thought out abstract.
• I like the practical, hands-on approach to understanding a newer type of technology so the audience can walk away with a better understanding of the concepts and application and have a stronger grasp of the building blocks of generative AI.
• I like that this AI submission focuses on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language Models (LLMs). There is also a CP included as a speaker.
  

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