These can be a good way of allowing residents to engage with the investment offer, and ask questions of the council and Abundance. It can be a good way of surfacing questions, and allowing lead councillors to have their say on the investment in public in a controlled environment.
Typically these events have worked well during first raises - as a way of getting initial questions answered - but council have also used them effectively in follow on raises (for example as a way of shining a spotlight on project delivery).
Councils sometimes put together slide presentations based on key messaging to cover off key topics. Abundance can support this by creating slides about the investment itself to contribute. We can also supply a representative to join the call and discuss any points relating to the investment itself.
These events are not typically considered to be financial promotions in themselves. There are no requirements for risk warnings to be ‘read out’ during the session. However if any of the slides for the session contains information that would be considered a financial promotion, we will recommend adding a suitable risk warning to that slide. Typically the short form risk warning will be sufficient in such cases.