By Ryan Austin

Marcum LLP will be hosting its highly anticipated Marcum MicroCap Conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on June 15^th and 16^th. Ahead of the event, SCN Corporate Connect had the chance to meet the firm’s David Bukzin and Robert Derbabian at the NASDAQ MarketSite and shoot a few questions.

Marcum Conference Basics:

• Running for its sixth-year, the 2017 Marcum MicroCap Conference is a nationally recognized forum for publicly traded micro-cap companies.
• The Marcum MicroCap Conference provides companies access to network with fund managers and high net worth individuals who focus on small cap equities.
• Over 2,000 participants from all segments of the micro cap market participate each year.
• The companies expected to present at this year’s event fall into seven principal industry sectors: Technology, Media & Internet, Software & Business Services, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Retail & Consumer Products, Energy & Natural Resources, Industrials,
 Financial & Asset Management Services.
• Where most conferences are closed off, or dedicated to one investment bank per event, the 2017 Marcum MicroCap Conference puts an emphasis on camaraderie. Marcum Partner-In-Charge, David Bukzin elaborates on the concept of community in the context of this event, “because there is a group of professional service providers, investors, and entrepreneurs who use public markets to launch new businesses… almost venture capital in the public markets. So then there’s a set of investment banks, investor relations firms, lawyers, accountants like us as well as mutual funds and high net worth individuals and other institutions that really focus on this segment… it is a community”.

The Goal Of Presenting Companies:

• A cornerstone of the event from the perspective of the entrepreneurial public company is the opportunity to network with a diverse array of investors. Marcum’s partner-in-charge, David Bukzin explains the value that Marcum MicroCap Conference delivers to presenting companies, “they have a place to tell their story, to meet with the microcap community”. Many investors and companies have attended Marcum’s MicroCap Conference for six-years-in-a-row.
• According to the 2017 Marcum Microcap Conference’s landing page, participants of the event consist of, “senior management, finance and legal executives, venture and lower middle-market private equity investors, institutional investors, directors, investment bankers, buy- and sell-side analysts, and service providers to the microcap marketplace”.
• Following the event’s presentation segment, where CEO’s and CFO’s walk investors through their company’s story, Robert Derbabian gave us a preview of what else is to be expected: compelling guest speakers, industry panels, and cocktails. All of these are of great interest to what the 2017 Marcum MicroCap Conference representatives dub as the MicroCap Community.

New developments in the 2017 Marcum MicroCap Conference:

• This year, 95% of the attending companies are microcaps under $500 million market cap. A new addition to the Marcum MicroCap Conference is a dedicated private company tract that Marcum worked hard to put together.
• Marcum’s Senior Director of Business Development, Robert Derbabian lends insight into the type of private companies attendees can expect, “A lot of pre-IPOs, people thinking about going public, wanting to test and see if there’s interest in the investing community… we’re an audit firm, so there’s a lot of investment banks in this community that all come”.

Panels & Keynote Speakers:

• Alongside the company presentations include an array of almost a dozen panels. Geared towards investor companies, and issuer service providers respectively, the panels this year aim to deliver. One panel of particular intrigue is the ‘Up-In-Smoke’ Panel: How to Invest in the Cannabis Industry.
• The 2017 Marcum MicroCap Conference will continue the tradition of hosting famous and insightful guests for the highly anticipated keynote segment of the event. This year, the Marcum MicroCap Conference will hold two keynote features. The first keynote will be held by James Carville and Mary Matalin on June 15^th. Here, the famous husband-and-wife duo will participate in a moderated debate (moderated by David Bukzin himself). The topic: 150 Days into the New Administration: What has Happened and What to Expect.
• On Friday morning, June 16^th, Economist and financial commentator Lawrence Kudlow of CNBC’s The Kudlow Report will be presenting the final keynote speech of the conference. The topic: Washington to Wall Street.

- The 2017 Marcum MicroCap Conference will be held on June 15th and 16th. The conference begins early on Thursday, June 15th in New York City’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. For more information, including sponsorship and presentation packages, visit the event’s landing page at www.marcummicrocap.com.

Disclosure: Ryan Austin holds no interest in any of the entities mentioned above.