As visibility increases for financial planners through PlannerSearch, more prospects will be able to find and evaluate advisors.

But visibility alone does not drive growth.

The advisors who benefit most will be those with a clear, repeatable system to turn that visibility into client relationships.

Led by Robert Sofia, CEO of Snappy Kraken, this series introduces the Lead Lifecycle—a practical framework for turning visibility into consistent, measurable growth.

Across five modules, you’ll learn how to attract, capture, nurture, and convert more opportunities—so your marketing works as a connected system, not a set of disconnected efforts.

This presentation introduces the Lead Lifecycle framework and shows how increasing visibility—driven by PlannerSearch—can be turned into a structured growth system.

What You’ll Learn

• How PlannerSearch is changing planner visibility
• The 5 stages of the Lead Lifecycle (Attract → Activate  → Nurture → Retain & Refer →Convert)
• Where opportunities are commonly lost
• How to build a simple, repeatable system

Robert Sofia, CEO, Snappy Kraken

Brought to you by the PridePlanners Knowledge Circle, guest speaker Jim Marrocco will lead an engaging and practical session focused on the evolving landscape of LGBTQ family planning and the unique financial planning challenges that come with it. Drawing from both professional expertise and personal experience as a new parent via surrogacy, Jim will walk attendees through the major family‑building paths available to LGBTQ individuals and couples, including adoption, fertility treatments, and surrogacy. He will highlight the financial, tax, insurance, and legal considerations that often complicate these decisions and discuss how advisors can help clients evaluate trade‑offs and plan proactively. Real‑world examples will be used to illustrate how these planning strategies come together before, during, and after a child arrives. The session is designed to equip advisors with clearer frameworks and greater confidence so they can better serve LGBTQ clients navigating family‑building decisions.

Jim Marrocco, CFP®, CFA (he, him, his), Founder and Head Financial Planner

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a communication style that helps strengthen clients' motivation for and commitment to change. Their motivation is already there, and MI is a way of helping them uncover it. MI helps explore your clients' own reasons for change in a collaborative way that puts the clients' interests first. In this presentation, you'll learn what MI is and how to use it in your financial planning practice. MI is composed of four stages, engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning, which integrate nicely into your work with clients. You'll learn more about the skills used in motivational interviewing that will make you a better listener, both in your practice and in your life. These skills are asking open-ended questions/prompts, affirmations, reflections, and summaries. Your clients are already motivated. MI helps your clients identify and strengthen that motivation.

Derek Hagen, CFP®, CFA, FBS®, CFT™, CIPM, Financial Life Planning Consultant, Educator and Speaker

Brought to you by the Women & Finance Knowledge Circle: 

Leadership isn’t defined by title or team size—it’s reflected in how you communicate, take ownership, and show up in your work and relationships.

Join executive leadership coach Shannon O’Toole for an interactive session designed to tackle the real challenges leaders face every day—whether you lead a team, collaborate with peers, or are focused on leading yourself more effectively.

We’ll begin by crowd-sourcing the most common leadership challenges from the group—then focus on three high-impact tools to help you lead with greater clarity, confidence, and intention.

In this session, Shannon will introduce practical frameworks to help you:

• Create clarity by setting expectations with yourself and others
• Strengthen feedback by building more open, effective communication in any relationship
• Improve collaboration so you can work more productively across teams, clients, and stakeholders

Each tool is simple, actionable, and designed for immediate use; whether you’re managing a team or navigating your own role within a broader organization.

This session is ideal for advisors, professionals, and leaders at any stage who want to elevate how they think, communicate, and lead—without adding unnecessary complexity.

Shannon O'Toole, Founder

Brought to you by the FPA Latino Knowledge Circle: join us on Friday, May 15th at 12 PM PST for a CFP Exam Success Panel featuring Bryant Rivera Colón and Cindy Randolph, who will share their CFP exam experiences, study strategies, and key tips for success. This informal session is a great opportunity to ask questions, gain practical insights, and connect with fellow FPA Latino Knowledge Circle members preparing for or supporting the certification journey.

Brought to you by the Special Needs Planning Community, when divorce involves children with disabilities, the planning process becomes more complex—emotionally, legally, and financially. Certified Special Needs Divorce Coach Mary Ann Hughes will share insights into the unique challenges these families face, along with key considerations for financial professionals serving clients with special needs in their planning.

Mary Ann Hughes, MBA, Founder and Certified Special Needs Divorce Coach

This session explores how visual thinking can transform retirement-planning conversations. Based on the book Your Retirement Sketchbook, this webinar demonstrates how simple sketches, visual frameworks, and mapping techniques can help advisors communicate complex retirement and longevity concepts more clearly. Hosted by Steve Resch, this practical session focuses on tools advisors can immediately incorporate into client meetings. In this session, advisors will learn how to:

• Use visual frameworks to simplify retirement income and longevity planning
• Improve client engagement and understanding through sketch-based conversations
• Facilitate more meaningful discussions around legacy, risk, and retirement decisions
• Apply practical visualization tools directly in client meetings

Jamie Hopkins, Esq., MBA, CFP®, LLM, CLU®, ChFC®, RICP®, CEO of Bryn Mawr Captial Management and Chief Wealth Officer of Byrn Mawr Trust and WSFS

Stephen J. Resch, CLTC, Vice President Retirement Strategies Division

Brought to you by the Asian-American/Pacific Islanders Knowledge Circle, this presentation introduces an educational session on how artificial intelligence is transforming modern tax planning for financial advisors. It explores the evolution of tax planning from a secondary service to a core driver of client value, highlights the limitations of traditional CPA-advisor workflows, and presents a new framework for proactive, dynamic tax planning powered by AI. Attendees will gain insights into identifying advanced tax strategies, modeling multi-year outcomes, and safely collaborating with tax professionals to deliver measurable tax savings and stronger client relationships.  

Lotus Li, CPA, PFP, Founder