Investor Roadshows and Capital Markets Days: How to Plan the Meetings

In 2025, 88 per cent of the listed companies in IR Impact’s Global Roadshow Report went on at least one investor roadshow. Their investor relations teams travelled an average of 12.1 days for in-person meetings and spent another 5.4 days on virtual ones (IR Impact with Bank of America, 2026). Yet only 65 per cent rated their in-person roadshows at least eight out of ten, down from 72 per cent a year earlier. The findings make it worth reviewing both the time invested and the relevance of the meetings arranged.

This guide is for the people who build those calendars: investor relations (IR) teams at listed and pre-IPO companies, corporate access desks at brokers, and organisers of investor conferences. It explains the formats, from the non-deal roadshow to the capital markets day, and shows how to plan the meetings around the management time available.

Plan the target investor list, meeting formats and travel time together, before filling the diary.

What are investor roadshows, non-deal roadshows and capital markets days?

The vocabulary matters, because each format hands the diary to a different person. A deal roadshow markets a transaction, such as an initial public offering (IPO), a capital increase or a bond, and the banks on the deal run it in a tight window. A non-deal roadshow (NDR) has no transaction attached: management visits investors to explain results and strategy. The investor relations handbook of the Swiss exchange SIX describes it as “generally 2 to 3 days”, usually held “at the investors’ premises” and typically arranged by brokers (SIX, 2025).

Two variants reverse or bundle the travel. In a reverse roadshow, brokers bring a group of investors to the company. At an investor conference, a broker or an exchange invites many issuers and many investors to one venue, with 1:1 meetings before and after the presentations. A capital markets day, often called an investor day, is the company’s own event: management presents strategy and mid-term targets to investors and analysts, either every year or every two to three years when a new plan is ready (SIX, 2025).

Across these formats, the availability of the relevant management team limits meeting capacity.

Establish realistic meeting capacity

That constraint has numbers. According to the SIX handbook, a 1:1 meeting typically lasts 45 to 60 minutes with one or two people from management, and a roadshow should carry “no more than six meetings a day” (SIX, 2025). A two-day trip to one financial centre therefore holds about twelve meetings, no matter how long the broker’s list of interested funds is.

The large investor conferences run into the same ceiling. The Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum in Frankfurt reported more than 4,000 1:1 meetings for around 250 listed companies in November 2024, in more than 230 meeting rooms (Unternehmeredition, 2024). That works out at roughly 16 meetings per company over three days, or about five a day. At a large conference, each company’s meeting capacity remains limited even when the programme as a whole is extensive.

Agree which investors you want to reach before assigning slots. The head of investor relations and chief financial officer (CFO) can then compare the meetings held and feedback received with those original priorities.

Allow time for travel, preparation and follow-up when deciding how many requests to accept.

How to plan a non-deal roadshow, step by step

Start the planning process with a clear reason for the roadshow. The SIX handbook gives a blunt first rule: “Only go on a roadshow when there is something to say.” Most companies attach the trip to their results, because investors then have fresh questions and management has fresh answers.

Step 2 and step 3 belong together. SIX advises having “a clear idea of whom you want to meet” and including key investors even when the broker has no contact with them. Choose brokers by the quality of their investor targeting rather than by name, and change them regularly. A clear target list gives the broker a basis for prioritising outreach and discussing alternatives with your team.

1:1 or group meeting?

The meeting type is where most of the time is won or lost. These rules of thumb, drawn from the SIX handbook and common practice, keep the decision quick:

• Largest holders and top targets: a 1:1, because they want to test the investment case in depth.
• Investors with similar questions or smaller positions: a group breakfast or lunch, so one hour serves several funds.
• A new financial centre: send the CFO and/or the head of IR first, as SIX recommends, and bring the CEO once the city has proven interest.
• Strategy questions or numbers questions: strategy-focused investors suit the CEO, figures-focused investors the CFO (SIX, 2025).

Routing is the last piece. Investor offices in one financial centre can still be far apart in rush-hour traffic, so plan the travel time and a short buffer after each meeting. Virtual meetings are a good way to fill a gap: virtual-only roadshows doubled to 8 per cent in 2025 (IR Impact, 2026), and a video call with a fund in another city costs no travel day.

How to plan a capital markets day

A roadshow takes management to the investors. A capital markets day reverses the direction, and the scheduling problem moves into one room. The SIX handbook recommends a preparation period of “at least six months” and a date that avoids reporting periods and industry events (SIX, 2025). Commerzbank, for example, announced its 2025 capital markets day on 18 October 2024 for 13 February 2025 and combined it with its full-year results (Commerzbank, 2024).

A capital markets day can use a compact format. Straumann held its capital markets day on 25 November 2025 from 9 am to about 1.30 pm Central European Time, with a webcast, a recording afterwards and questions via a pre-registered telephone conference (Straumann, 2025). Half a day is enough if the programme is tight. SIX lists the building blocks:

• Strategy, including the addressable market and why the company can win.
• Deep dives into divisions, products or technologies.
• The financial framework: KPIs (key performance indicators), capital allocation and shareholder returns.
• The bear case and the key risks, with mitigation plans.
• Ample time for questions, plus optional breakouts, demos or site visits.

Alongside the plenary, build a schedule for the individual and group meetings. Imagine twelve funds that each want twenty minutes with the CFO between the last session and the dinner. That is four hours of CFO time in a two-hour window. Decide in advance which investors get a 1:1, which go into a small group with the CFO, and which meet the divisional heads in the breakouts instead. Assign breakout groups by interest, not by registration order, so a fixed-income investor does not sit through a product demo.

Check these requests against management availability before confirming them.

One message for every investor

Every 1:1 carries a risk the plenary does not: something new is said to one fund that the market has not heard. In the EU, the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) requires issuers to publish inside information “as soon as possible” (Art. 17(1)). If an issuer discloses inside information to a third party in the normal course of business, it must publish it in full, simultaneously for an intentional disclosure and promptly for an unintentional one, unless the recipient owes a duty of confidentiality (Art. 17(8), Regulation (EU) No 596/2014). In the US, Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sets a comparable rule for selective disclosure (SEC, 2000).

For planners, three habits follow. Publish the capital markets day slides and the webcast at the start of the event, not afterwards. Prepare a list of difficult questions with approved answers for every 1:1 and group meeting. Keep a short record of each meeting, as SIX recommends for investor profiles anyway. This section is orientation, not legal advice; your legal and compliance team sets the rules for your company.

Where meeting software helps, and where it does not

The disclosure rule is the same at every scale; the scheduling effort is not. A single company’s non-deal roadshow with twelve meetings in two cities runs well on a broker’s spreadsheet and a shared calendar. Software earns its place when many issuers meet many investors in one place: broker conferences, exchange events like the Eigenkapitalforum with its 230 rooms, or a capital markets day with parallel breakouts and 1:1 requests.

At that scale, the planner needs time slots that both sides book into, rules for who can request whom, caps so the most wanted management teams are not overbooked, and an export that turns confirmed meetings into follow-up lists. The six criteria in our comparison of the best matchmaking platforms for investor meetings apply here just as they do at startup events. Before any software builds a schedule, the guest list has to be right, which is why the vetting framework in how to qualify investors before a 1:1 meeting marathon is the better starting point for open registrations.

Converve’s meeting matrix runs on the time slots you define, with rules for which participant groups can meet and how many requests each participant may send or receive. For an investor conference, issuers and investors request meetings in the same grid, and every confirmed meeting appears in both schedules. See how the B2B matchmaking platform handles a meeting programme of this kind.

How to measure a roadshow or capital markets day

Alongside the total number of meetings, record which investors on your target list you reached. Track how many were with new names and how many with existing holders. SIX recommends collecting feedback via the brokers, forwarding it to management and delivering promised follow-ups promptly (SIX, 2025). For a capital markets day, SIX suggests a structured evaluation such as a perception study 12 to 18 months later, when it shows whether the new targets stuck.

Outreach success is a useful early signal too. The roadshow software vendor weconvene puts meeting acceptance for targeted outreach at 40 to 60 per cent (weconvene, 2026, vendor benchmark). If your acceptance rate is much lower, review the target list, timing and responses to your outreach. Treat the vendor figure as a comparison point rather than a required target. Fund managers who meet their own investors at third-party events face the same slot maths, as our guide to meetings between limited partners and fund managers at investor conferences shows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a non-deal roadshow?

A non-deal roadshow (NDR) is a series of meetings in which a company’s management visits institutional investors without marketing a transaction. It usually follows the results and serves to explain strategy and figures. The SIX Investor Relations Handbook (2025) describes it as generally two to three days, held at the investors’ premises and typically arranged by brokers.

What is the difference between a capital markets day and an investor day?

The two terms usually mean the same event: a company hosts investors and analysts to present its strategy and mid-term targets. “Capital markets day” is common in Europe, “investor day” in the US. According to the SIX handbook (2025), some companies hold one every year, others every two to three years when a new strategy is ready.

How many investor meetings fit into a roadshow day?

No more than six, according to the SIX Investor Relations Handbook (2025), with a typical 1:1 lasting 45 to 60 minutes. At the Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum 2024, more than 4,000 1:1 meetings for around 250 companies came to about five meetings per company and day (Unternehmeredition, 2024).

How far in advance should a capital markets day be planned?

At least six months, according to the SIX handbook (2025), with a date that avoids reporting periods and major industry events. Commerzbank announced its 2025 capital markets day almost four months ahead, on 18 October 2024 for 13 February 2025 (Commerzbank, 2024).

Who organises an investor roadshow?

Brokers usually arrange the meetings for a non-deal roadshow, working from the company’s target list, while the IR team sets the goals and briefs management. For deal roadshows, the banks on the transaction take over. Capital markets days are organised by the company’s own IR team, often with an event agency.

Can a company share new information in a 1:1 investor meeting?

Inside information is subject to disclosure requirements. Under Article 17(8) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, inside information disclosed to a third party must be published in full, simultaneously for an intentional disclosure, unless the recipient owes a duty of confidentiality. Regulation FD sets a comparable rule in the US (SEC, 2000). Your legal team decides what applies in your case.

Plan the diary first

Plan the presentations and investor meetings together, with a realistic allowance for management time, preparation and travel. Start from the target list, allocate 1:1s and group meetings deliberately, keep one message for every investor and measure against the list you started with.

If you organise an investor conference or a capital markets day and want issuers and investors to book into one shared schedule, get in touch with Converve.