The opportunity to speak with any company’s executives is often a rare one. But the chance to have a one-on-one conversation with the management who handles the daily transactions of a company in which you’ve invested quite a bit of cash is rare. The Toronto Resource Investment Conference, though, offers that and much more. We had the chance to sit down with Howard Fitch, President of Cambridge House International, Canada’s largest producer of resource investment conferences, about this year’s show.

Why This Conference?

You may have had opportunities in the past to learn more about a given company in a conference setting, but this year’s Toronto Resource Investment Conference is a bit different. Representatives from more than 150 public companies and some of the world’s best mineral exploration and management teams are on hand to answer your questions about their plans and financing opportunities. It’s more than a chance to listen. The instability the market has seen over the past year has made many investors slightly hesitant, but the key to making the right decisions is to have all of the information at hand, and this show is certainly ready to help with that.

“It’s obviously very important that retail and professional investors are constantly educating themselves and trying to determine what the trends are in the marketplace . . . the days of just leaving it up to your adviser and hoping for the best or the long term buy and hold philosophy seems to have been turned upside down. And I think you really have to pay closer attention to your stock portfolio and manage it to a large extent yourself; I mean, it’s your money, right? For those managing their own portfolio of resource stocks, and/or hard assets, this conference is extremely important to attend,” said Fitch.

With twenty-five different experts slated for seminars, panel presentations, and workshops that will discuss the price of gold, the future of gold versus the future of other resources like the US dollar, the price of various base metals, stock recommendations, and how to evaluate mineral companies, it’s easily the chance those who are new to this side of the investment world and those who have been with it over the past few years have been waiting for.

An Amazing Program

This year’s conference brings an amazing program of speakers. The newest speakers include renowned Technical Analyst David Chapman who will be speaking about the gold aftermarket and price trends. Craig Stanley, an analyst with Pinetree Capital will discuss a few of the hottest companies and how to get the most value from your investment dollars. In addition to the newer speakers, well-known speaker, Peter Grandich of Agoracom is headlining the program, and Frank Holmes with US Global Investors will be speaking in both the opening and closing sessions as well. Doug Casey, with International Speculator, will also be talking about where to go now that the economic turmoil has hit so hard.

Add names like those with a chance to attend corporate presentation workshops and speak with some of the companies you’re thinking about investing with now, and it becomes almost essential that you attend.

Metal News, in cooperation with Cambridge House International, has a free registration offer, which makes it all the more valuable.

“We’re talking about resource investments here, [and] this would offer you an opportunity to profit as well as guidelines on how you go about evaluating mineral exploration companies. . . So, certainly investors with any exposure to resource equities would almost have to attend,” said Fitch.

Other Conference Opportunities

Fortunately, this isn’t the only conference of its kind this year. In November, Cambridge House International is working with one of their major sponsors to do a Montreal conference.

“It’ll be smaller in scale, maybe 60 to 65 booths. Talks will be in both languages. A number of our regular resource commentators will be there. As well there will be some speakers on technical analysis and direct access trading your account . . . and we’re very excited about it. We think that . . .the gold market is picking up here this fall. Commodities and metals are gaining attention once more, and I think there’s going to be a good turnout there,” said Fitch.

The January Vancouver venue is also on the schedule, but it has changed a bit this year because of the Winter Olympics. This year’s show will be at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, and while it’s a bit of a compromise because of the venue change, there will be nearly two hundred resource companies as well as a packed lineup of speakers to help investors stay on the right path.

So much of investment relies on your access to information, and the upcoming Toronto conference is one great way to get the information you need to make excellent decisions in the upcoming year.