Enjoying some Vegas and connecting with banks and fintechs. Pretty good combination if you ask me. It has been almost a year since I was last in Vegas and I have admittedly missed it. My wife is with me on this "business" trip so I know we'll be eating good meals and enjoying all the city has to offer and the trip did not disappoint.
We are in town for The Financial Brand Forum, which is a large banking and fintech conference designed for CMO's and those responsible for marketing their own financial brands. The conference is being held at the Aria, which I haven't stayed at since Fintech Meetup several years ago. The Aria is an amazing casino along the Strip (Las Vegas Blvd.) with connectivity to the Cosmopolitan and to the Shops at Crystals, which has all our favorite brands.
The Culinary Experience
Starting with the dining experience, we were fortunate to be able to enjoy some new spots along with an old favorite of ours. Our first stop was Mon Ami Gabi over at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, where we love to go enjoy some French cuisine. The wild escargot de bourgogne and melted brie are where we start the experience and always end with crème brûlée.
On the second evening, we explored the famous Nobu Las Vegas, which was also solid. We started with the wagu beef street tacos moving to our favorite spicy tuna rolls. Later in the meal we experimented with Inari, which is a sweet tofu wrapped rice and fish bite. Quite good.
I was also able to enjoy a 10-course meal with some friends at Revio at Din Tai Fung at the Aria. Pan Asian cuisine is always a favorite and we crushed it (only because we let the staff curate the menu and they did not disappoint). Served as shared dishes, we all ate like kings though I must say the small bone-in ribs, while delicious, were quite difficult to navigate with chop sticks!
On our last afternoon before heading back to Austin, we did get to enjoy a cool little spot over in the Cosmopolitan called Overlook. Very nice spot to enjoy some American cuisine while overlooking the Boulevard Pool. A great way to enjoy a nice lunch with some cold beers before heading to the airport. Of course, we could not miss an opportunity to visit the Chandelier Bar for some Cosmos's at the Cosmo!
The Conference
The conference did not disappoint. There was obviously a lot to discuss given all that's going on with the equity markets, tariffs, global trade, immigration and the rapidly changing world order. Many of these headlines present plenty to discuss on their own so all together they dominated the conversations at the conference.
The agenda was stacked with content from many notable industry pro's on deploying AI, the rapidly changing regulatory environment given the change in administration in D.C., and all sorts of small group and mastermind sessions.
The highlight for me, in all honestly, was being able to see David Spade work a forty-five minute set covering a variety of topics that kept the audience of at least 1,000 entertained. While I'm not confident Spade did any research on why we were all there he was certainly hilarious. Spade did allude to the fact that it was odd for him to be doing standup at 4pm on a Tuesday and we all got the impression that his late night shows might be a little different.
Overall, a great trip to Vegas. Always better when my wife goes on business trips with me because I end up doing all the things and experiencing whatever city we are in. Huge thanks to Gregg Hammerman over at Larky for the invite!
