While the bell tops the charts in terms of lifting a company’s visibility, the NYSE offers many other forums to help its listed companies get seen and heard by retail and institutional investors. The NYSE sponsors conferences and road shows throughout the year and uses innovative Web-based technologies and strategic partnerships to raise investor awareness of its listed companies. 

“Creating opportunities to boost the profile of our listed companies is one of our top client-service priorities,” said Noreen M. Culhane, head of the NYSE’s Global Corporate Client Group.

Last month, for example, the NYSE in partnership with Prudential Equity Group LLC hosted a conference in New York for high-growth companies. During the course of the one-day conference, CEOs and senior executives of 20 NYSE-listed companies met with more than 160 portfolio managers, investors and analysts in group meetings and one-on-one sessions. In addition, more than 1,000 investors viewed the conference on nyse.com.

The Growth Conference was the first such conference that the NYSE co-sponsored with a member firm and is likely to become an annual event judging from the enthusiastic response of participating companies, says NYSE Managing Director Theresa Molloy. In addition to Ms. Molloy, the well-regarded stock analyst Steven DeSanctis, director of small-cap research at Prudential Equity Group, moderated the panel discussions on each of the featured companies.

The NYSE hosts two other conferences annually. The Global Opportunities Conference brings senior executives of non-U.S. small- and mid-cap companies face to face with U.S. investors. The NYSE also organizes a conference each year in London designed to give U.S. companies broader access to European investors. Last year’s conference put the spotlight on seven listed companies in the health-care industry: Applera Corp. - Applied Biosystems Group (ABI), Forest Laboratories Inc. (FRX), St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ), Waters Corp. (WAT), Beckman Coulter Inc. (BEC), Genentech Inc. (DNA) and Thermo Electronic Corp. (TMO ).

The NYSE is also a sponsor of the popular World Money Show, a three-day extravaganza that attracts more than 10,000 U.S.-based individual investors, traders and financial advisers. The majority of the people attending the World Money Show own securities in foreign companies and are interested in learning about opportunities outside the United States. The NYSE hosted five panels with representation from 15 listed companies. More than 700 investors attended these panels.

“It allows our companies to speak directly to potential retail investors, a segment of the market many of them are looking to grow,” said Ms. Culhane, referring to the World Money Show held recently in Orlando, Fla.

In addition to conferences, the NYSE each year conducts a series of virtual investor forums for time-strapped executives on the go. The forums are Web-based conferences that link senior executives to high-net-worth retail and institutional investors in the United States. Each forum consists of up to eight companies and focuses on different industries or regions and countries around the globe.

Last year the NYSE held four forums averaging 600 online listeners. The two most successful focused on China and on Canada’s energy sector. According to Informed Investors, the company that organizes and tracks the results of the virtual investor forums, the forum on Canada’s energy sector drew more than 1,000 investors, including portfolio managers managing assets worth $2.324 billion, research analysts, financial advisers, and brokers. The one on China drew 850 listeners.

“We’re always looking for ways to raise the visibility of our listed companies,” said Ms. Culhane. “Our goal is to help them communicate their corporate message to investors, and we do that through forums that go well beyond our opening- and closing-bell ceremonies.”

For the schedule of 2006 virtual investor forums, go to www.nyse.com/vif.