The 2021 JLN MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity was held on July 21 as a virtual event and featured an interview with Small Exchange CEO Donnie Roberts and an interview of and presentation from Get Real VR partner Ed Haravon.

Roberts was interviewed by John Lothian News publisher John Lothian about the Small Exchange and its contracts, particularly its cannabis stock index futures contract. Lothian also inquired about the new contract ideas Roberts has been inundated with as the exchange started trading.

Roberts had a thirst for experiences, and he mentioned many that he had, including serving in the Marines, tending bar, and joining the excitement of the trading floor. He helped start the Thinkorswim Group with Tom Sosnoff, which was later acquired by TD Ameritrade. He and Sosnoff eventually went on to found The Small Exchange together.

Haravon answered questions about his background as a trader and executive at a proprietary trading firm and how he made the transition to virtual reality entrepreneur. He then went on to present examples of how virtual reality could be used in the business world to present data, specifically market performance during the pandemic timeframe.

He showed the audience how to manipulate a three-dimensional graph of data using a QR code he shared, allowing them to pull up the virtual reality chart on their smartphones.

Haravon also displayed a graph of data about tweets from former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020 and showed the audience how to pull up different data points from that chart.

Besides the two live segments recorded during the 2021 World of Opportunity event, JLN shared additional videos with the audience.

One was an interview with Ed Tilly, Chairman, CEO and president of Cboe Global Markets. Tilly spoke about opportunities at Cboe created by its expansion and acquisitions in the last year. He also talked about opportunities still available on the Cboe trading floor. And he reflected on what career choices he would make today versus his decision to become a trader back in the day of fractions and open outcry trading.

Robin Wood of the National Futures Association was part of the Greenwood Project and interned at the NFA before accepting a full-time position there after graduating from the University of Illinois. She was interviewed by NFA colleague Joseph McCarthy, a communications specialist. Wood spoke about her experiences with the Greenwood Project and how they prepared her for her job at the NFA. She talked about her experience joining the organization during a pandemic and how the NFA managers work with their employees.

Also, Andre Buckles, executive director of talent acquisition at the OCC, spoke in a pre-recorded segment about the challenges of working from home and how to make it work as an employee and as a firm. He offered insights as an engaged worker in a remote working world. He talked about six different ways to be engaged in a virtual environment.

Besides the complete video for the virtual 2021 World of Opportunity event, JLN also is publishing separate videos of the interview with Roberts and the presentation by Haravon.

JLN will be offering additional videos as part of this year’s World of Opportunity series. They will be published on JohnLothianNews.com and shared by email with this year’s WOO registrants.

Ed Tilly Interview

Andre Buckles Interview

Robin Wood Interview