AgenteNews Insurance Producer's Online Resource
Agent Link recently attended NAILBA’s 32nd annual conference in Dallas and we had a wonderful time. Jason Kushner, the Managing Editor of our online publication, AgenteNews.com, put together a charming piece summarizing the event. For those of you who didn’t have a chance to attend, we encourage you to join us next year!
Despite a blistery cold snap and the subsequent storm that canceled hundreds of flights in and out of Texas, a majority of the country’s top carriers, IMOs, BGAs, and insurance vendors managed to gather under one roof in Dallas for the last big insurance industry event of the year. From November 21 to November 23, the opulent and impressive Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center hosted the 32nd annual NAILBA conference. And Agent eNews was there to dutifully capture the experience.
The National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) is the premiere insurance industry organization promoting financial security and consumer choice through the use of independent brokerage distribution. In addition to the exhibit hall, this year’s event featured three general sessions, nine workshops, several awards presentations, a live and a silent auction, and a sold-out pre-conference Innovation Workshop. NAILBA 32 attracted more than 80 exhibitor companies and 1,248 attendees.
With camera and microphone in tow, the AgenteNews production team had the privilege of getting impromptu statements from attendees on video as the events unfolded. The consensus at this year’s NAILBA seemed to be that producers need to focus on education and approach.
As NAILBA Chairman Raymond Phillips, CLU, LTCP said in his keynote speech, “We are too focused on telling our clients, prospects and brokers what life insurance is—not what life insurance does.”
In other words, it’s easy to forget about what quality life insurance products do for people in need, and all parties involved in an insurance transaction will come out on top if they understand how a product functions instead of settling for an umbrella definition of the product itself.
That said, it was the “Yes You Can” presentation made by Dick Hoyt about his spastic quadriplegic son Rick’s struggle with cerebral palsy that had the greatest impact on attendees. Tackling adversity and red tape at every corner, Dick and Rick Hoyt have run hundreds of marathons and triathlons around the world together. It’s an undeniably inspirational story that had even the most buttoned-up insurance men covertly mopping up a tear or two. In fact, the Hoyt saga served sufficiently as a metaphor for the ability of the whole industry to overcome and adapt to the financial challenges of 2013 and 2014’s evolving market.
It is this candid, face-to-face exchange of ideas that brings major industry players back to the conference every year and contributes to a national climate of optimism and thriving insurance businesses. And, it was that sentiment that we at AgenteNews set out to capture on video.
Look for the complete event video – coming soon to www.agentenews.com
