My first convention with the Big I was definitely an experience.  It was great to be so well received and supported by our membership.  We had over 250 agents come and part-take in the convention comradery. 

Tuesday was the first day and also the golf outing.  WHOA…. was the golfing cold.  Since I am new to golfing I sort of assumed that we would cancel when it was windy, raining, and about 50 degrees….boy, was I wrong.  Yes… I golfed and my team took second.  Thank you very much!  I really only helped my team with two shots but, I played well when it was really needed!  Of course I froze with no rain gear or much cold weather attire but we did have fun and I will remember that experience for a long time.  Thanks to Jeff Allen from Columbia for making the whole event possible, I was so glad to have a buddy while putting out hole signs in the freezing rain. 

The conventions theme was “Racing into the Next Century”.  Tuesday night was our trade fair and all of our company booths were all decorated in NASCAR fashion.  We had several cameo appearances by stars like Danica Patrick (the famous female race car driver), and Cookie monster.  Cookie monster was there to visit our immediate past President Katie Kochenower who spent her entire term visiting members across the state talking about member programs and delivering homemade cookies.  The trade fair was a great time for the 250 agents who came out too visit with all the companies.  Tuesday night was our Young Agents dance where West Wind really brought down the house and the agents danced the night away. 

Wednesday morning was probably my favorite.  Real Time class!!  It was honestly the largest Real Time class that I have ever been to; I think we seated over 100 people!  In earlier blogs I have discussed the need for agencies to move forward into technology.  IIAN members are all working toward the common goal of using technology and agency management systems to their benefit.   Jeff Yates came out to help us moderate the class, and agents had plenty of questions for the panel.  We had several panelists, but my favorite was Doug Johnston’s advice on 21 days.  Doug Johnston is the President of partner relations and product innovation.  I think we all know that Real Time has some growing pains at times but Doug committed to using Real Time quoting for 21 days.  I guess 21 days is how long it takes us to create a habit.

While I was in the agency the busy of business would get in the way and if something didn’t work immediately, I would give up.  I’m guessing some of you out there are the same way.  If you’ve used phrases like “I’m too busy to try this now.”, “It didn’t work last time and I’m sure it won’t this time.”, “I’ll wait until they get all the kinks out before I try it out.” Then you are just as stubborn as I am.  I’m here to remind you that Real Time isn’t going away and you don’t want it to.  Nebraska based companies like Farmers Mutual have made this technology a priority and we have to make it one too.  Thankfully the Real Time discussions are not just for companies, these IT folks are looking for feed back.  So get out there and try it out if you haven’t, and if you are using it keep on keeping on. 

Wednesday night was an exciting evening to say the least.  Big I had our usual hospitality room; however I somehow ended up with most of our award winners at a karaoke bar.  Thankfully I didn’t end up singing!  It was still a great time of dancing and comradery with fellow industry folks. 

Thursday morning was our largest class of the week the E&O loss control seminar.  I think everyone enjoyed the class and were prepared to head home and prevent losses!!

As you can probably tell it’s been a few weeks since my last posting ….I promise to do better.  Things haven’t really slowed down much since convention.  I’m realizing that hopefully after a full year of doing my job I will know better what to expect from the year, rather than tricking myself into thinking that I will have a break just to get busy again.  Thanks to all those past presidents and members that welcomed me with open arms.  It gives me great pleasure to be here serving you, our membership.  Our new booth banner says just that “Helping member’s Succeed”- That’s all we care about.  Please let me know if there is any way I can help you succeed. 

If you haven’t checked out the widgets on the left side of my blog do so!! You can sign up to recieve my new blogs when they are posted and also read other industry information that I post.  In the Black Box I have posted the latest fraud update for you to look at in PDF format. 

Best,

Liz