[I'm writing this entry on Thursday morning, back aboard my sailboat, on the Pacific Ocean - having departed Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon]
(I'm still working on writing-up some pieces for the interview noted below - this posting will continue to be updated with notes from my conversations with attendees and company representatives that I met at their respective booths...)
09:00
- Interview session with Sid Wadhwa, Managing Partner and Co-founder at NV Insurance Group LLC
- http://nvinsurancegroup.com/
- "Coming Soon... Tomorrow's Digital MGA today"
- Other members of NV Insurance Group LLC that were present:
- Hari Kanangi, Managing Partner and Co-founder at NV Insurance Group LLC
- Anupam Mittra, Managing Partner and Co-founder at NV Insurance Group LLC
- Shreya Wadha, Marketing and Development
- The company is self-funded.
- Sid stressed that his company is still in stealth mode - and thus was not able to share specific details (yet). I look forward to some follow-up conversations with Sid and his team - and may have some additional details to share over the next 6-18 months, as they continue to plan, elaborate, and execute.
09:30
I spent the majority of the morning in the Exhibition Hall - having many, many interesting conversations with company representatives in their respective vendor booths - as well as the serendipitous meetings that happened in the break areas - and around the coffee service tables.
(many additional notes from vendor booth visits to be added here, today...)
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| Photo by Kelvin D. Meeks |
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| Photo by Kelvin D. Meeks |
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| Photo by Kelvin D. Meeks |
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| Photo by Kelvin D. Meeks |
Ideas and Suggestions for InsureTech Connect 2020
- On Tuesday evening, "Birds of a Feather" type open discussion topic sessions could be scheduled to allow those who have a shared specific interest/focus to meet, network, and share their experiences/solutions. A few examples of possible topic sessions to suggest, with an emphasis on topics of particular interest to Information Technology attendees:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Data Analytics
- Open Source Software
- Cloud Computing
- IoT
- Another possible idea for Tuesday evening, "5 Minute Lightning Talks" - is an idea from the world of information technology conferences - that I think might very well resonate with many of the attendees. Conceptually, you could have a a 2-hour block of time (say 7-9pm), with 5 minutes blocks available for anyone to sign-up to give a talk - with different tracks dedicated to different rooms (e.g. agency management, policy administration, distribution, compliance, governance, privacy, security, cloud computing, open source software, machine learning, IoT, etc.)
- To simplify the Registration process, allow attendees to print their passes prior to arriving - and simply hang Lanyards with ID Badge Holders all along the walls of the registration area.
- Although I would be tempted to consider suggesting a mobile app for the Conference ID - dead mobile phone batteries would generate more disruption to traffic flow (getting into sessions) than the simple process of attendee-printed badges.
- A tip of the hat to Joseph Keller for the idea of pre-staging the lanyards along the walls.
- One problem with the very, very long registration line this year was that no one seemed to be aware that there were registration queues on more than one side of the registration kiosk. Everyone, unaware, was in line to the first person at the registration kiosk - all they had to do was peel off and begin joining the much shorter queues going all the way around to the far side of the kiosk.
- Perhaps breaking the registration kiosk up into multiple locations, with designated last name ranges (A-D, E-G, etc.) would be helpful.
- Automate the networking app - so that when one person (a) expresses an interest in connecting - and the other person (b) responds - an automatic invitation to connect is initiated via a LinkedIn API request, from (a) to (b).
General Concluding Thoughts on InsureTech Connect 2019
- Consistently, the response from the dozens of attendees that I asked - everyone reported a very positive conference experience.
- Vendors consistently commented that the traffic to their booths was better than they had hoped - and for those booth representatives who had attended previous ITC conferences in years past - they consistently reported that this year was even better than last year.
- The conference is an exceptional networking event for insurance professionals. I heard one estimate that this year's conference may have had as many as ~7,500 attendees (the reported number for the 2018 event was ~6,000)
- The MGM Grand Conference Center was an excellent choice of venue for this event. The exhibition hall is enormous - and was well laid out.
- The number of vendors with booths in the exhibition hall was almost overwhelming. Several times, my poor aching feet gave out long before my mental curiosity was satisfied.
- Although I didn't have an opportunity to try the breakfasts that were served - the lunches were excellent.
- Regrettably, I wasn't able to stay for "The Official After Party Featuring Billy Idol"
- Useful Tip: On the ground floor of the conference facility (near the escalators) - there is a FedEx Office Print & Ship Center
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| Source: Fedex |
Since all of the rooms in the MGM Grand were sold out by the time my travel plans were ready to be finalized - I opted to go ultra-spartan for this trip. Convenience was my primary decision criteria. For the very frugal (and brave of heart), note that I was able to book four nights at the Motel 6 across the street from the convention center - for $266. This offered the shortest walking distance to the conference.
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| Source: Motel6.com |
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