Performance + Purpose Is Coming to a Screen Near You

Get ready for a conference that will be unparalleled in our history.

By Kevin Mayeux, CAE

The Performance + Purpose Conference is an annual highlight for our association. It’s an opportunity for insurance and financial professionals to come together, learn, be inspired and celebrate a profession and an industry that guides more than 90 million American families along the path to financial security and prosperity. This year’s P+P will be no exception, even if it’s not exactly what we may be used to.

The COVID-19 outbreak has forced us to shift gears and adapt to our new reality. It is unfortunate that we won’t be gathering in Boston next month. It’s a great city with a strong NAIFA presence. As the location where our association was founded 130 years ago, it plays a starring role in NAIFA’s history.

We are fortunate, though, that NAIFA is a nimble, modern professional association able to continue moving forward and providing a high-quality member experience no matter what challenges we face. I am confident that despite COVID-19, NAIFA’s 2020 Performance + Purpose conference will prove to be a resounding success.

From Oct. 6 to Oct. 8, we will host a P+P that will be engaging, educational and inspirational.

P+P GOES VIRTUAL

The pandemic has made it impractical and potentially dangerous to hold an in-person meeting this year, but it has also driven us to reimagine what P+P can be.

Thanks to amazing technology and video platforms combined with the creativity and resourcefulness of staff and member volunteers, NAIFA will host a virtual P+P event, Oct. 6-8, which will be exciting, engaging, educational and inspirational. We look forward to a virtual 2020 P+P event that will be unparalleled in our industry and hope you will be a part of it.

Fortunately, we are not starting from scratch. When COVID-19 forced us to cancel our annual Congressional Conference and replace it with the online NAIFA Nation Impact Week, we were able to break all our previous virtual event attendance records. We attracted 5,000 registrants for sessions on Leadership, Diversity, and Political Advocacy. The reviews came back overwhelmingly positive. Our NAIFA Town Halls and webinar series drew similarly large numbers.

These events allowed NAIFA members and colleagues who are not yet members to come together as an industry. They provided motivation and sales ideas from industry super stars, best practices for connecting with clients and prospects during the pandemic, crucial legislative and regulatory updates, and an amazing presentation by Kevin O’Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful from TV’s Shark Tank . All of these offer a small preview of what you can expect from the virtual P+P.

The Wave Of The Future

By going virtual, we see an even greater opportunity to extend NAIFA’s reach beyond our core of usual conference attendees. This means even more insurance and financial services professionals have access to our keynote speakers, educational workshops, breakout sessions and networking events. It lets us expand our message to a larger audience and allows more people to experience the benefits of NAIFA membership.

COVID-19 has forced everyone to rethink the way we do business and how we interact with friends, family, colleagues and clients.

Many of the lessons we are learning and practices we are adopting will stick with us even after threat of the pandemic has passed. I am confident that eventually, we will once more enjoy the fellowship of face-to-face meetings and in-person conferences.

But we will also ride the momentum we are building now. NAIFA will offer more virtual events. When we are able, we will bring you hybrid events, like the pre-COVID-19 NAIFA Live meetings, that welcome both in-person and virtual attendees, as well as smaller “watch parties.”

For 130 years, NAIFA has been the only professional association for insurance and financial professionals of all practice specialties who serve all market segments. We will continue using technology, ingenuity and our desire to serve our members better by providing valuable programming, networking and advocacy support, how and where you want it. Our big tent continues to grow bigger.

Details about the virtual P+P and registration information are available on NAIFA’s website at www.naifa.org. I look forward to joining you at this amazing virtual event.