Whisking Together Industry Event Insights

Speaker A: Foreign.

Speaker B: This episode is a little bit different. It's a special episode. We're going to be talking about events. Um, really, you know we all go to so many events all across the country, even internationally. Um, and they really great, some of them are really good but we go to a lot of them now. What is the value we're getting? And so um, a lot of people on this call have spent a lot of their lives going to these things and, and doing this stuff. Um, so figure we just get it out there, talk about it. So first we'll do some little intros, um, and then um, we'll start to get into it. Um, I'll start with old Jim Hack. Barth himself.

Speaker A: Thanks Reed. Um, Jim Aarth. I've been technically retired for about three plus years. I'm doing a lot of board work mainly in the in sh space. Recently joined the board of a large broker. Um, and um, prior to that 20 years as CEO of Assurance Global. And prior to that, not to get into the weeds, I was in the what you would call the insurtech space today. M companies including IBM Policy Management Systems, ams, which is now Verticore.

Speaker B: So uh, we'll go to, we'll go to Brian. Brian, we know your audio is good.

Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm Brian Falchuk. Um, I've been in insurance for like 25 years. A lot of time on the carrier side either directly or at consulting ah, shops. Um, ran claims for a carrier, was a coo and then I jumped ship and went to Insuretech and um, selling into the carrier. So I would say I used to get free dinner offers and then I was trying to let people get people to let me pay them for dinner. Um, for the past few years I've been kind of on the speaking scene, writing books, putting them out and I, I joined PLRB to an industry trade org to lead the organization. And so now I'm also producing events. Um, so yeah, events are. I just got back from one and I'm heading to another one shortly. Like it's uh, it's, it's my lifeblood at this point unfortunately. I think I'm just tired.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think, I think we all are a little bit.

Speaker A: Dude.

Speaker B: It's coming, we're coming into the season now though.

Speaker D: This is good timing. Like this is like event season.

Speaker C: We're kicking off.

Speaker B: So uh, so yeah, Kristen, go ahead.

Speaker E: Yeah. So um, it's kind of interesting not being just the, the co host of this. Um, I have been in the industry for over 15 years and have been at trade shows not only as a vendor, but also helping to, um, put them together when it comes to some of our larger events that we do for Ivan's, uh, Ivan's Connect, insurtech, Boston, um, but some of the smaller road shows as well.

Speaker A: Awesome.

Speaker B: So we'll wait for Chip to come back. Hopefully he'll figure it out. We'll come back and we'll go there in a minute. So let's, let's, let's start at the beginning. Let's talk about first, like industry events. I'll tell you the first real event that I went to. Me and Kyle Heller, who still works these sales at Ivan's. We were Red Tech Canary. We did our first as a vendor. It was really my first industry event. We went to a regional, um, Big Eye event in Wisconsin in the Wisconsin Delts. Um, was our first, was my first event. And um, it was interesting. It was good. But like, we were there selling to people. And as a vendor, especially back in those days, I loved it. I used to, you know, get out there, you meet all these people. But I was selling, you know, agency management system technology. So every single agent that walked by the booth was a potential customer. So, um, I had a lot of fun with it. I got a lot of value from it early on. But that was many years ago and I think it was. You needed that personal interaction with people, um, where it's much more easier to get in touch with people digitally and then get on a zoom call these days than it was back then. That wasn't really a thing. That's when we used to hide and say, like, oh, I'm not working from home. Like, shut up. Like the dog's barking and you're like hiding, you know, in a closet somewhere. It wasn't acceptable. Now it is, so it's totally cool. Um, Acarth, how about you? What was your first event?

Speaker A: Oh, I mean, I could go way, way back. 40 plus years. You were probably in grade school. My first event read. But, um, that was back when I was in the vendor world. AMS Policy Management Systems. And just like what you said, they were very effective. Um, you know, going that ff, faia, the Big Eye events. I mean, you're collect and you're having good conversations. You could have good conversations, solid, um, discussions about your product. And you lot, you would leave there with some solid leads. I think it's much different today when I compare that to. But I haven't been to one of those for a while. Um, I had gone to Appliednet from the vendor side recently, but so going back that far, they seem to be very effective. You didn't have them coming at you. Now it's like one a week or every other week. And, I mean, you could be on a plane all the time, and you got to say, is this the best use of my time? But we'll probably get into that later.

Speaker B: Um, Ryan, how about you?

Speaker C: I was trying to remember my first. I think it was Rims in Seattle, the first one after September 11th. Um, and it was. I was in my early 20s. I was completely overwhelmed and, uh, didn't know what the heck to do with it. The classes were fast, fascinating, but I was also, like, just trying to get back to my hotel room. And, um, a lot has changed. The ones I really remember are kind of since, like, 2017. I was chief Claims officer at the time, and it was really, like, much more, um, kind of thematically specific to my work. So the networking is what I remember. I have no clue what happened on stages or not. I presented it some, and I don't remember, but it was. It was that interaction, like, get in with your peers and, like, oh, we're all going through this. This tough stuff together, um, which you kind of forget when you're off on your own and you feel like you're the only one suffering. So I, um. Yeah, that's the stuff I remember. Whether I was on the vendor side of the carrier side, it's like those connections and sort of like we all fall back in our chairs, like, oh, my God, we all got it this hard. It's not just that we're idiots or dinosaurs. Like, this is actually tough stuff. So what do we do about it?

Speaker B: Chip, you back? You working?

Speaker D: Can you hear me all right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: There you go.

Speaker C: Oh, my God.

Speaker D: You know, we love our technology, but it's, like, driving us to drink. In fact, we should just bring cocktail. We. We've done the afternoon versions.

Speaker A: Ah.

Speaker D: Anyway, apologies for the audio problems. Um, I'll reintroduce myself quickly. Chip Basioko CEO, trustedchoice.com um, and renamed. We were acquired. We're now Momentum Edge, part of the Momentum Edge, uh, platform. Um, and my first conference was, uh, actually a RIMS conference, too, but a little earlier than Brian's. It was 1990 in Chicago. Um, and, you know, as I was thinking about what was different back then. No cell phones. Huh?

Speaker E: Suits.

Speaker D: We all wore suit and tie all the time, everywhere. Paper. You know, those, uh, those tote bags they always still give us at conferences. They used to have a reason because you just collect paper as you went.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker D: I mean it was constantly paper. So I don't know why we still have them. They've been obsolete for 15 years. But I remember why, because we used to steal an extra one. Um, and I used to work. But my, my first gig there was working the booth at Aon in my suit, you know, and rims. It was huge. Listen, seemed huge to me. I was 24 or whatever. I was, um, loved it, loved meeting people, loved the energy. But a lot has changed. So I'm looking forward to this conversation.

Speaker E: Yeah. So, yeah, I'll, I'll say that, um, I think everything that you guys were saying around like it being about people. But I will take it from the other side in that I was working for a company that was trying to get uh, mobile friendly websites and apps out to um, insurance agents. And the first show that we were at didn't have WI fi. So that was a. Interesting, interesting first, uh, first delve into shows. Um, I always think about the movie Cedar Rapids. When you think about what people think of insurance agent, uh, events. If you have not seen that movie, working in the insurance industry, it is like our office space. Um, but you talk about rims. Rims is when I realized that insurance industry events could be these massive undertakings that had, you know, great logistics and amazing two level booths and really were not just, you know, a bunch of people getting together in the courtyard pool. So uh, rims to me is always like, been the one that like you, you want to uh, to achieve. Um, so yeah, that was that. It was like both sides of the spectrum my first year.

Speaker B: Here's a question for everyone today. What would you say is your favorite event? You don't have to necessarily pick a favorite, but what would you say is like a really great event? I don't know what that I'll, if

Speaker D: you can hear me, I'll jump in and plug the one that Kristen organizes because I really do love it. And that's insuretech Boston. Um, I think I have gone every year. I mean, you know, it used to be hosted by the Ask Kodiak guys. Um, I think I've gone every year. There's a bunch of things I love about that. It's an interest. And I tried to make some notes beforehand. Like what makes a good conference? Like there's a recipe, you know, there is a recipe. I'm not saying anyone's perfected it, but there's a recipe venue. Uh, you have a really interesting venue. It's a cool spot. There's a vibe that just comes from the spot. You kind of inherit the city vibe. And the Fenway park thing, um, there's the size, there's an intimacy that takes place at and, and it can be a perceived intimacy by the way. So you can have a big event but as long as you're creating sub intimacies within it, I think you can get away with it. Itc, I mean we, we've all gone probably every year. I like the Agent Broker day because they created a little, a uh, tightened little subsection and so okay, we're all together in this thing and it feels like you could meet everybody you want to meet but once you're in the full itc, you're host. Right? I mean there's just, it's, it's, you have to schedule everything. You run into people on your mile long walk between this room and that room. Um, but anyway, that's my favorite ah right now is insuretech Boston. I think it borrows a lot of what we had at Elevate, which is, you know my, my favorite non existing conference is Elevate. Um, Indy Tech's got some possibilities. There's actually a bunch of good ones that are, that are out there.

Speaker B: What do you think Brian?

Speaker C: So I have to plug my own events because I'd be, I think my board would fire me if I didn't. But I actually do. I love PLRB's annual claims conference in particular, which is often what the only thing people know us for and they don't realize all the other stuff we do. But um, um, kind of to Kristen's point, I sent my wife a photo of the expo hall getting set up. This is a, it's an event with like three to 3,500 people. 3,000, not three people. Um, this is big. I sent her a picture of the expo hall with the cranes and the rigging like during the setup and she just writes back, oh, I didn't realize your job was like a real thing. And this is like six months into the job so that's a whole different conversation. But yeah, I mean it was, it was one of those moments like I didn't even realize just how big it was. So that's, that's an awesome time. But I think probably to Chip's point, I think the things that really hit me are actually the more intimate events where we really get tight and, and talk about stuff. So my favorite recently was uh, InsureTech Australia had me do the keynote morning. Um, keynote for their annual conference, um, in February first of all, like Sydney is unreal and I've never gotten to go there, so that helped. Um, but that community, the engagement, the, the depth of interest in conversations like that, I, I, I almost didn't want to come home. I didn't want to come home. Not almost, but I did come home. Um, I could have lived there every day in that conference. That was just awesome. So that, that's the stuff that's just like gets you so fired up for working in this space. Um, and it was gorgeous. So like, you know, sunny and whatever.

Speaker A: In February.

Speaker C: I'll take that any day.

Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker D: Just to pile on it and kind of echo overall saying so. So the, the conference of course has, you know, its physical reality and everything and it has, which is all important. But if you think about it, when you come home, it's the, it's the, it is the human connections, right? It's like, oh, I had that amazing conversation with these people. We had the fun part. You cannot rule out the fun part. A lot of people don't even think about that. We really focused on that at Elevate. And I think the conferences that get a little special vibe understand that there. And it can't just be one party at night. Like we're only going to have fun at the cocktail party. No, no, no. You have to intersperse fun. There should be some surprises. There should be beach balls in the audience being kicked around. There should be mystery, uh, guests that shows up unexpectedly and like, what's he doing here? What's she doing here? Um, there should be a band in the hallway when you didn't expect it. There should be cocktails served at 2

Speaker B: o' clock in the afternoon. That's mixed up.

Speaker D: Just, just be weird people, they want to be a little surprised. They want to be entertained and that'll help them to loosen up and then, and have opportunities, very accidental usually to meet the people that they haven't yet met that they're going to get something out of and they're going to remember. And then two years later they'll be like, remember we met when we were both trying to get to the same beer at the XYZ conference at 2:00'.

Speaker C: Clock.

Speaker D: You know, whatever. You got to create those little moments.

Speaker B: 100.

Speaker E: I agree. I think that it's, but like you said, Chip, it has to be like a formula. So it has to be a balance. Right? Because yes, it's great to have fun, but I think I've seen some, some events that have leaned so much into the fun that you still need to have, like, justify why you went to the conference when you come back to the office. Um, so to your point, like, whether it's sales opportunities or education around how you're going to optimize things when you get back to the office, I think that there needs to be a balance. But I, I love the idea, like, you're talking about, like this, this bug light effect, if you will, of like, everybody's going to come, so you're going to have these interactions that you never would have gotten if you're just, you know, looking to network through an app or sit in a session.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: Because of one build on, um, that, uh, I think there's. You go to a lot of events and it's like, I don't know why, why that was happening at that event. It's like, oh, yeah, there was this great speaker, but if you can't remember which event that was at, then it wasn't that great of a speaker. Like, oh, it was a great party. But, like, did you tie it back to the event? So, you know, like, our big conference was in Indy last year. One of the vendors who had a, you know, like a client event at night did it at the Dallara Indy Car Factory with racers. Like, nothing against going to bars and dinners and whatnot, but it's like, uh, they really thought about, like, we're in Indianapolis right now. Let's do something that is so spot on for the theme. And then people are like, it wasn't just appropriate for the conference overall. It was like, oh, uh, yeah, I remember that event in that city with that vendor because it all lined up versus like just some motivational speaker who opened it up. Like, that could have been any. You know, so I, I think, like, why are we even doing this in this place with these people? Keeping that thread is, is really critical. Otherwise you're wasting your money producing the event.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker E: Yeah.

Speaker D: There, there should be a storyline. So, um, the other thing that we tried to make, we spent a lot of time in, back in the Elevate days was, was that there was actually, whether you perceived it or not, if you look closely to the, to the opening speech, and we had an amazing team. Right. So Hanley would come out and he would do the, the opening, but we actually had embedded in his. His opening all the elements that were going to take place. Not overtly, they were kind of hidden. And then there was a storyline every session. Even the way the parties lined up, the way the breaks lined up, um, the Questions we would pose to the audience, weird times, think about. And then at the end we would kind of share with them and say this is the journey you went on. You might not have realized it, but this is what we talked about here and this is what happened there. And remember we had this speaker. We, we told a story that's, that's how human store memories. Anyway, we're storytellers and we're story listeners. We still want to sit around the campfire. So the storyline has to be baked in um, with a lot of spontaneous fun in the middle.

Speaker E: I agree.

Speaker B: Yeah. I feel like a lot of the events now are just not that intimate in that way. And I think like, for me, I think that like demise of a lot of it is everything has now become so pay to play at ah, uh, like the, I'm talking like the bigger events to the people that are speaking. It's like there's a conflict of interest there. It's not because of this great content and good stuff. It's like a, it's like a commercial right? In, in a lot of ways. Um, but I'm always, I'm going to like the tech events and all that kind of stuff. I don't go to like the faias anymore, those types of regional events and like as an agent or agency owner, which I think is very beneficial in a lot of ways to uh, the industry. But I'm not as privy to that because I don't really go to those. But the ones I'm going to, a lot of it is just that, you know, people pitching, there's our whole thing, you know, and then it's a lot of the award type events seem like it's also kind of pay to play. They're the ones that just sign the biggest contract, whatever the vendor that's presenting the award kind of thing for. So I think it falls a little bit flat for me. Uh, ah, as. As far as like that content, um, like you kind of to your point Chip, like you and Elevate, you guys were doing a real thing for the industry across the board. You were having people up there to speak about stuff that you wanted them to hear. Not because they paid you X amount to get up on stage now don't hate the player, hate the game. There's a lot of money in that. And I, and I get it. I mean I'm not mad at them like in that way but for me it's just not as good. And that's why I think like these smaller, more intimate events. M. I'LL just say like some of the best events I've been to is like the Insuratech Boston ish type stuff. But like these, these smaller group events like um, like, I mean like, like Jim could talk about like hit their assurex events that you're invited into and you have a very captive audience of the right people. And I think it depends on what you're trying to get out of it in that way. And like you said, developing those relationships, doing those fun things, doing stuff together, um, whether it is like partying or whatever, that's a side of it. Just embedding those kind of, um, lanes for people to step into to get to know each other in that way, it goes a long, long way. It's helped me in my career tremendously. Like, no joke, like I have met so many people outside of kind of the normal rigor of just sitting in a room staring at somebody talk. Right.

Speaker E: Yeah, I want to dig into that too because we've, we've talked about that internally, you know, around the whole pay to play, to get on stage. Um, and I think that has become increasing. It's, it's less about what you have to say and more about what you are willing to pay. Um, and in, in every type of event, national event, regional event, um, and would love to, to get others feedback. I feel like there's less people going to sessions because of that. They're going to, you know, maybe walk the trade show floor or they're doing meetings outside side of the events. Like it's more about getting there and less about like the education. Because, and, and quite frankly, as someone who is a, a vendor of some of these, I. Why am I going to pay to get on stage if there's only five

Speaker B: people in the room?

Speaker D: Right. That's a funny comment, Kristen. Uh, so, you know, I, I couldn't agree with you guys more. The challenge of course, is that somebody's paying the bills. Right. So one of the reasons that Elevate sadly doesn't exist anymore. One was Covid. I mean, Covid just I, I still have in our office, we still have all the gear that we were going to give away in Nashville for, uh, Elevate 2020. And uh, you know, it was sad. We couldn't go. We had 1200 people lined up to go. Anyway, long story. Um, but my board hated it. So everybody loved Elevate except the people that wrote the check. And they were like, all you're doing is, you know, you're just, just giving away the industry. I know it's a good thing, you're doing a good thing. But where's the roi?

Speaker E: Right.

Speaker D: I had to listen to that at every point. So, uh, and then I would pass it on to my team and some of you know my team, right? Handley, Sydney, Rowe, Genhawk, etc. We had an amazing team by the way. We, if we get time toward the end, Kristen team that assembles a good conference is so important. It's so hard to find the right balance.

Speaker E: Very true.

Speaker D: But anyway, that's the dilemma is that there's, there's a financial pressure to at least break even. Um, on most of these, the ones that are trying to make a profit, I've never tried that. That's a whole different deal. Itc, I suppose in the hole would fall into that. Um, but yeah, it's a real dilemma. M. You got to strike a balance, you got to pay the bills, but you have to find people that are. Are that are suitable for your audience. Right. That there's a correct balance of subject matter, speakers and opportunities to interact. Frankly, when I was young I wanted to meet the speakers. So I wanted to meet interesting speakers, right? I would go to the session and then I would be one of the people that would go line up to meet them. And that was my favorite part when I was in my 20s and 30s going to conference is I wanted to meet the leaders of the industry that had the best ideas. Um, and there's still those people there too. So speakers matter, but paying the bills sadly matters too.

Speaker A: Good.

Speaker B: Ryan.

Speaker A: Um, Reed, you had mentioned a TourX at the beginning and I guess I was spoiled for 20 plus years. But stepping back and I think Chip, you let off kind of talking about this. Probably the best ones that I attended as an attendee as opposed to hosting was probably the ciab. Now it's expensive and I remember the first one I went to was at The Greenbrier probably 25 years ago. And yeah, everyone had to wear a black tie and all that stuff, but man, you could walk up to talk to any broker in the world. I don't care if it was Dave S Lick or whoever it was, um, or you go shoulder to shoulder. And one, you had the venue which was pretty cool, but two, it was invite only and it was expensive. But I tell you what, I felt like we got every return on investment from that. I mean, where do you walk down, um, the hall and bump into Evan Greenberg and sit and stand and have a 20 minute conversation with him and that was pretty special. The assurance meetings. Uh, Reed, you've been to them. Um, and I understand, um, they've only gotten better. And one of the things that we ended up doing, um, we had two full time meeting people but we finally bit the bullet right soon after. Soon before I was leaving to retire and hired a third party. That's all they do. Oh my gosh. The access they had, the speakers, the agenda, the price point was very attractive and I know that Dean at Assurex still uses them and they are incredible. But I think the invite only it is expensive, makes it special and limited uh, to the top 250 people or whatever or however you do it. Um, so in the venue. I haven't been to ITC for three years. Probably the last time I went was when I was on the Bull Penguin board and we had a board meeting out there and I couldn't wait to get, get, get away because so many people were stopping you and I hate to say it like this, it seemed like they were wasting your time looking for a job or whatever the heck they were. And uh. But I think the invite only a unique venue to 2 days. 3. 3 days and you walk out of there with some meaningful info and contacts.

Speaker B: So uh, sorry Jim, I froze. What event were you. Did you, did you say. Um.

Speaker A: I'm sorry.

Speaker B: The one, the one that you were talking about. That was really good.

Speaker A: The ciability.

Speaker B: That's what I thought. Okay, I would say, I would, I uh, would say this. If you ask me what is the best event out there um, for influence and relationships hands down ciab. But I'll tell you it is a grind man. It is grind Micro meeting is like. And like it's that huh. But I'll tell you, you're right. I mean you get in front of, I mean I. The CEOs of every biggest everybody, every. All the sea levels there and it's great. You really rub elbows with the right people that are making the decisions in this industry. But I mean let's be real, it's 25k a person to go. Not a lot of people can stomach that, you know. So it is a little bit pay to play but I think it's still a fantastic event. They do a great job, really good networking, um, hardcore. That's like the hardest. I think for me personally that's the hardest working event that I have to do. A lot of them I just have to stay up super late, party all night with everybody.

Speaker E: But like that has to stay up late.

Speaker B: It's gnarly. I, I would agree. I um, think like more of Those types. And it's not super huge. It's big, but it's not. It's no giant event. Um. So, yeah, that's my opinion on that.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker E: But I think that one. So, you know, Jim said venue, the. The time frame of two to three days. Like, I think, you know, again, going back to this formula, I think also too, it's the Persona you guys were talking about. These are decision makers. You know, CEOs, you know, Vice president, senior vice presidents of these organizations. And that's. That's not usually the normal attendee for some of the conferences. Uh, for most of the conferences that we were just talking about, I think

Speaker C: you get different events with different audiences or participants. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's just about. I mean, kind of back to, like, the cost of getting on stage or whatever is. There's a need to be honest about that. Is like, look, if. If who you need to target is C Suite or this kind of person or that, like, fantastic, but then this event's the wrong event for you, and that one's the right one. Because, you know, I've been to events where people. So funny. This guy's just, like, going off about what a complete waste of time and money it was, and it's the worst thing ever. And literally, another guy walks by, he's like, this is awesome. We just closed another deal. And, uh, you know, they were actually competitors of each other. And it's like they're targeting a different kind of Persona. And also, I think going at the event in a different way. And we've all been there. You walk by the expo hall and there's people behind their booth desk or, you know, the table, staring at their phone, angry. And they're like, no one's stopping by. I'm like, would you stop by? Like, uh, I wouldn't stop by and talk to that guy. If you're gonna go, it is a big commitment. You need enough staff that you can have people at the booth and in the sessions and networking. And even if you're uncomfortable, like, you gotta step up and be willing to talk to people. Otherwise, maybe don't spend the money on it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: 100.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So I'll say the most impressive event I've ever been to, and I used to go every year. I'm so glad I don't have to go anymore, is freaking Dreamforce. That Salesforce event. That is nuts. Like, back in the day, it's changed now. But that was insane. Like, absolute chaos. Um, but I'LL tell you. I mean, taking over San Francisco, basically. They pulled it off. They really did. They really pulled it off. And I mean, they had all these tracks, executive tracks, and like, you could fall in to kind of to your point. And. And they would, like, slide you into, like, where it makes the most sense for you to get the most out of that event. Um, you know, and. And it was expensive, but these days, standards. Not as expensive as a lot of the events are today, you know? Um, but I mean, I remember going first Dream Force. It was just mind blowing. Like, absolutely mind blowing. Then becoming an exhibitor there and stomaching the cash to actually pay for a booth was a whole nother ball. Like, that was just. We had like a little tiny, like one table tiny, tiny, tiny thing for like a million dollars, you know, literally, you know, um, but it, but it, but it was worth it at the end of the day. And I think that. Go back to your point, Kristen. It's like the ROI on the event and that. And that's what everybody's saying here. It's different based on who you are and what you're trying to get out of it. I, um, do like how ITC did bring in the broker, the whole broker track thing, and they started doing all that this last year. I guess it was last year. Um, smart. But people were confused. They were confused. It was like, you have to have a ticket for this and ticket for that. Like, it was like, nobody. Like, everybody's like, what? Like, can I go here? Not go here? I'm like, whatever, just go. Nobody cares. But, like, right, so is still figuring that out. You know, that's the part of it

Speaker C: I didn't like is it's like, we're all here to network. And then there's this, like, really hard line where you can and can't, uh, and it's like, you're already charging a lot to get in there.

Speaker D: Right?

Speaker C: Why, like, why would. I mean, you think about the point. Ultimately, it's the value that networking and, like, so why would you want to limit the value someone can get out of the networking? Because then the next year they'd be like, I'm not doing that. That's too damn expensive. And they're too restrictive. And there are people policing those badges.

Speaker D: I thought.

Speaker C: I thought that was kind of weird. And. And you see that. And I, like, I get their business model. I think it's. You also need to step back and be like, what's the real value? Because the number of people who go to ITC without going to ITC that are just in your area. There's um, probably another 3, 4000 people there that you know are sort of gray market attendees. That's not a good thing for them.

Speaker D: No, they're just hanging out in the food court and um, they are, they're setting up meetings. I've, I've gone to plenty of those. Like, why wouldn't. Oh, I didn't buy a ticket.

Speaker C: Like, all right, you could argue like they like that because it means there's more people there. And so that's going to bring in more. But, but it's also reinforcing. Like you don't really need a ticket. We don't have to meet in the expo hall. No one's going to the sessions. And I mean on the sessions. This is an ITC thing, but in general, yeah, I live more in the carrier world, so it's a different experience from you guys. But the uh, um, the kind of corporate communications vacation, if that's a word, which it's not, um, of the content, means what you're seeing on stage is a lie, you know, And I don't think anyone appreciates that. It's like you're up there saying like, you know, we did this stuff and it all went perfectly, on time, on budget, on scope, and everything's all. And our staff loves it and our customers and everyone's sitting there like, I'm a customer. This is the worst thing I've ever seen. Or like, yeah, I quit because it was so bad. Or like, you're on your eight of that three year project. How does that math work out? But you're saying it went perfectly. So we don't believe what we're getting. And that's something I've tried to push people for is like, be honest. There's no lessons in this sort of like candy cane, you know, perfect kind of story, or candy coated, rather. Um, there's nothing in that. And then people know that you're not being real about it. So if you're going to get on stage, just be real about it. Like there's, I have a lot more respect for someone's like, you know, we tried this. Man did that blow up.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: Um, but here's what we learned and here's how we're better for it. But you know, like, we got to be honest about how it went.

Speaker D: Well, and part of that, Brian, I think, falls to the organizer. Right? So, so imagine, you know, you're having a conversation with somebody that wants to speak. They're paying or not. Yeah. As the organizer, you have to say, look, okay, that's interesting, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to not just. You're not going to just go up and give a demo of your product. You got to tell a story that matters, and what matters is this disaster. And, well, we learned this lesson.

Speaker B: How did you learn it?

Speaker D: Because something went wrong, and we all have that. And it's, by the way, more interesting.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: I think more compelling to the people you're talking to to actually share a real experience. We had this idea. We tried this. Uh, that didn't work. We readjusted. We tried this. That didn't work. We tried this. You know, it's okay. And then people are in it, and they're like, well, that sounds like us. We should be innovating like this. So, yeah. Yeah. Organizer, I think you have to understand and coach everyone as to what they're going to be talking about and set it up. Panels are good. Except let's talk about panels real quick, because we've all been on panels. We've, uh, all hosted panels, and I'm probably guilty of this, too. You can't ask a question, in my opinion, and then have all three people on the panel answer the same question. They'll just do a me, too.

Speaker B: They can't kind of help it.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker A: Or the.

Speaker D: So you. You have to in advance almost. And read. I tried to do this with you at one of the elevates, and you know it. I tried to create a, uh, debate.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Oh, you're never gonna let that down. You never, never let that down. Okay. Anyways, go ahead. Go ahead.

Speaker D: I want panelists to disagree. I have done this a few other times, uh, where I would put competitors on stage and say, all right, we're going to talk about your space, but we're going to talk about. I'm going to force you to talk about your different philosophies, about your space.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker D: Attack these things.

Speaker C: And, um.

Speaker D: Pants. But, uh, whatever. It's for the audience. Not that they want to see people, you know, get a fight, but they want to see a little actual conversation and not just let me read my PR Paragraph. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker B: That would get a lot of attention. Like, actual, like, real, honest debate. But that is. Let's be real. That's really hard, you know, to. To. To get people to, like, be willing to do that. I would. I don't care. Like. But, like, there. There are a lot of people that really do, you know, Um, I don't

Speaker C: Give them a choice.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: So I'm, I'm not going to back anyone in a corner, but I do a lot of panel moderating and it's always like, you know, we'll meet, we'll write the questions. I was like, why? Like, we. Let's talk about the theme and get a feel for each other and everything. But like, uh, you know, where are the questions? Like, I don't want this rehearsed. It's so I had someone who was like, I asked the opening question. She goes, that's a great point, Brian. And then a piece of paper rises up. This is on stage. And she's blocking her face, trying to act like. I'm like, this. This isn't an audio only podcast. This is like there's people in the audience looking at you reading off a sheet and you're like, that's such a great question. You know, that makes me. I'm like, no, it doesn't make you anything. You. You already wrote this down. Um, but we get that, right? And it's so canon, the audience, like, actually a couple people got up and left because they're like, all right, well, this is pointless. And they're right.

Speaker E: But yeah, I think.

Speaker D: I'm sorry, Kristen, go ahead.

Speaker E: No, I was going to say, I think, you know what you were saying about having things that are, that are organic, that are conversations. Um, and like, Chip, going back to what you were talking about with just getting up there and showing a demo. It's talk about use cases, talk about why, like the people in the audience are going to get value out of this. It's. Yes, you may have paid to get up there and you want to show like you're. You're pretty new thing. But, um, if you can do it in a way that gets people to remember and understand why they should also want to look at this. I think it's, it's engaging, but it also helps the person who, you know, is looking for that ROI of getting on stage as well, because you're going to be remembered.

Speaker B: You know what? Be cool. Just thinking about this, you know, be really cool, is like, have actual bake offs. Like, I think through the technology side, like, have a bake off. All right, let's go. Like, I don't know, quote to quote, submission to submission. Like, activity, activity. Like, you know, and like, and then let's let the audience grade and rate that. But see, are. Are people going to do that? I don't know. I would.

Speaker E: No,

Speaker B: I don't. You know, wouldn't that be Cool. I'd be like, yeah, let's go see that. That'd be awesome.

Speaker C: Like, but like a rap battle, but with insuretech?

Speaker B: Yeah, hopefully.

Speaker A: Yeah, Right.

Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. Why not?

Speaker C: You know?

Speaker B: Right. It was clear. This and all this stuff and like, all this little nonsense. It's like, let's do this. What? And you know what that would do, too? It would push each other, two competitors, to build stuff that does truly compete. And it's better and better. Hey, we got this thing coming up. Better do your shit together. We got to deliver that new feature. You know what I mean?

Speaker A: Reed, I don't know if you. Reed, I don't know if you remember this or not, but I remember having you, Ilya Bodnar, and Kabir on the same stage. Now, you weren't competitors, but this was early days. And, um, let me tell you, our firms just raved about it. This is early days. Most of the CEOs of these brokers couldn't even spell Insuretech. And, um, this was early age, and it was to share. And you three leaders to the industry at that point in time, you still are. Got up, you were doing, and you dumbed it down to the broker level I hate. And. And we still. We had so many RAV reviews and the taking. The idea, what you said, take three competitors and put them up on, um, and let the chips fall where. Where they may. Um, I know you would do it and you had. I mean, you would do it in a minute. I know. Cub Beer. Do it in a minute. Um, anyhow, yeah.

Speaker E: Reed and Kamir on stage together is always a good time.

Speaker B: I love being on stage. It's always fun with him. He's fun dude.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah. He's crazy. Yeah.

Speaker C: So when's the takeoff?

Speaker D: We just got to organize it. We just got to do it. Decide, uh, what are the weapons of war and who's going to be the contestants.

Speaker B: I think there's something to be said about that, though. It's like using the audience, using the vendors to kind of debate these things openly and just like, you know, let. Let the audience make their own opinion of what's really real, you know, as opposed to somebody that pays 100 GS to get in front of you to tell you why everything's perfect and everybody loves it, and I'm the best and the prettiest and the coolest and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, like, I don't know.

Speaker C: You know, Reed, I. I went through that. So I was Uh, I was asked to present at, ah, a conference last year. And, um, there's another, like, uh, thought leader guy who likes to be provocative. We're friends, but he'll go at me at LinkedIn. It's a guy named Matteo Carbone. And, uh, we were both talking about kind of the future of auto insurance. And I was looking further out than he was. I think our, our ideas aligned. But, um, he chose a different path than how he responded. So I didn't realize they had us presenting back to back. And so I present my thing and Mateo gets up there and he goes, now I'm gonna tell you fake news. So what you just hear, I'm like, oh, okay, I still won. That's all I'm saying.

Speaker D: That's what's up. Uh, dude.

Speaker B: See, that's what I'm saying, though. So, like, that's our bell. It was great.

Speaker C: Like, you know, people were surprised to see us hanging out otherwise because, like, he was actually coming at me pretty hard on LinkedIn. But, like, we're still friends, it's fine. But it's, it was, it was lively. And then there was a panel afterward with people who had views on it. And that's, that's how I won. Was actually like. They came back and it was like a, A Brian sandwich. So I presented Mateo with a lovely accent, said I was dead wrong and an idiot. And then these four experts basically reinforced what I said. So everyone walked away and be like, that Brian guy, he's on to something. But, yeah, my accent, yeah, not. Not as good.

Speaker D: It's funny you mentioned that. I was at InsurTech Columbus. I think they actually call it InsureTech Ohio, whatever it is.

Speaker C: Yes, Scout.

Speaker B: Now Scout.

Speaker E: No.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker D: Thank you, thank you. And, um, I don't know, which was like six months ago. And you know, they do the little insuretechs all line up, right? And they'll each get like two minutes. And, uh, they're. I mean, they're interesting, but they're also a little dry, right? So right in the middle, somebody, they accidentally. I'm sure it was an accident. They put two competitors right next to each other. So the first person gave their little two minute thing. The next person did what you just said, Brian. They said, no, that's not the right

Speaker C: way to do it.

Speaker D: The only one that day, they got a big laugh, big audience reaction because he just said, that was nice. But let me explain how we're actually going to solve this using technology. And the other part, even the other person laughed. I mean, it was genuinely funny and it broke the tension. And, uh, yeah, it's got to be interesting. It's got to. You can't have. You can't have people read little statements. So I think we all agree on that. I love the Bake Off. That's what they all want. To have a Bake off with, like, consequences. What if the person who loses, like, I don't know, gets a pie thrown at them or something?

Speaker B: That'd be awesome, right? Like, they're the dunk tank.

Speaker E: Do not give them any idea.

Speaker C: Oh, I like the dunk tank idea.

Speaker B: That would be hilarious.

Speaker E: I do not want to be the event manager on this.

Speaker B: That's entertaining, folks. Like, that's fun. Like, I love that. And it's like, it creates accountability. It creates a whole thing around it. Like, it's. It's cool. You know, I don't. And I know.

Speaker C: I think people like it.

Speaker B: Yeah. 100. And, like, if you don't want to do it, don't do it. It's okay, you know, no worries. But, you know, I was just thinking about Chris. Remember that one time we tried to do the, um, like, the rant? We.

Speaker E: We kept like, oh, we tried to do the Soapbox.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, the soap box. So, like, after the event, like, you know, cocktail hour, we put, like, open mic for people just to get up and just, like, rant about whatever. Didn't matter. Um, and so purposely during the drinking,

Speaker E: because we thought that that would get people to, like, stand up and. Yeah.

Speaker B: Didn't really work out. Like, no one really did it, like, but we thought it'd be fun, you know? And so then somebody, like, wait a second, you can't say. Then they get up and like, you know. You know, and so, like, I don't know. It didn't really work out, but stuff like that. I don't know, like, we gotta, like, spice this thing up, man, because it just. It's so tiring. It just become like. I honestly. I'll be brutally honest. I don't go to any of the sessions anymore. Like, if. If, uh, other than ones when I'm speaking at or whatever our team's at, I gotta go do whatever. I just don't.

Speaker A: Don't.

Speaker B: And it's, uh, what I do at those events, like, especially itc. You know what I do at itc? I freaking stand there literally in the hallway, and I. And I talk to a thousand people because they come up, hey, what's up, man? But I've been in this industry for a while. I know a Lot of people. So for me, it's like, you know, big hugs and, like, what's going on? And, like, you know, this. Well, you've been. What's been going on over there? And, like, you know, hey, I want to introduce you, my buddy. We'll meet later. Okay, cool. Like, that kind of stuff, and I think that's super important. Super important. But the content itself, the pay to play stuff, come on, let's, let's, you know, But I get it. Don't hate to play or hate the game. They got, like you said, they got to pay for the event. You know, all of it. There's gotta, you know.

Speaker E: Well, let's go to, like, the other side of it, though. Reed, like, you just said, you've been in the industry for a while. You have your network, you have people. Uh, like, you are the one facilitating people meeting with people. So I guess, do you see, like, how does somebody that's, like, just coming into the industry, like, think about, I guess, yourself when you first came in, like, how do you utilize events when you're first coming in to get the most value out of, um, them? Because it's different for you now. You know, it's a good.

Speaker B: It's a really good point. A really good call out, because it's true. Like, I'm just thinking about that. If I'm like, I don't know anything, how do we even get to know who's we? What. Maybe the event should have a track for those types of people. You know what I mean? That. That, like, get introduced. Maybe there's. Maybe they get to introduce, uh, to. To people, like, on this call, like, hey, and we get in front of them, like, and let me, you know, and like, you know, there's. There's a program around that kind of like what Dreamforce did and all the different tracks, you know, Can I give

Speaker C: a hot take on this? So m. I. I. I did a soapbox episode, my podcast. The truth is, I was just between guests, and I didn't have anything booked, so I'm like, I'm just gonna record myself and go off for a minute. Reed, we had just recorded your episode. So maybe I was, like, charged up and be like, I can get up and I can go off on things. I had just come back from an event, and, um, the number of sales pitches that were so blatantly misaligned and. And the number of people, like, people just walked up when I'm in the middle of a meeting and just start selling at me, like, interrupt the meeting and I'm like, what is. What's wrong with you? So, like, they're like. Is like, they're like the LinkedIn sales gods who will tell you this is the way you do it and pepper everyone, and only the ones who care will respond. And there's no downside. I completely disagree. I don't think they're successfully selling in insurance. I think those sales gods are successfully selling to you. Like, here's how to make a million dollars. Selling a course on how to make a million dollars. Like, that's a scam. You're. That you're the product. Insurance is all networks, relationships, like, putting the time in and not being an idiot about it. Like, get smart on who you're talking to and what their businesses spend the three seconds on. LinkedIn to see, like, the number of pitches I get per day. It's like, we help agents like you. I'm like, dude, I'm not an agent. If you, like, if you like carriers like you. I'm m. Like, I don't work at a carrier anymore. If you just took those three seconds, you'd see that. But I think if you're going to a conference, the, like, shotgun, you know, scatter, approach the. The, like, tell me, what's your biggest goals for the year? I'm like, dude, I don't. I don't have the time. Like, I know where you're going. Can you just be like, I want you to buy this. Just tell me up front. Someone just did it yesterday. They're really sweet, but, like, I don't have time for an hour of back and forth. I know you just want to meet to talk about this thing you're doing. Just tell me, like, put the time into figuring out who the person is, what their real needs are. Speak intelligently, not with a script, you know, and, and, and I know, like, again, the sales gods would say, Brian's dead wrong. I've been successful selling into insurance, and I've been on the receiving end of it. I don't think I'm dead wrong. Most people don't think that about themselves, but, like, I think you will do damage. Word spreads around all, uh, that's a guy who's harassing everyone with a sales pitch. Like, I think you got to be smarter. And the cool thing is the tools are there. Like, go on LinkedIn, it's free. You know what I mean? You can figure that out real fast. So that's my point is, like, don't go with the kind of, you know, the cookie cutter. Like, this is the sales playbook. That's not what this industry is.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker D: You know, those, uh. I want to go back to what you asked about, Kristen, about the. The, uh, the track, you know, because Reed, all of us practice, you know, we're all at a different point in our career. We really are so fair. So we're more the people trying to be modest. Other people want to meet. Uh, we're not trying to, you know, build. Build our networks too much. Although I'm always open to that. Um, but one thing that FAIA and other big eye associations do well is they actually do have tracks for younger people. By the way, you don't actually have.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah, by the way, I've done a bunch of that stuff. The Young Agents Council and all that stuff. That's good. SHIELD man, it really is very good. Yeah.

Speaker D: And they focus on, you know, you're new to the business. That's really. It's more than young. You're new to the business. You starting your career, whatever age you are, and you need to meet people and you need to learn things. And so there's a lot more focus on education. They show, uh, up, they. They meet their peers. The other thing I think that's interesting when you get to our level is we all know the people. We even rely on our network. We actually met them 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Right. Uh, when we were younger and when we were doing this. So if you can help these people meet their. They're going to be the leaders in a decade or two, and they'll remember that. So you're helping them build. If you're helping them learn all the skills and all the knowledge, and you're helping them meet the leaders that they aspire to be. So I would encourage every conference. We did not do this at Elevate because we actually had a kind of. We were already focused on kind of a younger, more innovator audience. But that would improve most conferences is to allow new people to meet their peers and to have, uh, opportunities to meet and be inspired by those that have already gone ahead.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I'll say, like, I remember, uh, Boyd McGee ran that for a bit. I don't know if you guys know Boyd. I love Boyd. I've seen him every once in a while around. But, like, you know, like, bringing everybody together. He would try to, like, bring in people from, like, bigger people from the industry to come and spend time with. With the young agents and. And then really facilitate that. And I think it's like. It's like everything else, like you need somebody, the people that are running the event and the things to, like, facilitate this type of stuff. Um, you know, I. I had. Like, even at Dreamforce, actually, I'm just recalling this, we had carriers. I'm not going to name names, carriers that would spend money for agents to come to Dreamforce. Not even that they were on Salesforce or anything, but, like, we're going to pay for you. We'll all come together and then we'll all, like, experience this stuff and meet these people and learn these things. And kind of as, uh, in a group environment, they develop really great relationships between each other. You bring in industry experts and people that. That are from the space. They get to meet them and they. They start to develop these relationships in.

Speaker C: That's smart.

Speaker B: As opposed to this, like, shotgun, like, get a ticket, you know, Everybody pays for the thing. Everybody's pitching, pitching, pitching. You want to learn about that?

Speaker A: Go.

Speaker B: Did you go to the session? You see the session, like, it just. It's different, man, you know?

Speaker D: Yeah, no, 100%. And by the way, as far as I know, Boyd McGee is not with young age. He doesn't run.

Speaker B: No, no, he hasn't done that for a lot of years. But.

Speaker A: But.

Speaker B: But I just. Boyd's a good dude, man. I like that guy.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker D: I don't know who runs Young agents right now, by the way, if you don't know. Jason Cass once was the leader of young agents, like, 10 years ago.

Speaker B: Yeah, Jason Cass is a good example of someone that brings people together and he's doing his thing with indie tech and all of that. I love Cass, man. He's a good friend. He's been a good friend from the beginning. Beginning. I've known that guy a long time. Like, uh, one of my boys. Like, he's done a very good job of bringing young agents together and kind of like, facilitating, talking about technology. What stuff actually works. This, that, and the other. And so, like, you need more people like that, but I think you need. You need, like, at these events, you need to, like, start to group people together and somebody to shepherd them and bring them through these things to meet the people so they're not wasting our time. Like you're saying, Brian, like, dude, don't fucking sit here and pitch me. Like, I got shit to do, you know? Like, you're like, don't. I don't want to hear it. You know? Like, I mean, you know, I got.

Speaker C: Yeah, don't give me the business right now.

Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: So I'll.

Speaker B: I'll still get off that tangent a little bit.

Speaker E: We are, we are a little over the time that we had allotted, but, um, I think we've had a great conversation. I'm going to kind of go around the room with this last question because I think it's kind of a good one. I think we've talked about a lot of this, but, uh, I know that Reeds apparently is going to have some sort of pie in the face, but, uh, if you were to create an event from scratch today, what would it look like so that you could provide the most value to attendees? Go ahead, Reid.

Speaker B: Um, I would do small, intimate event. I would have leaders of the industry that are part of that event. I would bring in. Um, I kind of like what. What Hack Bart was saying the invite only type stuff. But that only goes so far. Like, you could only take that so far. I think you want younger people coming in and experiencing that great venue. Not a bunch of garbage slammed down your throat, people talking about real shit from real people, great people in the room. And a fun event in and of itself. Um, educational to the extent of what the event is designed to do. Because that's just it. You can't. It's what we've been talking about this whole time. Like, I'm a tech dude, so, like, I, I don't. I don't want to know. Like, you know, new legislation on insurance and stuff. Like, I don't. And so, like, slamming that in with like, all this other tech stuff and every. I think it's, uh, like, it's just too much. And so it's very targeted for the purpose with the right people, but still allowing the ability for anybody to come without it being too massively huge. And the, and the ultimate goal is for the benefit of the industry and not the benefit of the person hosting the event. Um, that's. That's what I would say.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: I mean, I, I don't think I have a ton different to say to that. I think the context will matter. So, like, who's the audience? Who's it for? Um, I'm really lucky that I, I'm in an organization that it isn't for a benefit. Like, we're a nonprofit, so we're not worried about, like, how much did we net from. This is like, our purpose in hosting our events is to provide the specific service to our members and, and give them educational and networking, whatever opportunities. End of discussion. If we make money on it, that's great, but that's not why we go into it, which allows us to, like, there is no paid speaking. Um, I think that sort of thing matters. So I would, I would keep it smaller. I would have. No one pays to be on stage. Um, this is probably stupid, but, like, I wouldn't even think about the commercial model of it. I would think about the content and engagement model. And I feel like you might lose money for a couple years, but if that thing really has legs, the commercial model will present itself. But like, good goes round. Um, I love the rap battles. I love the dunk tanks.

Speaker B: Hell yeah.

Speaker C: Like, finding whether it's those, like you trademark those. So I can't take them.

Speaker B: But when we do take it, take it.

Speaker C: Let's get limited speakers, but actually have them say things that matter, even if they disagree. But then let's get them together and let's talk about that and let's have the audience throw stuff at them. We're not planning questions, we're not pre planning any of that. Having like round table kind of opportunities where you're almost forcing people to work on stuff together. Um, and a rule would be hard to police, but you can't sit with people, you know, at the meals. If I see like, what, you know, all the people from this carrier are all sitting, it's like, dude, you worked. You know, my team, uh, at the last carrier is out of the Christmas party, the claims folks were all together. I'm m. Like, go talk to the underwriters.

Speaker B: Could you do that?

Speaker C: Like, you talk to each other all day. I find some way to force that maybe. But yeah, just trying to get it to be more interactive and real. And I think that stuff ends up taking off.

Speaker D: Yeah, I, I, well, just so you know, uh, like every year, either Hanley and I or Sydney and I, we talk about we should bring back elevate. Right. So, so we, we. So I Sometimes once a year I think about, should I, should we try this again? Uh, you guys are right. You would build all the things that, that we see in the conferences that work. Insuretech, Boston being again, my, one of my favorite examples, the intimacy, the networking. Um, we, we. One of the reasons, by the way, that we aren't going to do that is right now we haven't talked about this in the podcast. It's kind of late to do it, but there's too many of them. Right?

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker D: So, so we have to get through a period. I think I would actually encourage some consolidation. There's, there's some good potential partners there where people have a conference, they're like, I wish we could do better. And Another person has a kind of I wish we could do better. And maybe if you put them together, you, you, you'd have the resources and, and whatever. But, uh, yeah, I would aim for all the things, I would aim for the quality to be number one like Brian said. And they should leave feeling like they have a new or improved friend group.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker D: You're building a community, uh, one meeting at a time. You got to communicate between them so you got to share videos afterwards. By the way, this is what happened, right? And turned into a rock video with music and this was fun and that was amazing. And this speaker, blah, blah, blah. So yeah, I, I would love to do it again. And like I said, me and the people that ran elevate, we talk about it. Um, this will continue and it will get better and it, it will evolve. So, um, whatever we can do to be part of that, I'm here.

Speaker B: Kristen, how about you?

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker E: Um, so I think, you know, everything that we talked about, you know, knowing who your audience is, making sure that the content is, is for them, and not trying to be everything to all people. But two things that kind of came out of this discussion that I never, I didn't really think about but now are like in my head is as Chippy talked about at the beginning of like the people putting on the event, maybe putting some money towards speaker, uh, training, you know, bringing somebody in that's helping somebody to be public speakers. Because we have these great insuretechs and they have, most of them have built these things. They didn't go to their developers, they're tech people, um, helping them to engage with the audience better. Um, and I think again, both end up being better for it. And then to the reason that I kind of pinged read about being new Insurtech is as an event, do you allow for the people that have invested in a booth or invested as a sponsor? Do you. Mentor is not the right word, but do you put them in and connect them with people like yourselves and allow them to have access to those people because they've invested in your event? Um, I think helps them all around and helps the event be better.

Speaker C: That's really clever.

Speaker D: I love that.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's really good.

Speaker B: Really good, really good. It's developing the community of the event and it's not just about the event. Done, done. I want to say one thing too. You know, in, in making money for the event, you don't have to get the speakers to pay you to get up on stage. Companies will pay to just have their signage up Just for brand recognition, you do a little commercial stuff like that. That's okay. Like, you know, we love this, like, this system. This system. That's okay. That's totally fine. But it's just slamming stuff down your throat about how good we are. And this is the best thing because I'm the biggest sponsor. I'm the gold, the platinum, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't. I just. It's not right. I don't think it's right. You know, and it's just result.

Speaker D: People see through it, Reed. So you're not really. You're not fooling anyone, so. I agree.

Speaker B: Well, no, but we're all stuck having to go to these, and we have to sit through this stuff. It's like, can we just have some entertainment out there, folks? You know, just saying, you know, But I love what you.

Speaker D: That's.

Speaker B: That's really smart. Like. Yeah, absolutely. That should be part of it. You know, you're paying to be part of this thing and be part of this thing. You have access to the people around that, and you can facilitate that however you see fit, you know? Um, yeah, that's cool. This a good discussion. I really like this. I like the dunk tank thing. That was fun. I didn't think about that, you know?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Like the. The rap battle, you know, uh, their half.

Speaker C: I'll throw this out there. So I'm in Boston. The only event that I've never been asked to be at in this industry is insuretech Boston. It's like the only one in my backyard.

Speaker B: Ah, I will.

Speaker C: I will put myself at risk. And Reed can throw that softball or whatever, like, if you have me there, because I can get home real fast and change. Yeah, I'm getting to go in the tank.

Speaker D: If you guys bring trip to costume, I'm there. We have to do it, Kristen. We have to do it. Set it up.

Speaker E: Uh, I've already got it. Like, now I gotta figure it out. Yeah.

Speaker C: Pie in the feet.

Speaker E: Whatever you throw pie at, Reed. Is that.

Speaker D: Yes, I'll throw the pie. We'll all be in on it, right?

Speaker E: All right, Dunk tank coming to an insurtech Boston.

Speaker B: That's your turn.

Speaker D: Awesome.

Speaker E: No, this was fun conversation. I'm glad that Reid, this was one of those off the cuff things that we decided to do, because I definitely have some notes for myself. Uh, and I'm hoping the audience is. Is listening. For those that are doing events as

Speaker A: well,

Speaker D: thanks for hosting us.

Speaker B: All right, well, thanks again, guys. Thanks for joining us. This was great. Good, um, conversation. It's fun. It's fun. Good, um, stuff. So hopefully events, well, some of them will go away, some of them will slim down, some of them will consolidate, um, but all of them will become more entertaining, more fun, uh, more beneficial for the attendees and the industry.

Speaker C: The Insurance Technology Podcast is a production of Ivan's. Visit insuretechpod.com to contact us, suggest a topic or guest for an upcoming show, and subscribe to be notified when our latest podcast is available. You can find all our episodes in your favorite podcast app. It's where you can also leave us a rating and a review that helps other people find the show.

Speaker D: Thanks for listening.