It's Show Time

Tuesday March 3, 2009
Dateline: Bonita Springs, Florida
Pre-conference

It’s show time. Our first guests arrive today. At breakfast I see Marty Keane from Doherty Cella and Keane, they are an important sponsor of the conference. At lunch there is Doug Steele and Mike LaChance from SurePoint, with Doug’s wife. Also the Genex team, another important sponsor, represented by Melissa Davey and Kevin Ufier. This afternoon the delegation from Lincoln Financial, a valued client of JHA, arrived in time for the client dinner.

On the work front, today was test and rehearse day. We tested all the lights and audio, measured to be sure the booths will fit where we expect them to fit, sampled the music that will play at general sessions, and walked through and rehearsed the Wednesday general session.

This afternoon was spent soaking up warm sunshine on the patio with our friends from Unum, Union Central, Country Life, and ACLI. Did I say that? Really it was a working session – you know – prepping for presentations, anticipating Q&A, etc.

And this evening was our annual client appreciation dinner. Near miss on this one. We had scheduled it to be outdoors but it was a little on the chilly side so we had to move it inside at the last minute. Then the restaurant opened up the screened-in porch and put those tall lantern-like space heaters in place. It was perfect. What had been a cool breeze became a warm breeze and it was perfect. What I enjoyed most about this dinner was the intimacy and camaraderie we are able to share with our clients. For example, we talked a lot about where the client wants to be positioned when the economy restarts, and what to do now in order to be in position. It may make me a geek, but I love those strategic game theory type discussions.