Workshop Summary - Harlan Amborn Shows PICA the Future of Insurance

Here is Assistant Secretary & Treasurer Janet Wright's account of Harlan Amborn's presentation! Harlan is the Deputy Commissioner for the Nevada Department of Insurance.

PICA Keynote Presentation Melds Industry Past and Present to Face the Future

Using lessons of the past to deal with the future was the theme of PICA Workshop Keynoter Harland Amborn’s presentation, “Changes in Insurance -- Past, Present and Future.” He entertained his audience with print ads and TV commercials from the past to illustrate changes to insurance industry exposures through evolving products, services and human issues. Amborn is deputy commissioner of the Nevada Division of Insurance, Las Vegas.

“In a relatively short time – just a few decades -- our world has changed so radically. For instance, consider the changes we’ve experienced in products we use, dangers we face, skyrocketing monetary values of the things we insure, a reeling (and hopefully recovering) economy, and global exposure,” he explained. “These are just a few of the issues we deal with. As insurance people and communications practitioners, understanding the evolution of our world is essential to facing future challenges.”

Examples of future technology that may provide exposure to the insurance industry include:

• Commercial space travel – the first suborbital commercial transportation is predicted to blast off from Orlando, Fla. by 2015.
• Cloning – “Select-A-Child” science opens the possibility of choosing a child who is not compatible with the rest of the family or its siblings.
• Robots – damages may be incurred when a robot is programmed incorrectly for its intended purpose.
o Computerized insurance surveillance (“black box” technology) – Automobiles – measuring everything from mileage and speed to driver habits and/or errors;
o Homes – ability to determine technologically if a dwelling is secured or unsecured, vacant or occupied, regardless of what the policy owner reports.
• Life insurance – embedding “tracking chips” into individuals to know where they are, what they are doing, and when.
• Health insurance – using tracking chip technology to monitor use of medication, lifestyle, and behavior that may endanger health and generate claims.
• “Thinking Caps” – mandated by employers, for instance, so that others can monitor an individual’s thoughts.

“These examples may seem completely absurd, but the technology is already being tested,” Amborn said. “At one time, landing on the moon was absurd, too. The future is happening as we speak, and the insurance industry must be ready to deal with it. As communicators, you need to be aware of the possibilities so you’ll be ready to communicate them for your management and your industry.”

Workshop Summary - Sharon Exharos Makes PICA Think Green

Good morning, PICA! In keeping with our promise to recap our annual workshop, here is a post from Vice Chairperson, Becky Marshall. She's summarizing our session with Sharon Exahros of Realty Executives of Nevada.

Communicating Green in the Workplace

During this session of the PICA workshop, Sharon Exarhos of Realty Executives of Nevada shared numerous ideas of communicating green to Company employees, agents, policyholders and community residents. During her presentation, Sharon provided the group with a “green” checklist to take back to the office to conduct our own green audit within our companies. PICA members also discussed green initiatives already taking place within their own companies.

At the conclusion of Sharon’s presentation, workshop attendees were excited about taking new “green” ideas back to their home offices to incorporate in their internal and external communications.

Thanks, Becky! Of course, there are lots of ways your company can adopt green practices to improve its carbon footprint. But for attendees looking for ways to get their companies more involved in their communities, Sharon's presentation and our conversations after definitely inspired. Consider increasing your company's green awareness and helping your neighbors practice conservation:
Host a shredding day at your company's headquarters. Allow a mobile shredding service to set up a station in your parking lot on a weekend or after work hours. Advertise locally that you'll shred a certain amount of paper per person for free. Not only does this help encourage recycling, but also helps reduce identity theft.
Work with a local school and invite students to give your business a green evaluation. It's a great way to uncover simple practices your business can adopt and it encourages a good relationship between your business and local schools.
At a scheduled time, allow your neighbors to drop off hard to dispose of items such as paint cans and chemicals or light bulbs containing mercury. Work with a local hardware store or contractor for haul away services, then plan a time to allow neighbors to drop off these substances that are harmful to the environment.

Think about developing a committee within your company to brainstorm green ideas and use Sharon's guide as a starting point. Go green!

Workshop Summary - Marko Sakren Opens the Box

Hello, PICA People! We recap the presentations of our speakers to help refresh your memory about what you learned in the workshop. One user tip is to forward a link to this blog to any of your work colleagues who might benefit from the information...this is a great way to share the information you learned, making your workshop tuition dollars go even further!

Today's recap is from Vice Chairperson, Becky Marshall. She's recapping our session with Marko Sakren of Red Rock Media Group, Inc.

Thinking Outside the Box…Without Missing the Target

Each of us around the workshop table takes a turn reciting our name, company name and job duties. We tick off our laundry list of job duties: brochure design, newsletter writing, event planning, presentation development, advertising, community support…the list goes on-and-on for the group of us participating in the 2010 PICA Communications Workshop held in Las Vegas last month.

What the group discovered during this exercise was that in our positions, we are responsible for a slew of duties that can become quite challenging at times. Once it becomes overwhelming, we tend to spread ourselves thin…and, as a result, creativity goes right out the window.

Marko plays "Name That Product" with Carol, Carol and Rick to help them break out of their usual methods of thinking.

Workshop speaker Marko Sakren of Red Rock Productions shared with us some ideas on how to think outside the box…without missing the target. What exactly does this mean? To put it simply, as insurance communicators, we must learn to step outside of our comfort zone when it comes to communicating…in both the written and spoken word. At the same time, we must continue to meet our targets (i.e. deadlines, budgets and approvals from co-workers, supervisors, executive management).

During this session of the workshop, PICA workshop attendees explored ways of communicating to publics in a more creative and entertaining manner. We learned that once we step outside the comfort zone and begin thinking outside the box, it is necessary to identify some of the challenges we face that prevent us from fully fulfilling our responsibilities as communicators. During his presentation, Marko offered the group suggestions on how to overcome some of those challenges and ways to implement solutions back at the home office.

Marko’s presentation material sparked dynamic conversation between PICA attendees. In the conclusion, the group discovered that if small steps are taken to think outside the box, our communications will develop into more creative and effective pieces without missing the target.

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who made our 2010 workshop a HUGE success...Wow!!

Whether you contributed by attending the conference, sharing your ideas, providing feedback or presenting information, THANK YOU.

Your efforts increased our abilities and our skills...this renewed enthusiasm will help us to communicate our ideas more professionally and effectively.

We also thank members who were unable to attend this year. Your continued support - along with the support of your company - keeps PICA going. We hope you're able to attend in 2011!

Stay tuned for updates over the next week. We'll give you a recap of each presentation so you can share this information with your colleagues!

Registration Update...and TWITTER!

The Flamingo has kindly set up a Web site so that you may conveniently register for your hotel room online.

Visit https://www.harrahs.com/CheckGroupAvailability.do?propCode=FLV&groupCode=SFIN10 to register.

If you prefer to register by phone, please call 888-373-9655. Please specify that you're with Professional Insurance Communicators of America, or PICA, to ensure that you'll receive our group rate of $89 per night.

AND...Patrick has set us up with a Twitter account! You can sign up for updates here:
http://twitter.com/PICA_InsComm Totally exciting...PICA all the time! What more could you ask for?

The Countdown is ON!

Two short months from today, we'll be gathered in Las Vegas! Are you still on the fence about joining us?

You know you won't regret it. We'll listen, learn, think, talk, catch up, laugh, compare notes, get inspired and share new ideas we can all take back to our offices.

Those ideas aren't just souveniers or mementos...they're real tools that you can put to use to make your communications more successful.

When you communicate effectively, everyone benefits! Employees feel more in the know and job satisfaction increases. Agents have the tools they need to grow their businesses and policyholders feel more protected.

And through all that, you show your supervisors and colleagues that you are exceptional at what you do. Here's to continuing your professional development! Get ready to be inspired and share your great ideas! Meet us in Las Vegas!

Exciting Times for PICA, Inc.

We're currently working on advertising our PICA workshop for the first time ever! We've always relied on word of mouth and repeat attendees to make the PICA workshops a success, and it's worked just fine. But as we try to bring new faces (with new ideas and enthusiasm attached to them) we're also prepared to try new things. This year, that means advertising.

What are some of your favorite insurance publications, either online or print? Go ahead and list them in the comments section and we'll consider them as we look at the best ways to promote PICA...

Thanks!

Don't Wait...

Psst! Have you registered for PICA yet? Booked your hotel room?

Oh, how we wish you would! Why?

Because in addition to attending a great conference, you've got a chance to be a hero by saving your company money!

When you register before March 26, 2010, the cost of this information-packed workshop is only $400 for PICA members, $550 for non-members. You save your company $50 bucks, just by registering NOW!

Also, you'll want to make sure you book your stay at the Flamingo soon so that you can take advantage of our fabulous PICA Members Only rate of $89 per night (additional persons in your room increase this rate by $30 per person per night) which is a fantastic deal! The Go Rooms are gorgeous...

So, get crackin' and register already! We hope to see you there!

Workshop Update

Hello!

Thanks for all the great feedback and e-mails supporting our choice of location for the 2010 PICA workshop!

We have some phenomenal speakers, including Steve Crescenzo of Crescenzo Communications, Michael Wilder of UNLV, Sharon Exharos of Realty Executives and Marko Sackren of Red Rock Media Group, Inc. A fantastic group of speakers to re-energize your communication talents.

So, if you've got colleagues who have never attended one of our workshops, why not get them to come on out and give PICA a try? With topics ranging from social media to going green to publication perfection, there is something at PICA's 2010 workshop for every insurance communicator. Any minute now, the official agenda and registration sheets will be posted on our static site. (I'm too impatient to wait...so excited about this workshop that I had to put something up now!)

Plus, let's face it...it's a bargain. I mean really. You want more knowledge and your company wants to be frugal with all expenses - including education. I challenge you to find a better, more informative, fun, well-rounded conference in a great location for less than our tuition! Not possible!

I'm looking forward to seeing you in Las Vegas. If you haven't asked about working this in to your 2010 budget, now is a great time... If you have asked, register early for more savings!

The Look of 2010...

Save the Date!

May 23 - 26, 2010

A big thanks to Patrick for another crisp, clean, exciting, dynamic workshop logo!