For those of you who were unable to attend, AIA would like to report that the first AIA National Agent Conference was a HUGE success. From the kickoff party at the PALM’s famous RAIN nightclub to the Day 1 conference show in the Palm’s PEARL Theater, this inaugural national conference not only met the expectations of our team and agents, but exceeded them substantially.
AIA has received nothing but positive comments from the agents who attended. In fact, if you were unable to attend and know someone who did, talk to them about what they thought of the conference. The theme of the conference was “The Future of Bail,” and the goal was to deliver new programs and services to our family of agents that would help them achieve three main objectives:
1. Grow their existing bail business by writing more bonds
2. Become more efficient and save money through AIA preferred vendor programs
3. Expand their existing bail business with new complementary businesses, programs and concepts
Sunday Night – RAIN
Day 1 – The PEARL Theater
Key West Reception
Day 2
Sunday Night – RAIN
The Conference opened Sunday night with an Agent Extravaganza at the Palm’s hot club RAIN. The evening started off with a “red carpet” walkway and an Oscar style photo opportunity for each agent. There was plenty of music, food and conversation, but the big message was “Everyone rest up and get ready for tomorrow.”
Day 1 of the conference took place in the Palm’s PEARL Theater. This world class venue was the perfect place for kicking off the conference and getting the show started. A powerful opening prelude and then launched a video of AIA agents talking about their various challenges. Agents expressed concerns in increased competition, government sponsored pretrial programs and the economy. This video compilation was compelling and outlined the challenges that are top of mind with agents today and ultimately laid the groundwork for the presentations that followed.
Next was AIA’s Chief Marketing Officer, Eric Granof. Eric took the audience through a presentation that laid out a solution to the various problems presented in both the agent and consumer videos. He stressed the importance of educating consumers, the media and influencers about bail. He also stressed the importance of communicating a more consistent representation of the bail industry and emphasizing the positive role and impact that our industry has on public safety and the criminal justice system. Lastly, Eric introduced a new bail brand exclusively for AIA agents, the nation’s first true National Bail Agent Network brand.
After the announcement of the National Bail Agent Network brand, agents broke for lunch and returned to the Pearl theater. Eric came back on stage with AIA’s Chief Operating Officer, Robert Kersnick. They discussed how this new network brand will drive more bonds to AIA agents through a comprehensive internet and search strategy.
Robert continued his portion of the presentation and talked about technology and its role in the bail business and how AIA has expanded its Suite of eServices. This expanded set of tools will give agents an unprecedented view into their agency’s interactions with customers and even more information into their agency’s interactions with AIA. Robert also discussed how utilizing new technologies can significantly improve day to day operations for AIA’s family of bail agents.
The final presenter was AIA’s Chief Financial Officer, Mark Francis. Mark summed up all these new ideas and programs into something that is extremely important to agents: dollars and cents. Mark discussed how these programs translate to agents in terms of revenue, cost savings, tax implications, etc.
Following the conference presentations, the Key West Reception was a casual dinner reception allowing everyone the chance to unwind and talk about the great things they had just heard during the conference session. The room was filled with a flurry of excitement and energy. Every agent in attendance could feel the positive energy coming from the group. The buzz in the room included:
“I can’t wait to get these new programs started in my business.”
“The ways that these new programs are going to help my business is amazing.”
“The work that AIA has put into helping my business thrive in today’s economy shows they are the future of the bail industry.”
Day 2
The morning started by presenting several outstanding loyalty awards to agents who have written with AIA for over 15 years. In total, there were 53 agents to receive this award. “It is this loyalty that makes the AIA family of agents the best in the bail bond industry,”
Following the awards presentation, we introduced three new programs for AIA agents. The first program was an immigration bond referral program which allows its agents to generate additional revenue, with no increased liability, for referring these bonds to AIA’s immigration bond partner.
The second program was the introduction of CashStand, a new payday loan brand that AIA has created for its agents to generate additional revenue from their brick and mortar stores.
The final program introduced was a preferred vendor program with Experian. AIA’s family of agents will be able to access Experian’s data for underwriting bonds which has not been available to the bail industry before. This program is available exclusively to AIA agents.
Following the presentation of these new programs, Jeff Dion, Deputy Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) talked to agents about their organization. NCVC is committed to protecting victims’ rights and public safety. AIA and NCVC are currently in discussion to align their efforts. (There will definitely be more that follows on this topic…stay tuned).
The conference concluded with a panel discussion made up of all the conference presenters. After the conclusion of the general sessions, small breakout sessions were available on each of the programs unveiled during the conference giving agents the opportunity to ask more questions or talk one on one with a presenter. For the agents unable to attend this amazing event, AIA is taking its conference on the road, something that is unprecedented in this industry. Over the next 2 weeks AIA will be travelling the country sharing these new programs with its entire family of agents. If you would like to attend one of these events please contact Dee Hale in our Marketing and Communications Department to learn more about where and when our team will be in a city near you.