We are always looking for potentially great speakers and new sessions for our various Conferences and meetings.
We like interactive educational classes that engage our attendees. We want the latest and best information on relevant claim topics delivered and our members expect to have an "educational experience" at each session. Attendees seek practical answers to claim challenges and useful handouts and materials that they can take home and share with their fellow claim professionals. They tend to be an experienced group of claim professionals who want to hear the latest information, explore workable options and solutions, and hear from our speakers and from our industry colleagues as well.
Here are some things to consider if you are interested in presenting at PLRB Conferences. Most classes work best when there are two or more speaker perspectives represented. Attendees often find it most rewarding when they hear various speaker perspectives, such as an adjuster, an attorney, an engineer, or other service provider, rather than from a single subject matter expert. Attendees usually appreciate getting perspectives from various angles of an issue. Rather than having two presenters from a particular firm, it is often better for attendees to hear from one person from a service firm, and perhaps from another speaker from an insurance company claims perspective.
There are some exceptions to this rule. Some classes might feature a single presenter. We encourage you to think about incorporating at least two presenters in each session. (It's often more fun, that way). There are exceptions that we can sometimes work with. Please discuss these exceptions with our staff. Our experience indicates that two presenters are often most effective for 90-minute sessions, and three for a three hour class. Please speak with our staff if you have questions or need more information.
There are at least three ways to become a speaker at a Property Loss Research Bureau and Liability Insurance Research Bureau educational program. Here's a rundown of how it works:
The annual Claims Conference is held in the spring in different cities around the country and draws crowds of 2,000 to 3,500 attendees and exhibitors from across the industry. It is the largest industry event of its kind. A Call for Presenters/Presentations icon is posted on our web sitebeginning in March, soliciting topics and speakers for the following year's event.
Approximately 90-100 classes are selected, and most are offered twice at these three-day conferences. Sessions are grouped under various curriculum areas, including areas such as Adjusting Property, Casualty, Subrogation, Large Property Losses, Claim Management, etc. Classes are either 90-minute concept sessions or 180-minute workshops. Concept sessions are most common. You can submit multiple proposals through on our web site and include the following:
In early May the "Call for Classes and Presenters" is closed. In late May/early June the next year's Claims Conference Planning Committee meets, reviews the submissions, and starts the process of selecting appropriate sessions for the following year. Work on final selections continues by our staff through the summer, and final selections for topics and presenters are confirmed in late September. Those who submitted classes/topics that were unfortunately not chosen are also notified in writing later in the fall.
PLRB currently offers three Regional Adjusters Conferences each year; one in the Eastern, Central, and Western United States. These Conferences are typically held in June, September, and October or November. Registered attendance has averaged about 600 people for these events in recent years.
Approximately twenty-eight classes are offered, covering Property, Casualty, and General Interest (classes appropriate for both property and casualty claim professionals). The same topics are offered at all three locations. Class discussions and case studies within these 28 topics should be modified by instructors to fit the particular regional location. For example, when we are in the Western Conference, we should discuss "Western" issues or provide "Western" solutions and options for various claim challenges. The Regional Adjusters Conferences are geared for front-line adjusters, supervisors, and managers. Our aim is to address and provide solutions to the challenges in each topical area that our claim professionals face on a regular basis.
Our 28 classes, with titles and learning objectives, are chosen by PLRB staff, after extensive consultation with our member committees and companies. We seek to address those issues that are identified by our members as "problematic and challenging."
A Call for Presenters for these twenty-eight sessions will be posted on the PLRB web site along with titles, descriptions, and learning objectives of the classes from December to late January. Proposals to teach a specific session can be made on our web site. Prospective speakers should provide a 1-2 page description of how they intend to deliver that particular session. In February presenters will be confirmed for the following June, September, October, or November conferences. We will also notify those not chosen during the spring of that year.
With the Regional Adjuster Conferences, our first choice is to have the same presenters commit to and facilitate at all three locations in a particular year. If that is not possible, we will work with a company or group of individuals to deliver a consistent, high-quality educational experience at all three locations. Our primary objective is to work with presenters to present the very highest quality educational experience possible for our attendees.
The Large Loss Conference, typically held in the fall of the year, is a 1.5 day Conference addressing the salient technical claim issues involved in property and casualty losses over $100,000. There is a commercial lines property, a personal lines property, and a casualty claims track of classes. These two-hour classes are adjuster-led, highly interactive, and address the complex issues associated with these types of claims. Workshops are chosen by topic or type of claim by a planning committee. We then identify an experienced adjuster, with extensive experience in the issues associated with that particular type of claim and also one who has demonstrated presentation skills. The adjuster then selects "expert" co-presenters, such as attorneys, accountants, engineers, consultants, etc. to join him/her in the presentation. They will build a presentation around a particular type of claim, with the adjuster speaking for a third of the time, the experts addressing their respective issues for a third, and the audience participating for a third of the two-hour presentation.
The Call for Presentations is posted in November the year prior to the Conference.
With Large Loss the focus is thus on identifying a particular adjuster who will spearhead the presentation, and that individual will select appropriate experts to help explore the relevant issues of the case. The selection of types of claims and adjusters takes place in the spring of each year in anticipation of the fall event.
There are at least three ways we identify presenters for PLRB events. We follow a yearly calendar that allows presenters adequate preparation time to present an outstanding class for our members and attendees. In many classes we often see insurance company members join with affiliates or various service provider representatives to deliver outstanding educational sessions that help improve our industry's performance. We focus on providing solutions to the real issues and challenges of our various audiences; we meticulously avoid any type of "infomercial" that attendees might interpret as a sales presentation or self-promotion of any individual or service provider. Our mission is to provide the very best in Claims Education.
If you are qualified and interested in helping change our industry for the better, we hope you seriously consider offering to present a topic at an upcoming PLRB event. We are always looking for new individuals with exceptional ideas and talents and new classes to share with our members. If you have questions or need additional information regarding speaking opportunities, please call us to discuss. We look forward to hearing from you and building an educational program that reflects our very best efforts.
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