Monoline: Beyond the Coverage
An educational podcast for insurance professionals that dives deep into personal umbrella insurance, industry trends, risk mitigation, and sales strategies. Hosted by Senior Underwriter Janessa Vanderheyden, each episode features expert insights, real-world case studies, and practical advice to help agents grow their business and better protect their clients.
Monoline: Beyond the Coverage
Building Our Insurance Community With PRMA
Diane Delaney never planned to work in insurance. Like many professionals in our industry, it found her instead, beginning with a Wall Street job at AIG just days after college graduation. Now, as Executive Director of the Private Risk Management Association (PRMA), she leads a 6,000+ member organization that's transforming how high-net-worth insurance professionals educate themselves and serve their clients.
This conversation peels back the curtain on what makes PRMA such a powerful force in today's challenging insurance market. Diane breaks down how the association provides educational resources, professional development, and perhaps most importantly, community for insurance professionals navigating unprecedented market disruptions. "How an association truly thrives for its members is during times of disruption," she explains, highlighting how PRMA has doubled in size since 2022 precisely because it provides solutions when they're needed most.
From the renowned annual summit (which has grown from 420 to nearly 800 attendees) to specialized initiatives like the Women in Insurance chapter, PRMA creates spaces where competitors become collaborators. The association's "Thrive Community" platform exemplifies this spirit, where brokers openly ask questions and share solutions rather than guarding their knowledge. As Diane notes, "It's amazing to see how the industry comes together. Where it could be one broker competing against another, but there's plenty of business out there. That goes out the window."
Whether you're already working in high-net-worth insurance or simply curious about specialized industry resources, this episode illuminates why education and collaboration matter now more than ever. Visit privateriskmanagement.org to explore membership benefits and mark your calendar—registration for the 2024 PRMA Summit in New Orleans (October 19-21) opens July 14th. As Diane reminds us: "The more we can collaborate, the better off we will be as individuals and as a whole."
Additional Resources:
- Learn more about PRMA
- Connect with Diane on LinkedIn
- Diane's coffee order:
- Medium Roast (Costa Rican preferred)
- Oat or Almond Milk
- One Truvia
Visit monoline.com to experience our revolutionary platform that's making personal umbrella insurance a breeze for agents across the country. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates!
Welcome to Monoline: Beyond the Coverage, the podcast that goes deeper than policy limits to explore why personal umbrella insurance matters more than ever. I'm Janessa Vanderhey den and today we have a very special guest joining us: Diane Delaney. Diane is not only my mentor, she is the executive director of the Private Risk Management Association, also known as PRMA. She's a powerhouse in the personal risk space, known for her deep subject matter expertise in high net worth personal lines insurance. For over a decade, Diane has led one of the most respected sales and professional development programs in the industry. She's known for creating training that doesn't just educate; it motivates, inspires and creates meaningful change in behavior. Her passion for innovation and elevating professionals in our field is evident in everything she does. Diane, welcome to the show. All right, Diane, let's start at the beginning. Can you take us back to what first sparked your interest in the insurance industry?
Diane:So May 23rd 2005, I was like 10 days post graduation from college and had my first job on wall street with AIG, and I didn't join the insurance sector. I went into what was the general training department of the company that was globally based, and within my first two years there I had the opportunity to teach presentation skills, and one of the divisions within AIG at the time was private client group and I was working with their risk management team and some of their executives that were speaking at what was their annual risk management conference and they just asked for my support in their presentation skills, which I mean, by the way, at 22, I really had no credentials to do that either, but anyway I did, and through that I learned about a lot of the products and services that they were offering from an insurance standpoint to high net worth and affluent individuals. So that was a really good introduction to insurance, because it was more of what I would say the sexy side of insurance, if there is one.
Diane:That was back in 2006, 2007. So the industry looked a lot different. So when I had the opportunity in 2008 to jump to private client group and work with them full time, like to me that was a no brainer. So that was really kind of my I like rolled into it. Can't say I had my eyes on it when I got out of college.
Janessa:I feel like that's so common with everybody that I've talked to. I'm like how'd you guys get started in insurance? And everybody's like, oh, we never wanted to be in insurance.
Diane:Yeah, it found me. Yes.
Janessa:That's how it goes, okay, and then for anybody that's listening, can you kind of give them what is private client and what risk management involves as well?
Diane:When we look at private client, we're looking at the personal lines space, so anyone that has personal items or assets so their homes, their cars, collections, things like that and the term private client will really vary, and it varies based on an insurance carrier that you speak to or even an individual that you speak to. My general guide throughout the industry I would typically say you know investable assets of $5 million or more, but that also depends on kind of location and where someone's living around the globe as well, but they typically have assets that require a lot more customization when it comes to protecting their lifestyle than what we would consider the mass market.
Janessa:Thanks for kind of breaking that down. I feel like when people think of insurance you just think of homeowners. You know, you think of auto, like the very same stuff and even me being in insurance, just you know for these last seven to eight years now there's so many different pockets of insurance that I don't think people are always aware of.
Diane:Exactly, and I think this level of insurance when you play in the private client space, it's not just putting an insurance program in place but it really needs to align with what the other advisors in these individuals' lives have put forward. So it is a much different type of product and service that we're offering in this space. For sure.
Janessa:So you started with AIG, kind of doing what you just explained to us. How did you kind of shift into the PRMA space?
Diane:I had my first introduction to PRMA when I was sitting on the carrier side. We supported and provided educational content to the association. But really my exposure to it when I was on the carrier side was the annual summit and going to the summit and being able to network and provide education. But I had no idea, sitting on the carrier side, what PRMA truly consisted of. And that was on me and I get all of us. A lot of people who are members of PRMA they use it for a particular reason which I'm sure we'll get into at a certain point, but I never took advantage of kind of the full scope, but it was still growing at that time.
Diane:I don't want to say I stepped into this position as a joke, but it was because you know doing what I did on the carrier side. It's interesting because I, you know, built and ran a sales training program that taught producers and even just internal folks on the carrier side on how to sell and service better in the high net worth space. But I was always carrier agnostic. I would train brokers and say I don't care who you sell using these methods, but the way we speak to high net worth clients has to be different than how we speak to the mass market when we're putting these solutions in place. But as the market and the industry started to change, it became difficult to just teach that sales program when it became difficult to write with particular carriers.
Diane:So the chairman of our board now, brian Collier, at Hagerty, he was stepping into the chair of the board's role for PRMA and he had called me up and said look, Lisa Lindsay, the first executive director at PRMA, was ready to fully retire. And he said to me I don't want to take this position without you stepping into the executive director role. And I laughed. I was like why? But the more I started to have conversations with the board members and with Lisa, It was such a good fit because I've had so much experience working with brokers around the globe and I was carrier agnostic while working on the carrier side like what better opportunity to step into an association which is really designed to uplift the category from an education standpoint. But of course I came with some fear too. I mean leaving corporate after almost 20 years and going to a nonprofit association. There was a lot of changes but looking back in three years, this was the next step of education for the industry, for myself and for our brokers and our carriers, I think this was a perfect opportunity to walk into.
Janessa:I just have to give kudos to you too. I think when I first joined PRMA, I don't think I knew all of the benefits that come from it and I feel, since, like you and I have met each other, I've and like, have talked, there's so much more that people don't even realize that PRMA gives out to everybody in the industry too. So I think it's just been incredible what you've done, and I've sat in on some of your sales courses and you do an amazing job teaching them as well. But I think it's so important to highlight that educational piece, cause I think a lot of people forget how much PRMA like it's not just an association that they can join. So many more benefits to that. So kind of getting into that. Can you just give all of our listeners a background of what PRMA is and what do you guys provide and what are some of those benefits that they will have if they join PRMA?
Diane:It was truly built for anyone in the industry who is selling or servicing to high net worth clients to have a location to go to, to collaborate and learn from one another. And there's all different ways that we offer that. Being an educational based association, obviously that's primary. While we've grown leaps and bounds in the education we offer, the opportunities going forward are endless and we regularly talk to our membership, we survey them, we look at past courses, changing in the market. Let's put together a membership-wide webinar on it. So that's one area. Then we have our CPRA designation, which is a great designation for the high network space. You don't have to be on the broker side, you can be on the carrier side as well, and we have members that are going through this regularly where they're taking six different courses throughout the course of 15 months which are self-paced, but it's really teaching them about all the different factors that can impact the high net worth individual's life. The third part is the ability to collaborate, especially in today's market, and we need to do more of this. But so often and, janessa, you probably have seen this too with kind of what Monoline offers, but you'll see someone go onto this what we call our Thrive Community and it could be a broker posting a question saying something like I am in desperate need of an individual access liability policy Carrier can no longer offer the limits that we need when should I go? And members will see that and they can respond. Carriers can jump in and respond and sometimes people will send a private message like reach out to me separately. And to me it's always amazing to see how the industry comes together on that front, where it could be one broker competing against another, but there's plenty of business out there. That goes out the window. But it's the ability to provide support on where to go. To me, I envision this kind of Thrive Community only growing as we put more time and effort towards that area and the annual summit which, Janessa, I know you were there last year and hopefully joining us in New Orleans this year.
Diane:It's so hard to describe, unless you've been there, the feeling when you step into this room with people who have been up against everything in the market over the past year and you expect the vibe to be doom and gloom.
Diane:Actually, it's just the opposite, where you get 800 people in a room who are, I mean, having conversations with one another and networking and going to different educational breakout sessions, so that's an experience in itself.
Diane:The summit has, I mean, doubled in the last couple of years since we've done it and we keep selling it out, which is a great problem to have, but realistically, a lot of listeners will never get to summit and I always tell them pay attention to our chapters. So on our events page our chapters are regularly doing events on a regional scale. So sometimes it'll be in your state, in the location where you can go live and listen to an educational topic, or it doesn't even have to be an educational topic. I mean the New York chapter. Next month, in a couple of weeks, we're going to a New York Mets game and there's probably about 60 of us going. It's just, but it's a way to bring the industry together and the chapters is something we're really going to start growing over the next couple of years. So I'm excited to see where these regional events and educational topics go as well.
Janessa:Yeah, I'm one of the chapter chairs for the Rocky Mountain region and we just are planning our first in-person event too. We're actually doing a Rockies game, so very similar. But it is such an amazing thing because so many people that you've never met but you've maybe emailed with or you've talked to, that's a good time for you to go and network. And I think that's one of the things with PRMA. I've been in PRMA for a couple of years now and I didn't even know regional events happened. So it's so cool. And then the virtual ones too you can sit in on different regions virtual ones and listen to speakers that they bring in, and they're so educational. So I think it's just really cool that this association is just worldwide and you can connect with so many people.
Janessa:And going back to the summit too I've gone to the summit now two or three times and you do kind of walk in there wondering what's the vibe going to be like, especially with the market, and then you step into these rooms and everybody feels the exact same way, right, and we're all trying to find solutions. So it's funny last year we had we would have like 10 different agents or carriers at our booth, but they would all be bouncing ideas off of each other of like, oh, you should try this place, or have you tried working with this, and it's like it's really cool to see everybody come together and try and find the solutions for each other. So I know it's tough. When I remember, I think one of the very first summits I went to, it was so tiny and small.
Janessa:And then last year and like walking into the conference room or like where we had everybody was there for the panels and stuff I'm like this room is massive now. This is crazy to be a part of, and I know this year is going to be unreal as well. I'm so excited for it, yeah. But I know so many people when I go out in client face I'm like have you guys heard of PRMA? When they're like we don't know what we should do with this risk or we don't know where to place it. I'm like I always bring up that board you were talking about, where people post questions, because we live on that as well, cause we're being in the umbrella industry, which is, you know, kind of new in the sense that things are now starting to break apart and go monoline.
Janessa:We're always looking at it and it's amazing to see so many people come together and be like we went to this place or we worked with this person. So that piece in itself, besides all the educational stuff that PRMA gives, is amazing that you have that. So a lot of agents are like, oh, we've never even heard of PRMA. So this is a big reason why I wanted you on, because it's such a great resource to have that I don't think everybody knows about.
Diane:But then the opposite comes to play, like that's how much opportunity is still out there to grow. So that part's amazing. So I do get a little bit excited too when I find out people haven't heard about us, because I feel like after the whole spiel it's like come join.
Janessa:Ye s and hold on everybody. Oh my gosh, like, how do I sign up for this. I think you guys have done such a good job of making space for everything. Not just those questions, or that tool and resource. You guys have literally put everything together in this association that brings the educational piece, because I'm doing my CPRIA too, I will say it's one of the best educational tools that you've ever provided. I've learned so much, versus doing other designations, and you guys have just put so much thought into this one and I've learned so much of things that I didn't even think I really needed to know. You know? So that's another thing where I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm taking things that I didn't even think I really needed to know, you know. So that's another thing where I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm taking things that I'm learning and applying it to my everyday tasks now, which is really cool. Or I've been able to help educate people I'm working with from the stuff that I've learned from you all.
Diane:Exactly
Janessa:Yeah. Okay, what sets PRMA apart, you think, from some of those other organizations that you've heard of.
Diane:PRMA represents the independent voice of our industry. We are carrier agnostic, we are broker agnostic, but how an association truly thrives for its members is during times of disruption, and I think the growth and the attraction to PRMA really exploded for a number of different reasons, but a big part of that was the disruption within our industry and I think people were seeking a place to go to as the independent voice of the industry, to either provide their own learnings, to be able to kind of share what they're seeing from a carrier standpoint or a broker standpoint, or they were seeking the association for answers of like, "In all my years of being in this industry, I've never seen something like this happen. So, like you said kind of at the summit, everyone's in the same boat. So you kind of connect on that. And I think because of our response over the last couple of years during this time of disruption, which has also allowed a lot of the service providers to seek us out so people are offering services to individuals to, you know, perform more risk management measures to their home it created this community where these providers were coming to us saying I want to get more involved as well and because of that we just kept growing and I think you know, since 2022, we've doubled in size, which is, yeah, it's been incredible to see and I'd like to say, oh, you know, let's give myself and the team full credit, but it's not.
Diane:I think there was just a series of a lot of events that happened when I took over the association in 2022 and just kind of how we responded to the market. That really set us apart, and I think that will always be our focus going forward, especially now we see to the point where we'll put this more out in front of the community. But a lot of media outlets at times of disruption will come to PRMA to be that voice saying we can't get the carrier on the phone rightfully so, but can you talk on their behalf? We're very adamant every time I'm doing an interview to the media to explain what's happening from this standpoint, because I feel like the industry and media is very quick to bash the insurance industry but the full story is not being told, and that's kind of really where our purpose is for the association is to make sure we're telling the story so clients have an understanding and our carers and brokers feel like they can get their voices heard as well.
Janessa:Yeah, that's incredible. Looking back at your time at PRMA, what do you think some of your biggest accomplishments are?
Diane:So membership growth for sure. So that's been amazing to just see how much we've grown. But also, for me, it is that annual summit. I mean that's a real moment where you kind of step into that room and you take it all in and you see how much people want to get more involved with the organization or for the event in the last two years to sell out completely. It's showing us that we're doing something right. We don't want to get complacent where we say, okay, we've done it all, we're doing great. In fact, last week I spent two days in the city with our board of trustees and a strategic planning coach and we talked about what we accomplished the last three years. But what do we want for the next three to five years and what will it take to get there? And it's amazing to see carriers, brokers, service providers, who are sitting at this board table as volunteers, spending time truly caring about where the association's gonna go for the industry. So I'd love to be back on your podcast in three years for us to say what happened.
Janessa:We will do that for sure!
Diane:So I think there's a lot of commitment from the industry to advance this association for its members, and I think what we've done so far is fantastic, but there is still so much to do.
Janessa:Yeah there is, and I think, just with the market hopefully softening up soon, but still with it being hard, there is a disruption right now where people are just a little lost in where to place business, and so I think it's great that PRMA is a community for the personal lines space.
Diane:Exactly!
Janessa:Yeah. And I think, going back to the summit too, when you got you, I think PRMA has done an amazing job with the topics that you guys bring for your panelists as well, and they're very informative and bring so many different perspectives when you have, I think one of the biggest ones too I think I get the most impact from is when you have carriers out there coming up and talking, because people want to hear from carriers where their vision is with the people they're working with. So I think it's really powerful when you have those carriers come up and can speak about what's going on. Even the breakout sessions and the workshops are so educational. You guys just do an incredible job on that educational piece. People forget about that in insurance, that it's so educational based.
Diane:And it's supposed to be. And thank you for recognizing that, because even for this year's summit not that we did things a little bit differently, but you know we take it to heart and I don't want to sit in this seat and tell the membership what they need. I want the membership to tell me what they need, but the challenge with that is being over a 6,000 person organization with people from varying different levels. What I've realized is we will always disappoint people and they've always wanted to hear more of this or less of that or not from this person. And how come not from that person. But when you put that aside and we build these committees of volunteers, that will come together and our summit planning committee this year has been fantastic, where we spent months just debating educational topics back and forth. And why? Why are we having this topic? Do people really care? And this topic is amazing, but not right now. It just doesn't warrant a full breakout session at the summit. So there's a lot like we don't just wake up and say like, hey, let's just do a presentation on claims. There's a reason why that presentation is built there. So absolutely appreciate you recognizing that, because there is so much that goes into it.
Janessa:nd, and I think thinking about last year, one of our co-founders, Jerod, he sat on one of the panels at PRMA and it was talking about AI and technology. So just to kind of back you on that, that was AI and technology is such an important piece of insurance right now. So I think you guys all having that panel I remember that room was packed too, like because people are so interested in that so you all just do a very good job of reading the industry and what's going on too. So I'm super excited to see what you guys have planned for this year because, again, things in insurance change so much
Diane:All the time.
Janessa:And I think too, with that being said, you sit on those panels and you come in just being like I think a lot of people get nervous about AI coming into the space and just this new technology, and I think after they sit and listen to these panelists, they leave with a sense of relief or they leave with a sense of more understanding about all the topics.
Janessa:So I think that's another just great thing that PRMA does is it's trying to explain and elaborate and hear different perspectives too of you're not getting, you know, four people from the same carrier. You're getting four people from four different carriers, or four people from four different parts of the insurance industry and bringing them together. So hearing them, being able to kind of popcorn topics and like things, you getso many different perspectives where you're like, oh, that actually makes a lot of sense.
Janessa:Like this calms me down a little bit about something.
Diane:And I think that's having use cases on how people are using technology, how they're using particular products, like you said hopefully gets people to focus on the bigger picture and how to apply certain things to their particular job and understanding. Not everything that's being spoken about will always apply to you, but take the things that do, and that is the point of people will use this association for varying different reasons, and I think that's the beauty of it.
Janessa:Yeah, for sure. Can you talk about some of the courses that you are teaching through PRMA?
Diane:Yeah, absolutely. You know a lot of what PRMA is working on offering more of is not just your product and services, but things for professional development and growth, and sales is one arm of it and you don't have to be in a direct sales role. But, building upon what I used to do in my previous job and role where I would teach I mean the three-day in-person sales school we've taken that over to PRMA and put it into this virtual format and it's meant to be piecemeal. But that series we repeat every single quarter and for, if you haven't been on it, or maybe you have, you see that while you're muted and your cameras are off, I'm the only one that can talk through it. The use of the chat is incredible. I mean it's just blowing up the whole time and people are interacting. You know we're driving them to ask questions like why do you ask questions this way to particular clients? Or maybe one of those sales courses is all about the different personality and behavioral traits that exist. So that's something that we're offering regularly on a rotation.
Diane:We have done presentation skills courses on how to remove insurance jargon from your language, but just kind of focus more on some of the professional development type things that you could put in your repertoire beyond just, oh, I understand this product or the service of what it does. Then, in addition to this, one of the things I've been really passionate about and we started to launch this at Summit, went live in January of 25, but is our women in insurance chapter, which, yes, it's women in insurance, but we welcome men as well, and we didn't know where this particular group was going to go. Um, but we knew that there was a need. I would have a lot of women that would come and say it would be nice to have a space for all levels, not just leadership, but even in there. We're bringing different, like I've done a couple of different presentation skills topics for that group. We're going to be doing a lot more and kind of balancing your work life with your professional life. So so much more to come from that professional development standpoint.
Janessa:Yeah, the women in insurance one I've sat. I've sat on that one too, and it is crazy when I pop out the chat and there's so many people interacting with it and sometimes you wonder, you know you're doing a webinar and people just have it on in the background or listening and people are locked and loaded on these things. People are asking you. I'm sure when you get to the end and you're like, okay, q and a, and you see 500 questions, I mean that has to feel really good too. It's amazing that you're also providing that and thinking out of the box of just the educational piece that you are truly trying to help people develop in this space too.
Diane:Yeah, one of the amazing parts of that group and we see this with other stuff that we're doing but we tested out this like virtual, like networking session, which between you and me I hear virtual networking, and I'm like, ugh, but we're running it, so I gotta be on.
Diane:So I told Chris and my team like, all right, let's like we'll come up with three questions she recommended. She's like Diane, just think of questions. We'll put it in front of the group, both personally and professionally. And here we have like 20 women just sitting in a virtual room and it was amazing the first time we did it, because one of the questions was something around like what do you do in your personal life each day to get yourself ready for your professional life? And I'll typically kick it off with my example.
Diane:But to have so many women be so vulnerable during the call and you could see them sharing with one another and you know, gets a little bit emotional. But the best part is, when that call ends, the amount of emails we get from women saying you have no idea how I needed this. It almost gives you that chills of, yes, we're supporting them, what they need to navigate this market. But life is so different when we're working from home or even in the office. But just balancing all of the stressors that we are today. I know the association can't be everything for everyone, but as many components that we can offer for people to be successful in their jobs, we will, and we're just starting it off.
Janessa:Yeah, no, that's amazing and again, I think it just shows that you guys are building a community Like it's not just an association, it's a community for people, and not a lot of people are as invested in that, you know and it's just fun to watch it grow too, and I think, as you and I have gotten closer within the last year, it's just been really fun to see it come to life and now me be a part of it so much more, because I didn't even know how much PRMA offered when I first joined. Once you realize how much you all are offering, it's incredible.
Diane:I know. I said the same when I joined. I was like we did what?
Janessa:Yeah, no, seriously, it's wild and I'm like even like going on the website and just looking at everything and looking at even all the different regional chapters that you guys have. It's. It's so fun and I've met so many people within the industry now and I'll see them posting their events on LinkedIn or something or one of the webinars that they're are going to be hosting, and it's so fun to jump in and support each other on those too. So just overall, great, all right. So, for anyone listening, how do they get involved, Diane? How do you sign up and what do they need to do?
Diane:Yes, so the easiest thing is to go to the https://www. private riskmanagement. org webpage, and you can't get the full access to the features as a non-member, but you can see what the page is about and I mean it's as easy as clicking the become a member button and there's different membership tiers. But what I always tell people is come to me or my team as well, like we can do. We do these mini open houses as if you're coming to a university and I want you to get an understanding of the full scope before you join as a member. So even on the webpage, you can access the about us and you can see my name and contact information in there, along with my staff members. And if you reach out to anyone on my team, ask us to set up a call. We're always more than happy to walk you through the website before you sign up, because we want to make sure you know exactly what you're getting into and how to use everything before you officially become a member.
Janessa:Yeah, and I know I did that with you. I kind of had like a refresher with you at the beginning of this year and that's when it reminded me of how much you all offer. So encourage everybody who's listening to go and do that and reach out to Diane. So we've been talking about the annual summit and it's in New Orleans this year. Texas last year was a blast, I have to admit. It was so much fun. But New Orleans, how are you guys deciding what cities?
Diane:You know we booked this weeks into me joining the association for the New Orleans trip, because you have to imagine these are booked years out.
Janessa:Okay.
Diane:And when we booked New Orleans, the summit wasn't bigger than 420 people.
Janessa:How many people were last year?
Diane:777. Yeah, Arlington we knew we could build that. So when we booked the Arlington location, that hotel was complete construction. Like I told the board, put faith in us, it'll be completed and done. And it was and it was beautiful.
Diane:We will be going back there at some point I won't tell you which year, but we are locked in a couple of years from now. But we try and do. Really, the center of the state. We have West Coast people coming and we have East Coast, so it is the easiest to try and stay central. But there's also this balance because I'll have people that will call me up and say like, well, how come you haven't considered here? And I think if you've been to a summit, the beauty of the summit is that mostly everyone, because we typically sell out the hotel but you have several hundred people staying in the same hotel that the event is hosted out of and that is something in itself because the ability to network outside those educational sessions becomes much easier. So we're operating in the sweet spot right now where we're not super big, that we need to be at a massive convention center, because when people start to stay at multiple different hotels you lose that and you lose people. So right now we're really protective in going to a location that can fit us and also fit people in the same hotel and that really determines where we're going. And the New Orleans, the Marriott, offers that beautifully. We also picked there too, because the food is...
Janessa:I've never been, so I cannot wait.
Diane:Full disclosure, my first time going to New Orleans was the site visit for this, when we had a couple of bids out for locations and I went with our event planner and we went to a restaurant that was unbelievable.
Diane:y of course you walking past like the typical streets that you hear of in New Orleans, and I turned to the event planner and I said, Catherine, I don't know if I can bring at this time 450 insurance professionals here.
Diane:And I asked the hotel that same question the next day and their response was, you know, amazing on on kind of the guidance that the hotel puts in place of where people will go, but the food that they served us to win the bid that day was unbelievable and it was hotel chefs. They have to compete with the best culinary in the world, but the culture there is incredible and to be able to offer, I mean, while this event is educational, but just this experience and there's so many amazing elements we are going to be adding into this New Orleans event that I mean I just get chills thinking about some of the stuff we've locked in that I won't want to keep it a little bit of a surprise, but that comes into play. So, like, how are we creating an experience for the membership that's coming in a location that allows us to still be together and it's still staying on Central Time Zone?
Janessa:Yeah, I love that. And then, what are the dates of the summit this year? And then, is it live yet to sign up?
Diane:So, no, it's not live to sign up July 14th, which is the earliest we've been, but that's because the event is two weeks earlier, so it's October 19th to the 21st. Okay, the website will go live July 14th. I don't foresee us not selling out this year. I just just based on kind of what I've been hearing. But look, the industry, anything can change at any given moment and travel will come to a halt for some people. But I say all that with. I always tell people, if you're debating it, don't, you can't wait until September to decide that you want to go to the event in October, because wait list then becomes excessive and we can't guarantee that we can get everyone off of it.
Janessa:Yeah, I even remember last year doing some client facing before the summit. Last year we had told some agents you should look into PRMA. The summit is amazing. It's a great networking opportunity. It's just super fun as well. And then we talked to them after the summit and they were like thank you so much for telling us about one, this association, but two, this summit as well. Because, again, I think people don't realize how impactful it is. It's not just it's not just a work conference where people are like, oh, another networking event, here we go. It's. It is truly powerful. And even the speakers that you bring in that have nothing to do with insurance you guys typically have two speakers come in and they are incredible. I will never forget one of the ladies you guys had who was a I think she was an aviation pilot
Diane:Nicole Malachowski.
Diane:Yeah, first female Thunderbird pilot.
Janessa:I still follow her, I still look back at. I listened to her all of her talks. She was incredible and her story and the people you find are just absolutely incredible. It was just really cool to not just talk about insurance all the time.
Diane:And we have another impressive female lined up for this year, so she'll be live on the summit page in a few weeks.
Janessa:Oh, I'm so excited for this. Well, lastly, we're going to do a fun little lightning round with you. Okay. So what is your go-to coffee order? Or coffee or tea?
Diane:No, no, I am definitely coffee post kids Okay. So I'm very, I'm a little bit of a coffee snob. So I'm particular about my roast. So I'm more into like medium, don't like dark, don't like too light, but kind of a medium roast Costa Rican, if I could be particular, and then I usually will do like an almond milk or an oat milk and then one Truvia.
Janessa:Okay, I love that.
Janessa:Sounds great.
Diane:So if anyone sees me at summit, I probably need a cup of coffee, you know the coffee order.
Janessa:Everybody remember this. We will put this in the notes of the podcast so you can remember and if you see her hands empty, go get her one.
Janessa:She's been working,
Diane:I need a cup of coffee.
Janessa:Yeah, okay, are you an early bird or night owl?
Diane:Uh, unfortunately both. Uh, night night owl by nature. Like I can be tired during the day, but then I think most of us are guilty of this at night. It's like party time, like you're ready to wake up?
Janessa:Oh yeah.
Diane:Not a morning person by any means, but I do force myself to wake up early because that's like my time before the kids wake and go to school.
Diane:So both but night owl by nature.
Janessa:Okay, and then this is kind of a two-parter what's your favorite city you've ever traveled to for a conference and then what's just your favorite city you've ever traveled to in general, personally.
Diane:Ooh, um, so I wouldn't say for conference, but in my previous carrier days I used to love going to San Diego. Especially being Northeast. I mean the weather here I don't think I'm meant to be around snow, um, and San Diego yeah, man, uh. So I'd say location like San Diego I, but I had to say New Orleans was going to give us a run for the money. I just went back for the site visit to prep for summit and just being there I want to go back personally to experience it outside of work.
Janessa:Love that. And then favorite city you've traveled to, just in general, or it can be a different country or wherever you've gone, like what's one place you think you'd want to go back to.
Diane:Oh, I mean my family. My mother was born in Italy. I have so many roots there, so obviously Europe I mean I do have a lot of locations internationally on my bucket list, but the Amalfi coast for me was an experience and I I'm just seeing it once wasn't enough.
Janessa:Yeah, that's a place that's on my bucket list too. Okay, if you weren't at insurance, what would you be doing?
Diane:Yeah, so, um, I, I would probably be a baker, uh, but the challenge of being I do. I love baking. It's in my it's, I think it's in my blood. I come from a family of uh, bakers out of Italy, so my maiden name is Buon Pane, which means good bread. Um, and we got that name because we made really good bread, although, fun fact, I've never been made made bread. I'm like I can make really good cakes, cupcakes, pastries, you name it. Yeah, the challenge of being a baker is I don't want to work holidays or weekends, and I think that's the most important day s to work. So I'd be a self-employed baker.
Janessa:I love that. Okay, and lastly, fill in the blank. The insurance industry needs more... blank.
Diane:Why we exist. It's education and collaboration, especially to navigate this market, that we will continually operate in, and you said it before. We hope that we soften, but we'll never go back to insurance the way it was, and I think the more we can collaborate, the better off we will be as individuals and as a whole.
Janessa:Yeah, and I think education is almost a chain of events. It starts with the carriers, and then they need to educate their clients, and then their clients need to educate their clients, and then the insureds, and it's it's just been so. I think that's it's brought a lot of light to my eyes too. Switching over to Monoline and the umbrella space is not a lot of people are educated on umbrellas or why people need them. I've sat on so many excess liability webinars that PRMA has hosted and I'll listen to that and then I'll take pieces from that and I'll be like, wow, I didn't know that, so then that's an educational piece for me. Then I go and explain that to my agents and they're like, oh, we didn't understand that either.
Janessa:And then they take that information and they give it to their insured, and it's just this chain of events that's so important to really highlight.
Diane:Yeah, and if we look at how assumptions are made, it's based off of the lack of information. And when we have a lot of people where that light bulb moment comes off, where they say, oh, I didn't know that or I didn't realize that, it's because all these assumptions are being made because they're not as informed as they could be, and sometimes not their fault, it's just there hasn't been the information put out there. And I think the more we can do that, the better off we will all be as a whole.
Janessa:Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast, Diane. You have brought so much light to PRMA and we'll put in the remarks of our podcast the link to PRMA and your contact information. So again, just thank you, I think people are really going to enjoy hearing more about PRMA because, again, I don't think a lot of people like know how much you guys bring to the table when it comes to insurance, so it's just been really fun having you on.
Diane:No, my pleasure. This was a blast.
Janessa:That brings us to the end of this episode. A huge thank you to Diane on joining us today. Her work at PRMA is making a real difference in the insurance community. What did you think of this episode? Send us a text and let us know. We drop a new episode every month on topics that help you build your business, educate your clients and build our professional community. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on LinkedIn for more insights into the world of personal umbrella insurance. Thanks for listening.
