large screen; a “Great Conversations” area, with sofas and chairs; and a Tech Zone, where hands-on help with using social media was offered. Thirteen circular “Exhibitor Zones,” each with room for four exhibitors, also were part of the space, many arrayed around the perimeter of the space, with a few placed in the center. The ConneXion Zone was designed to function as a “meeting within a meeting,” Kopcinski said, with 260 scheduled short presentations mirror- ing the Annual Meeting agenda’s mix of sessions sharing business solutions, motivational sessions, ideas exchanges, and programs related to health and relationships. Because MDRT espouses a “whole-person” concept, Kopcinski said, presentations are aimed at helping attendees not just improve their busi- nesses, but become better spouses, par- ents, and leaders in their communities. Some of the most popular sessions were Q&A’s with select motivational Main Platform speakers, which fol- lowed short interviews conducted on camera in the Big Ideas Theater by hosts from Convention News Televi- sion. That footage, along with attendee interviews, was posted to the online portal MDRT Connect on MDRT’s web- site, which allows attendees to watch sessions and interviews they may have missed, and to connect with meeting sponsors and exhibitors. Another draw was the ConneXion
Zone’s Great Conversations area. All MDRT attendees have to reach a mini- mum level of yearly commissions to qualify to attend the Annual Meeting, but some attendees are identified at even loftier echelons of achievement — these higher-achieving members
were among those tapped to lead conversations. There were more than 50 “Focus Sessions” at the Annual Meeting, with audiences numbering in the hundreds, and zeroing in on topics ranging from underwriting and revenue-growth strategies to time management and succession planning. Many Focus Ses- sion speakers appeared in the more intimate spaces in the ConneXion Zone, both to offer previews of their topics and to continue conversations after their presentations. The ConneXion Zone also added
new opportunities directly targeted to MDRT’s international participants
— nearly 75 percent of attendees are from outside the United States, reflect- ing the rapid growth of the insurance and financial-services industries in countries including China, India, and South Korea. MRDT’s presentations are almost all in English, with inter- pretation provided in more than a dozen languages via headsets. In the ConneXion Zone, two dozen sessions presented live in languages including Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean were filled to overflowing. The ConneXion Zone was an ambi- tious undertaking, and the road wasn’t always smooth. When exhibitors heard that the exhibition floor was going away, “they weren’t happy,” Kopcinski said. But MDRT was prepared to “take it on the chin financially, because we believe in the concept.”
THE FIRST RUN-THROUGH With 52 slots for exhibitors, the Con- neXion Zone was a sellout. But its execution wasn’t an unqualified success from the point of view of exhibitors,
Prizing Creativity How do you prepare first- time attendees for a gathering like Million Dollar Round Table’s Annual Meeting, where nearly
two dozen of the world’s top motivational speakers are scheduled to present? At MRDT’s 2012 Annual Meeting in Anaheim, the answer was grafiti artist Erik Wahl, whose presentation, “The Art of Vision,” at the orientation session was so dazzling, it drew gasps from the audience. During an hour-long talk, Wahl told the audience how, after being told by a teacher that he wasn’t meant to be an artist, he put away his brushes and worked for 20 years in a corporate environment. He eventually failed miserably, and at a friend’s suggestion, turned to painting again. Eventually he developed the dramatic style in which he works today, frenetically applying paint to canvases using brushes and his hands to create images that reveal themselves to viewers only as Wahl adds the final strokes of paint. At MDRT, Wahl created a graphic image of the singer Bono during the time it took to play the U2 song “Beautiful Day.” Wahl’s message is that everyone is
innately creative — at corporate retreats, he’s been known to insist that any notes be taken with crayons. His emphasis on breaking through traditional boundaries extends to the unique way in which he distributes his artwork — none of it is for sale. He does donate pieces to charity; at a recent event, the singer Pink paid $10,000 for a painting of Marilyn Monroe, which Wahl created in three minutes. When speaking, Wahl donates
paintings to the organization that hired him, and then conducts “Art Drops,” hiding them around the meeting venue and broadcasting clues about where they can be found. At MDRT’s orientation session, Wahl announced that clues for the Bono painting’s whereabouts would be released via the MDRT meeting hashtag during the opening-night reception. Wahl posted the clues on his Facebook page, and it took only two hints to lead Peter Winovich III (pictured above), a financial adviser from Toledo, Ohio, to the Bono painting hidden on a stairwell in a nearby hotel. “I found it first,” Winovich later tweeted, “only sprinted 200 yards and 8 flights of stairs to get it, tho.”