With 2021 in life’s rear-view mirror, it’s time to think about what lies ahead, to make decisions that will affect you, your practice, and the lives of those you support. And here’s a big one that you can make now.
I’m referring, of course, to the NAPA 401(k) Summit—which we have moved back to its traditional spring cycle (April 3-5), and a brand-new location (Tampa Bay, Florida). We’ve had that date/location on our radar for some time now—you can’t conduct an event the size of “Summit” without making those arrangements years in advance—and yet so much of what goes into the planning can only come into full focus once the previous year’s event is in the rear-view mirror—and “last year,” as you may remember, was not that long ago.
Steering Committee
To that end, and particularly as we head into this new year, I want to send a special “shout out” to the members of our Summit Steering Committee. For a lot of industry events, a steering committee is a relatively passive obligation—a group to whom the folks doing the “real” work of planning, structuring and implementing the event keep updated, mostly for a sense of validation and the occasional course correct. Oh, and so that the event can “show off” the luminaries that have agreed to lend their name (and face) to promote its bona fides.
We’ve long eschewed that approach—our steering committee is, after all, informed not only by their own experience and perspective as some of the industry’s leading advisors, but by the reader polling that provides insights from you (the validation of that approach can be found in the workshop agenda itself, and by the reality that attendees often “complain” that they want to attend two or three “competing” sessions).
The reality is, there’s not a lot of glamor associated with the hard work and time commitment these individuals dedicate to our events—in the case of the Summit, they literally “own” a session (and often more than one), carrying responsibility not only for panel/speaker selection, but for ensuring that those chosen fulfill their responsibilities—up to and including making sure that the session delivery itself lives up to the high standards of the nation’s retirement plan advisor convention. So here, and hopefully with some regularity at the event itself, I want to thank and commend these folks for their generous contributions to the impact of this event. And I hope you’ll honor them with your participation and engagement at “the Summit.”
COVID ‘Complications’
That said, with all the tragedy that COVID has brought to all our lives, it has certainly thrown a real wrench into the process of coming together to listen and learn. And after months of virtual conferencing, zooming and the like, last year’s Summit was a marvelous oasis of contact and reconnection within that year full of tragedy and concern. And now the 2022 Summit will be here before you know it. We know you have a lot on your mind, that the new year is just underway, that travel plans and time commitments are still in flux. That’s why we’re making a commitment to YOU of a “risk-free” registration—one that provides a full refund of your registration fee up to the week before the conference (March 31), as well as hotel cancellations up to 72 hours ahead of your reservation.
But, aside from the practical information, valuable insights, vibrant networking—and yes, world-class entertainment—It’s worth remembering that among all the (other) things that set the NAPA 401(k) Summit apart—unlike every other advisor conference out there—your NAPA 401(k) Summit registration helps support the activities of NAPA—your advocacy, information and education organization—not the bottom line of some corporate media organization or some private equity firm. NAPA not only informs and educates—it literally is your voice with regulatory agencies and legislative bodies both here in the nation’s capital—and across the nation.
Of course, there’s a lot going on, and the months ahead look to be chockful of regulatory and legislative developments to challenge, adapt, absorb and eventually adopt and assimilate. But in addition to that—and to the insights, and information that you might be able to scrap together from some other events—your attendance at the NAPA 401(k) Summit remains a unique investment in your future—and the future of your profession.
Register today at https://napasummit.org
I look forward to seeing you—again—in Tampa.
