“Welcome to Family Reunion 2022,” Mehran said as he welcomed everyone to the opening sessions of President’s Club and Conference of Champions, which ran through each of the past two weeks in Orlando.
The events were all about family, not just among National Life and our evangelists in the field, but about the agents’ own families, with several children among the more than 500 attendees each week. A couple was even celebrating their honeymoon on the trip.
During one of Mehran’s speeches, a baby squawked in the ballroom and he responded, “That’s wonderful. It’s a celebration of life, one of the things we had taken for granted and have learned to appreciate more because of the pandemic.”
President’s Club celebrated our top Affiliated field partners. The channel had a great deal to celebrate, having had record-smashing 2021. Also celebrated was the career of Pam Blalock, who will retire in July. Three agents: Conor Boyd, Tony Sardis, and Robert Boswell, were awarded Agent Do Good Awards for their work in their communities.
Conference of Champions, the following week, was the reward trip earned by our Independent field partners. On top of celebrating the fact that they have helped us serve more of the underserved than ever, Paula Smith, founder of ValuTeachers and former educator herself was honored for her impact on securing dignified retirement for teachers.
Speaking of teachers, the LifeChanger of the Year grand prize winner was announced at Conference of Champions. Barbara Yarborough of Midland, TX won the $10,000 prize shared with her school. Although pre-pandemic Conferences have had the LifeChanger winners on-stage, Barbara is so dedicated to her students at 88 years young, she declined to miss school to make the trip.
The Independent channel’s Agent Do Good Award winners were also announced during Conference of Champions: Mike Wilk was honored for creating a scholarship program and Bill Le founded a program to deliver essentials to poor people in Vietnam. Each nonprofit was given $2,500 to continue the good.
The sessions for each week included panel discussions, business updates and workshops as well as a live “game show” — hosted by Xan Rouselle in a blazing green blazer — that helped agents share and rate fresh ways to reach more people.
The highlight for many, though, was the powerful keynote address given each week by Chaunté Lowe. Lowe spoke about her journey from seeing FloJo in the Olympics as a poor four-year-old through her own medal-winning Olympic career interrupted by breast cancer, and why she persisted in spite of it.
As the conference and production teams pack up and the families head home, they all have a greater appreciation for the power of our cause and how it’s amplified by our connection.
