The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) Joe Vincent Management Seminar is a must-attend event for Texas agency personnel for the last 50+ years. The meeting is usually held at the end of January in Austin, Texas. This year the 58th annual meeting will be virtual.

The Association has again put together a great lineup of speakers. The benefit to you is they have opened up registration for the meeting to everyone. I have been a presenter at this event many times over the years.

You can find details about the event and register here. You will need to register for each session you wish to attend.

Three great keynote sessions will be presented. I’ve included a short description of each below.

Many pieces go into creating a consistent brand impression. You want and need your agency to get noticed in a noisy world.

I have written previously about many tools you can use to create engaging images. Do it yourself platforms like Canva and Visme allow you to create compelling images easily. However, you often don’t have the expertise or want to spend the time to create a great graphic.

There are some options. Some websites provide you with easy, quick, and inexpensive access to people who have the time and the expertise to create the marketing material you need to stand out.

I published 48 TechTips in 2020. I realize that with the continued flood of emails, some of these TechTips may have gotten sent to a “read later” folder and were forgotten. Others may have scanned the issue but didn’t have time to do the research to see if the tip would help.

I have never promised that every issue of TechTips will be earth-shattering and life-changing. I hope that there will be a few nuggets over the year that significantly impact productivity and effectiveness for you individually and for your organization.

In this issue, I am highlighting my top 10 TechTips for 2020.

This year has shown that disasters take many different forms and can happen virtually anywhere, anytime. From wildfires in the West to hurricanes in the Southeast to storms with flooding just about anywhere, making sure you’re prepared for any situation is essential.

Arm Your Smartphone with These Disaster Recovery Apps

Your smartphone will likely become a primary tool in the event of an expected or unexpected situation. Adding apps to your phone that could help any situation is a crucial step to take today.

Here are a few suggestions for apps you can add that could help in an emergency.

Weather

NOAA Now – The latest information on severe weather in your area, including quick status updates about tropical systems or weather watches. From hurricanes to tornadoes, this app covers it all.

Dark Sky – Available for iOS phones only. This app provides location-specific weather information, including estimates for when the rain will start and stop over the next hour. Dark Sky tends to be the app I use most often for local weather information.

MyRadar – Provides a national view of weather using weather radar from multiple locations. This app helps get an idea of what weather might be coming over the next hours or days.

First Aid

Red Cross First Aid – Information on how to handle the most common first aid situations. The app includes videos, interactive quizzes, and simple step-by-step advice. Reviewing the information in this app could provide life-saving help.

Disaster Recovery

FEMA – Preparedness information for different types of disasters, an interactive checklist for emergency kits, a section to plan emergency meeting locations, and go to sleep go to sleep details on how to stay safe and recover after a disaster.

Thanks to Agility Recovery for inspiration for this post. To access additional information and resources from Agility Recovery, click here.

What apps do you have on your smartphone that has helped you in an emergency? Share in the comments below.

I published an article in November 2018 describing a simple service that agencies could use to engage with their customers via text messaging. I have received a few questions regarding a comparable service because SimplTxt is no longer available.

While I have not done extensive research comparing various platforms, it appears that Zipwhip.com is an alternative worthy of consideration.

My first option would be to use whatever text messaging services are available in your agency management system platform. My reason is simple. It probably will be much easier to document those text messages in the client file.

Yet, if you don’t want to use that capability or your management system platform doesn’t offer that capability, then Zipwhip might be an option.