COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT ARE KEY
By : Doug Smart
The first KAIA Presidential installation I attended was in 1998 . As I recall , we installed Greg Heinze of Luray as president that year , and I remember thinking what an honor that was for him . There were several hundred agents present and most of his office staff and family , and it was a great event . Fast forward to this year , and our installation was a 45-minute zoom call . What a different world we live in today versus then .
I am extremely honored to serve as your next association president . I want to thank Big I CEO Bob Rusbuldt for taking time out of his busy schedule and honoring us by installing officers ’ installation . I also want to thank past-president Kristy Wilson for leading us all through what may have been the most challenging and longest term ever served by a KAIA president . Thanks to Kristy ’ s positive attitude and patient leadership , we not only survived 2020 but are , in my opinion , a stronger organization despite the hardships . The challenges that we faced as an organization have taught us all that doing things the same “ old way ” is not the “ only way ” and probably not the “ best way .”
One of the biggest challenges we face as an organization has been due to many agents ’ geographical distance to our Topeka office . How do we provide the services needed to agents in St . Francis , Scott City , Hugoton , etc .? How can we expect them to get involved as agents when it takes most of a day driving each way to attend a meeting . Who would have thought that a health pandemic
would lead us to the solution to this problem ? Thanks to programs such as Zoom and Google Meet , we can all attend every committee meeting , board meeting , or continuing education class from our desk at the office or even from our lazy boy at home ! There were over 30 hours of continuing education hours available from KAIA in March alone , and you never have to leave your office . Congratulation to the KAIA staff for jumping on this new [ to us ] technology and making it all available to us agents .
I am also very excited that this new technology opens up the opportunity for more agents throughout the whole state to get more involved in our association . Almost all committee meetings are held via Zoom , so anyone anywhere can become active in the association regardless of their location . If you have any interest , please contact Dave Hulcher at the KAIA office , and we will find a home for your energy ! I can ’ t explain how valuable it is to get involved at his level . The contacts you make , be it , other agents you mentor with or company representatives that lead you to new contracts , are priceless .
I am also very excited about the Ambassador ’ s Program that our association leader Dave Hulcher has set up for our staff in the Topeka office . Dave has assigned one staff person in the office to each agency to serve as an ambassador to that agency . That staff member will be in touch every few months to keep you up to date on what is happening in Topeka and make sure you are aware of all
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