Robelynn H. Abadie, RFC, CAP

Main Platform - Foundation Forum

Robelynn H. Abadie, RFC, CAP, is a 24-year MDRT member with four Court of the Table and 11 Top of the Table qualifications. She is an Excalibur Knight of the MDRT Foundation and served as MDRT Foundation President in 2010. She is the founder and owner of Abadie Financial Services, an insurance and financial services agency specializing in corporate employee benefit plans. In 2003, she served as president of Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS), and in 2008, she served as president of the Association of Health Insurance Advisors (AHIA).

Inspiring and Revitalizing Communities Through MDRT Foundation Grants

Help those in need. Always reach out to lend a hand. Build a life of respect. Elevate your standing amongst your neighbors, colleagues and clients. You can be an inspiration and an everyday hero in helping to revitalize your community through grants from the MDRT Foundation. Set your passion in motion and learn how Abadie’s grant experience provided relief and aid to neighboring communities during the Great Flood of 2016.

Lisa Barram

Main Platform

Lisa Barram is a three-year MDRT member with three Top of the Table qualifications. She is the president of Retirement Prosperity Group & Prosperity Advisers and the creator of the Retirement Prosperity Roadmap, a holistic plan that addresses the top seven retirement risks. Barram delivers educational events to hundreds of people each month

5 Things that Consistently Attract High-Net-Worth Clients

Barram will talk about how she brought on USD 54 million of new client assets last year with an average client net worth of USD 2 million. She will share the five things that attract high-net-worth clients and retain them.

David C. Blake

Main Platform

David C. Blake is a 19-year MDRT member with two COurt of the Table and 10 Top of the Table qualifications. He is the founder and president of the InsMed Insurance Agency, an independent insurance organization dedicated to identifying, introducing and administering disability insurance offerings to large populations of employed health care professionals.

The Production Line Client Acquisition and Development Model

During the past 30 years, Blake developed a masterful client acquisition and development system based on successful experiences first recognized during the 20th century's Industrial Revolution. His system maximizes the efficiencies and specialization of assembly lines. Blake will review the components of his “assembly line,” the benefits of building a team dedicated to each specific function of his chosen process, and how these components result in a scalable and replicable business model that’s creating hundreds of new clients every year.

Peter Jason Byrne

Main Platform

Peter Jason Byrne, of Coorparoo, Queensland, Australia, is an 11-year MDRT member with four Court of the Table and four Top of The Table honors. Byrne leads the Mr Insurance team and has two decades’ experience finding the right insurance solutions for families and their businesses. He was recognised as one of the top three financial advisors in Australia by the Association of Financial Advisers for 2014 and 2015.

Create a Strong Foundation with a Formal Financial Philosophy

One of the best ways to create a strong foundation for your practice is to institute a formal financial philosophy that outlines what you expect your advisors to cover in client meetings. This could include how you recommend your employees address life insurance, premiums strategies or critical illness coverage. Having these standards in print holds your employees accountable while also encouraging them to confidently express their professional opinions. With just a few written standards in place, you can ensure quality in all areas of your practice and set the tone for client expectations as well.

Curtis V. Cloke, LUTCF, RICP

Main Platform - Foundation Forum

Curtis V. Cloke, LUTCF, RICP, is 20-year MDRT member with two Court of the Table and 12 Top of the Table qualifications. He is also a member of NAIFA, Forum 400, SFSP and many other industry associations. He speaks professionally and educates internationally on retirement and practice management. In addition to his private practice of 31 years, Cloke serves as an adjunct instructor for The American College.

MDRT Foundation Making Dreams Come True

After listening to MDRT Foundation speaker Catlin Crommett in 2013, Cloke could hardly wait to share his vision of accepting the challenge to start a DreamCatchers Club in his hometown of Burlington, Iowa. Cloke invited Crommett to come to his hometown and meet the leaders who would make it happen. Cloke will share the story of his journey working with DreamCatchers and the MDRT Foundation to create a multi-generational impact while being inspired to help his hometown and beyond.

John J. Demboski, CFP

Main Platform

John J. Demboski, CFP, is a 14-year MDRT member with two Court of the Table and six Top of the Table honors. His coaching practice in Santa Barbara, California, invests in small-business entrepreneurs. His team of financial professionals are equipped to rip through investment and insurance distractions people face as they aspire to reach their life potential.

Habit Hacks

Technology is everywhere, and it’s the perfect tool to support the creation of positive habits. We are already programed to look at our phone when we get alerts, so let’s leverage this already subconscious action into something that will help us create a more epic version of ourselves.

Rickson Joel D’Souza

Main Platform

Rickson Joel D’Souza is a 15-year MDRT member with one Court of the Table and 11 Top of the Table qualifications from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who specializes in life insurance for high-net-worth individuals. Over the past 12 years, he has focused on financial planning and sourcing large-value life insurance policies for entrepreneurs and high-income executives.

How Identifying and Working With Right-Fit Clients Transformed My Business

An increasing number of professionals today are striving for better work-life balance. More and more, people are drawn to the ”work less, earn more” concept. One surefire way to get there is to identify and work with right-fit clients. D’Souza will share how pinning his right-fit client down to every detail has transformed the way he does business, helped him strategically shift to a four-day work week and achieve bigger results with a three-person team than he did with a 40-agent team.

Tristan Karl Robert Hartey

Main Platform

Tristan Karl Robert Hartey is a five-year MDRT member with three Court of the Table and two Top of the Table qualifications. Hartey entered financial services in 2011 and became qualified as an advisor in 2013. Since then, he has been managing director at Hartey Wealth Management, which he set up with his father in 2013. Hartey has spearheaded the expansion of the company into a new location along with creating a large network of collaborative partnerships with multiple businesses.

Networking Your Way to Top of the Table as a Millennial

Hartey briefly covers the journey he has taken as a second-generation MDRT member working in a family business and how his route through networking differs from how his father qualified through seminars. Hartey then shares three key pieces of advice for effective targeted networking and how partnerships are created.

Steven A. Plewes, CLU, ChFC

Main Platform

Steven A. Plewes, CLU, ChFC, is a 32-year MDRT member with four Court of the Table and 10 Top of the Table honors who has spoken at numerous MDRT meetings. He has served on many MDRT committees, including as the Divisional Vice President of the Member Resources-Practice Management Division in 2017. Plewes now brings his vast experience, wisdom and unique insights to his work as a certified professional coach, helping people achieve their personal and professional goals.

The High Altitude View

Many advisors repeatedly get sucked into the price, performance and product discussion with their clients and become defensive and reactive. Learn to elevate the conversation with your clients to take the highest altitude view of their situation and refocus the discussion on their highest-level goals. When you focus on your client’s why, you will discover your why.

Jason L Smith

Main Platform - Foundation Forum

Jason L Smith is a 14-year MDRT member with one Court of the Table and 13 Top of the Table honors. A nationally-acclaimed speaker, financial planner, author, coach and entrepreneur, Smith is the founder of a holistic financial services practice; a financial training, coaching and IP development organization; and two national financial services organizations. His most recent book, “The Bucket Plan,” is a bestseller with praise from national media. Smith was named Top 40 under 40 by InvestmentNews magazine in 2015. His mission is to simplify financial planning for one billion people worldwide.

Leveraging the Strength of our MDRT Foundation

Smith shares the benefits and ease in applying for MDRT Foundation grants. Through a close friend, Smith learned about the non-profit organization REST (Real Escape from the Sex Trade), whose purpose was to offer pathways to freedom, safety and hope for individuals who have personally experienced the sex trade. He was truly swept up in his friend’s passion for what she and the organization accomplish, and he realized that he had the ability through the MDRT Foundation to help them apply for a grant. Smith shares how it was truly effortless to leverage this opportunity.

Kevin Smith, Dip PFS

Main Platform

Kevin Smith, Dip PFS, is an 18-year MDRT member with 14 Top of the Table qualifications and the managing director of Margetts Wealth Management Ltd, based in Birmingham, U.K. He provides advice to the small-to-medium business owner sector and has established a strong base of professional clients by implementing considerable added value solutions. He has learned what really matters to people and created a number of propositions which enable him to make a real difference, creating abundance of referrals.

Life’s a Journey, Not a Destination – Enjoy the Ride!

Smith will show how providing added value and a proven holistic service engages and educates high-net-worth clients to enjoy the fruits of their financial planning. Blend wealth, health and lifestyle for a more fulfilled happy client. The results: a more focused purpose for sound financial planning and a happier client experience.

Benjamin Hardy

Main Platform

Benjamin Hardy has been studying psychology, neuroscience, business, spirituality and marketing for the past 10 years. He recently completed his Ph.D. in organizational psychology and his writing has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Psychology Today, CNBC, Big Think and iHeart Media. He has grown his email list to nearly 400,000 followers in the past three years without any paid advertising. He is the author of the bestselling book “Willpower Doesn’t Work.”

Personality Isn’t Permanent

Hardy explains the science behind how people get stuck living unhealthy patterns which were established by how they've defined their past. The main reasons for this are their personal narrative, traumatic experiences and current focus. Hardy explains how to increase your imagination and commitment, change your memories and redirect your focus to achieve your desired future.

Kevin Harrington

Main Platform

Kevin Harrington has been a successful entrepreneur for the last 40 years. He is an “original shark” on the Emmy-winning TV show “Shark Tank.” He is the inventor of the infomercial, cofounder of the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA) and cofounder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). Harrington has launched more than 20 businesses that have grown to $100 million in sales each, and has launched more than 500 products that have generated more than $5 billion in sales worldwide.

Personal Branding

In the increasingly competitive business world, what sets you apart from your competition? How do you stand out in a sea of seemingly endless options in the new economy? Harrington didn’t become the go-to guy of product-launching and electronic retailing by chance; he took a calculated series of actions that anyone can follow to position themselves as the authority in their area of expertise. In this energizing program, Harrington shows you how you can go from “being great at what you do” to becoming a key person of influence in your industry. He will walk you through the steps he has used to help thousands of people shape their personal brand, break out of the crowd, and solidify their position as respected leaders of their fields.

Jason Hewlwett

Main Platform

Jason Hewlett delivers incredible talks that combine authenticity, humor, music and impersonations with practical business principles applicable for leadership, entrepreneurship and cultural impact. One of the youngest ever to be inducted into the prestigious Council of Peers Award for Excellence Speaker Hall of Fame, he has delivered frontline motivation and management presentations for some of the largest corporate events in the world.

Sally Hogshead

Main Platform

Drawing upon her branding expertise, Sally Hogshead created a method to identify how people are able to captivate their listeners. After researching more than 1 million professionals, Hogshead developed an algorithm that measures how others perceive you and can pinpoint your most valuable differentiating traits. The science of fascination is based on Hogshead’s decade of research with dozens of Fortune 500 teams, hundreds of small businesses and more than a thousand C-level executives.

What the World’s Most Successful Financial Advisors Do Differently

What separates certain professionals from the rest of the pack? Is it skill or knowledge? Expertise or seniority? Or is it simply charisma? Turns out, it’s none of the above. Hogshead discovered that high-performers earn advocates and become irreplaceable by communicating differently. It’s not enough to be the best if nobody knows you’re there. But when you apply your most authentic and naturally fascinating traits, the world sees you at your best and you're recognized for your accomplishments. Discover the top traits of high-performing personal brands, learn the pitfalls to avoid and identify your top unique personality advantages.

Jesse Itzler

Main Platform

Jesse Itzler only eats fruit until noon, loves Run-DMC and enjoys living life "out of the box." In fact, he doesn't even have a box. The author of the New York Times bestseller “Living with a Seal,” Itzler co-founded Marquis Jet, the world's largest private jet card company. He then partnered with Zico coconut water, which he and his partner sold to Coca-Cola. He's a former rapper on MTV and wrote and performed the NBA's Emmy Award-winning "I Love This Game" music campaign and the popular New York Knicks anthem "Go NY Go."

Build Your Life Resume

Always living his life outside the box, Itzler was a rapper on MTV, co-founded the world's largest prepaid jet card company, helped pioneer the coconut water craze, ran a 100-mile race and has spent timing living with a group of monks and a Navy SEAL. Since few are ready to take on these challenges themselves, learn the valuable life lessons from Itzler's experiences and how you can build your own life resume.

Dr. Daniel Kraft

Main Platform

Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard-trained physician-scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and innovator. With more than 25 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research and healthcare innovation, Kraft has served as faculty chair for medicine at Singularity University since its inception in 2008, and is the founder and chair of Exponential Medicine, a program that explores convergent, rapidly developing technologies and their potential in biomedicine and health care.

The Future of Health and Medicine: Where Can Technology Take Us?

From the perspective of a leading physician, scientist, inventor and innovator, this presentation examines rapidly emerging, game-changing and convergent technology trends and how they will be leveraged to change the face of health care in the next decade. Kraft offers a fast-paced look at the next few years of innovations in medicine, powered by new tools, tests and apps that bring diagnostic information right to the patient's bedside. A deep dive into where emergent fields such as low-cost personal genomics, the digitization of health records, molecular imaging, wearable devices, robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and regenerative medicine are transforming health care, and have the potential to enable clinicians, empower patients, and deliver better care and outcomes at lower cost.

Shasta Nelson

Main Platform

Shasta Nelson, a friendship expert, is a leading voice on creating healthy relationships and eradicating the growing loneliness in our world. As a professional speaker and trainer for organizations and companies who want their people to be more engaged and connected, she brings together the best psychology and medical science in a groundbreaking way to teach how to build intentional relationships..

The Business of Relationships: Building the Friendships at Work that Matter

Meaningful friendships at work are effective solutions for employee retention, increased engagement, customer service and increased revenue. Employees who have friendships at work — where they spend more time than any other place — show an increase in good health and overall happiness in all aspects of their lives. But how do we actually develop the friendships that matter in an appropriate way? Nelson looks at the latest research on how relationships at work impact us and shares the three requirements of all healthy relationships so that our joy increases with our profits.

Freddie Ravel

Main Platform

Freddie Ravel is an internationally acclaimed keynote maestro who blends his infectious passions for business breakthroughs and music to unlock the minds, hearts and potential of audiences around the world. Backed by collaborative successes with Earth, Wind and Fire, Madonna, Prince, Sergio Mendes, the Boston Pops and Carlos Santana, Ravel is the founder of The Rhythm of Success, a peak performance program to enhance leadership, innovation and collaboration for entrepreneurs and major corporations.

In Tune with Freddie Ravel: Amplify Your Success Through the Power of Music

“InTUNE" with Freddie Ravel is a multimedia keynote concert experience designed to inspire you to discover your untapped potential by revealing what music is to what business does. Ravel drives home the message that when we truly embrace teamwork and inclusion, our collective melodies, harmonies, and rhythms achieve the SCORE — a state of optimized performance where human potential is raised and diversity drives organizations to gain the distinct advantage needed in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace.

Steve Rizzo

Main Platform

Steve Rizzo is the attitude adjuster. You can’t attend one of his seminars or read his books and leave with the same attitude. He’s a personal development expert, comedian, motivational speaker and author. His popular PBS special brought him into millions of homes. He’s been inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed upon fewer than 200 speakers worldwide since 1977. He was chosen as a Showtime Comedy All-Star and shared the stage with Jerry Seinfeld, Rodney Dangerfield, Eddie Murphy and many more giants of comedy.

Motivate This

How motivated are you on any given day? One of the biggest challenges we face today, both professionally and personally, is staying motivated and enthusiastic for more than just a few days. This one-of-a-kind presentation introduces common sense success strategies that will take you to a better place in business and in life. We go through the course of our lives and allow circumstances and people to suck the energy right out of us. With the right strategies, we can bounce back, take control and forge ahead. Rizzo’s distinctive brand of humor, insightful stories and mind-altering strategies will elevate your overall degree of motivation, regardless of your circumstances. It’s an indispensable tool for maximizing your success and happiness.

Julian Treasure

Main Platform

Julian Treasure is an author and international speaker on sound and communication. His five TED talks have been viewed more than 80 million times and his book “How To Be Heard” won both Audie and SOVAS awards for best business audiobook. His company The Sound Agency has been helping major global brands to improve their sound since 2003.

Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening

Sound and communication expert Treasure explores the skills of conscious listening and effective speaking, exploring the impact and processes of both. Combining transformative perspectives and potent yet easy to remember exercises, this session will give you all the tools you need to be a great listener, and a brilliant, persuasive speaker.