The Kansas Bankers Association launched their virtual 2020 Annual Conference for Lenders on October 1. KBA Chairman Jonathon Johnson kicked things off with a welcome message, sponsor recognition and introductions, then turned things over to Joe Micallef from Grow UP Sales for his presentation called Are You a Quoting Machine or a Trusted Advisor? Joe shared that as a lender, the job wasn’t simply to quote interest rates but to be a valuable finance partner who helps your clients achieve their goals. Building trust and enhancing your value as a finance professional can help you grow a profitable loan portfolio in a short period of time.

Next up, Dr. Stephen Happel shared his outlook on the economy with his presentation 2020 Election Outcome: Trump vs. Democrats. While the election was still a month away, Dr. Happel discussed the most recent Blue Chip forecasts for 2020 and 2021, and put them in a historical perspective tied to different presidential administrations since WWII.

Our lunch speaker was Cary Sifferath, Senior Director of Global Programs with the U.S. Grains Council, who spoke about global trade, and trade with China. He highlighted what is currently in play and what has yet to come to fruition.

The afternoon began with a series of concurrent breakout sessions. Joe Micallef shared Will You Be My Customer? — Create Proposals That Guarantee Your Customers Will Say Yes. Mike Wear, President of 39 Acres, discussed Loan Portfolio Management Tools and Strategies. Karen Shannon of Ollis Akers Arney presented Building and Sustaining Trust for Lenders. After a brief break, the second round of concurrent sessions began with Joe Karlin of Karlin Consulting and his topic, A Commercial Real Estate Apocalypse? How to Prepare Your Bank for Its (Possible) Arrival, as well as Dr. Bruce Morgan of Professional Bank Services and his topic of Loan Underwriting, Risk Grading, Risk Rating and Risk-based Loan Pricing. Jackie Rowlow from Shazam also shared Creating a Talent Pipeline for Your Community Bank.

Closing out day one was Mike Wear with his keynote, Closing the Experience Gap, in which he explored how to effectively prepare the next generation of bankers for credit risk when, pre-COVID, they had only experienced one of the longest economic expansions in U.S. history. He shared information on leveraging risk modeling and rules-based automation.

The second day began with Dr. Chris Kuehl of Armada Corporate Intelligence discussing The 2021 Economy and Beyond, followed by Joe Karlin of Karlin Consulting sharing his topic of Shifts Impacting Lending — What We Can Do to Prepare.

The conference concluded with Dan Meers, who is KC Wolf, the mascot for the Kansas City Chiefs, sharing Take Off the Mask — Is Your Life Story Worth Telling? Dan shared highs and lows of his 25 year career with the Chiefs, as well as his passionate preoccupation of encouraging others to strive for the best in life and to enjoy every step along the way.