Brokerage conferences are often modest close-knit productions. Dominion Lending Centre’s inaugural national sales conference was anything but.
DLC’s convention, held this week in Las Vegas, was an enterprise-level event with 500+ in attendance, 36 exhibitors and 20 industry sponsors. Its size and execution reflected the dynamic and fast-growing organization that DLC has built.
“The Vegas Conference was a huge success,” said DLC president Gary Mauris. “People are reporting that we successfully paired the perfect amount of learning and education with networking and fun.”
Mauris says the conference was designed to “embrace best practices sharing and networking.” With numerous learning sessions and dozens of lender personnel at a myriad of social functions, that goal was well met.
On the learning side, speakers included CIBC star economist Ben Tal, business positioning expert Simon Sinek, and business transformation expert Doug Bolger.
Tal was his typical entertaining and informative self (more on him in a story to follow).
Simon Sinek conveyed that people don’t buy what you sell. They buy why you sell it. Price, service and features are commodities he said, and if you don’t truly believe in why your business is special, customers won’t believe it either.
Doug Bolger stressed the importance of positioning mortgage benefits in terms that actually matter to a specific client. Mortgage “features” are secondary to personalized “benefits,” he said. Moreover, he said if we as individuals can’t clearly convey our value as mortgage professionals, maybe “we’re not valuable.”
On the entertainment side, the locale (Las Vegas) says it all. Between the nightlife, cocktail receptions, the epic Hard Rock Cafe costume party, and pool-side lounging, there was no shortage of fun-time to match the learning opportunities.
DLC’s conference is expected to be bi-annual, with the next venue likely to be tropical.
This year’s event provided attendees with 7-8 CE credits from CAAMP.
The conference was AMAZING. It’s hard to capture it in words. (but I am hoping no one has captured it in photos. :0) The leadership of the head office team was outstanding. (They were the first awake in the morning, and the last to bed at night.) The speakers were unreal & engaging. The seminars and presentations were full of rocketfuel. It was evident in all the details that this company loves and cares for its people, and I can’t WAIT for the next National Conference!
The conference was my first DLC event and, like everything else with our move to Dominion, you exceeded expectations. The conference exemplified professionalism and education, with a dash of good times!
For the more than 25 years I have worked as a mortgage broker, I have tried to be careful and align myself with the best and brightest people, who share my vision and passion. I truly believe I have hit a home run with my move to Dominion.
Your leadership is unmatched in our industry.
Keep up the GREAT work! And Thank you again.
The conference was the perfect balance between work and pleasure. Very Very well organized.
Darick Battaglia
As always, unprecedented value! DLC always finds a way to offer something for everyone. Rave reviews from our entire office. Dress up part at the Hard Rock definitely takes the cake on the fun side. Simon Sinek blew us all away on the business side. Thank you!
I am so proud to be surrounded by the most amazing peers at Dominion Lending Centres. I feel so grateful to have enjoyed our first annual conference together in the perfect harmony of fun, networking and learning. Thank you to all of DLC for being you. Make 2011 your best year all!
This conference was first of all an amazing event, a great balance of learning, networking & fun. It was also an indicator of where DLC is going, while others whine and complain, DLC keeps pushing the envelope of what being a Professional mortgage broker in Canada is. Let the haters hate, we got things to do.
A first-class event put on by a first-class organization. A job well done DLC – you’ve certainly set a new standard in the industry! Fabulous contributions made by all the sponsors as well.
The DLC Conference was a fantastik event. Not only was it filled with great learning opportunities and guest speakers but it showed me the overwhelming amount of positive support DLC has to offer. It is a family and everybody knows your name. I am very proud to be a part of it. Thank you to everyone at DLC who made this event happen! Much success to you all!
DLC has raised the bar – what a great conference – great speakers, great trade show and lender participation and wasn’t that a party….. great time. Thanks all
Thank you DLC. You never fail to amaze me with your energy and excitement. No one can hold a candle. A fantastic event and, I dare to say, the best I have attended. Lots of learning, lots of fun and networking. Thank you to everyone at Head Office and especially to Veronica who put on a great event. Ilona Bronson
The conference was fabulous. I had so much fun and met so many nice people. I love working for DLC. Best company ever!
Again when every one is complaining that the market is in poor shape due to reduced volume Domionion Lending Centres went the other way and put on a first class conference.
There was a great deal of balance between education with the speakers that were brought in and the lenders that participated in the entire event.
It gave us opportunities to meeet up with some of the excelent brokers that have joined DLC over the last couple of years.
Again the support staff headed by Deb Beuk went over the top to make everyone feel as if they were the only person that counted at the event.
I think Gary’s decsion to run the conference every 2nd year rather than every year is great as it gives them the time to implement some of the ideas that they pick up from the agents across the country and the agents the time it takes to perfect what they are implementing.
It was a job well done.
DLC’s 1st National Conference was a huge hit in my eyes. The speakers were amazing and the networking events were so much fun!
I met so many great people from across the country that I can now call friends, and was able to learn so much from my peers.
I’m very proud to be a part of DLC and to see how we are pushing the envelope in every area of the mortgage industry.
What an event! That was better than any other industry event I have ever attended. Great speakers & excellent people made the atmosphere of this event truly amazing. To the entire DLC Team, well done! You keep raising the bar and I LOVE that. It sets an example for all of us to follow.
All I can say is WOW!!
Using “Re/Max” catch phrase … DLC is definitely above the crowd and has proven to be the alternative source to banks in Canada.
Id like to say thank you for all the support and I wish I would of joined DLC sooner.