“In our office we use the NASBP Virtual Seminars as training sessions with our younger team members who are still learning the business,” said Maureen O’Connell (pictured left), Western Regional Director—Surety, Gallagher Construction in San Francisco. “The Seminars expand their knowledge of surety and how our business helps support our clients in achieving their business goals.”
John R. Sanders (pictured right), Head of Middle Market Contract Surety—West, Zurich North America in Overland Park, KS, said the NASBP Virtual Seminars helped his company diversify its training program. “Our underwriting community at Zurich had requested we look for ways to expand their educational opportunities,” he said, adding, “We have found the NASBP Virtual Seminar Subscription Series [to be] one of the ways to easily deliver discussions on the current topics of our industry in a cost-effective manner.”
"You could say by subscribing, producers immediately expand their network of industry specialists because included with the subscription is the immense archive of the recordings of more than 200 seminars, each addressed by an expert or experts,” O’Connell said.
NASBP Virtual Seminars are about surety industry education, sure. But they are also about something that may not be so obvious: enhancing relationships between surety professionals and their clients. Surety professionals can offer the NASBP Virtual Seminars to clients to help develop stronger personal connections with their clients.
In fact, NASBP members can purchase a gift of individual sessions for clients at the member price. It’s a way to connect with clients by offering them a free informative NASBP Virtual Seminar and a chance for NASBP bond producers to demonstrate their industry knowledge and resources.
Kat Shamapande, NASBP’s Director of Professional Development, who oversees the NASBP Virtual Seminars program, said the seminars help NASBP members position themselves as go-to educational resources for clients and prospects. “You’re giving a gift of knowledge and have another way you can continue to establish yourself as an expert—someone who knows the answers and knows where to find the valuable information your clients need,” Shamapande said. “Many members have told me it helps build a stronger relationship between client and bond producer; clients know to reach out to you when questions arise.”
O’Connell agreed, stating, “NASBP members can enhance their stewardship of and relationship with their clients. They can demonstrate to clients that they have access to a unique resource.”
“Some invite clients to their office to listen to the Virtual Seminars with the agency staff and then engage in a discussion afterward, answering questions the client may have about the topic addressed during the seminar, such as trends in risk management, surety bonding, and insurance,” said O’Connell.
Matthew K. Cashion, Jr. (pictured left), Secretary-Treasurer of The Cashion Company, Inc. of Little Rock, AR, has done just that. He said he benefited from hosting customers and prospective customers for a NASBP Virtual Seminar session.
“NASBP’s Virtual Seminars allow our agency to bring clients and prospects together for cutting-edge information,” Cashion said. “The very timely drone seminar saw our office full of participants with discussions lasting an hour after the presentation concluded.”
“Our annual subscription allows us to strengthen and deepen our relationships with our contractor clients,” he added.
National-level speakers—ranging from attorneys, accountants, and surety professionals to management gurus—deliver one-hour presentations about two times per month on a broad array of topics. Some of the topics are niche interests like bonding for native tribes and tribal entities, surety in the oil and gas industry, and marijuana and surety bonds. Other topics apply across the surety and construction contracting worlds, such as captive insurance bonding—one of the most popular recent sessions—or “Killer Construction Contract Clauses.” In addition, the NASBP Virtual Seminars include general management subjects such as “Learn How to Read People Like an FBI Hostage Negotiator and Corporate Fixer.”
Participants can access surety-focused education when they need it, using any device connected to the internet with a speaker. They can take part in live sessions that include questions and answers with the presenter or they can watch recorded sessions on-demand.
Sessions can be purchased individually or with an annual subscription. With a subscription, NASBP members not only get individual sessions at a deep discount, but also they gain access to more than 200 archived sessions. See titles of 2019 audio recordings from the Virtual Seminars held last year.
NASBP Virtual Seminar Prices:
• $89 for individual Virtual Seminars for members and $179 for non-members.
• $995 for an annual subscription (roughly 22 per year) for NASBP members only.
• Discounts are available for registering additional individuals.
• NASBP members can also buy a gift of individual sessions for clients at the member price. (For more information contact
prodev@nasbp.org.)
For access to Virtual Seminars and details about subscriptions, go to the
NASBP Surety Learn educational platform.
