Save the date: There’s a new focus on tap for the Financial and Insurance Conference Planners Education Forum, June 20 to 22 at the St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach, Dana Point, Calif.

During the past several years, the forum has morphed from an event geared to junior planners to an intensive educational experience with content relevant to both novice and senior planners. This year’s program will feature 10 to 12 hands-on workshops that are all related to a central theme of presentation skills. “As planners we are always presenting ourselves, our ideas, and our strategies,” says FICP Vice President, Education, Kim Boriin, CMP, senior event marketing specialist, Guardian Investor Services LLC, N.Y, New York. He explains that presentation skills can encompass everything from discussing a meeting with corporate execs to marketing registration materials to setting up a banquet with hotel convention services managers.

Specific breakout topics will include public-speaking skills, effective marketing (of both meetings and individuals), communications best practices, PowerPoint excellence, and a panel of CSMs on how to orchestrate a successful banquet.

In the future, says Boriin, forum themes might include negotiation skills, green meetings, and branding.

The intimate size of the forum, capped at 130 attendees with a 1 to 1.3 planner/supplier ratio, lends itself to networking and lots of interaction. It is open to both FICP members and nonmember planners. Online registration will be available in early April. For more information, click here.