When It’s No Longer Business As Usual

We interviewed National Alliance CEO William J. Hold about how the company has adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic and what insurance professionals can expect from distance-learning.

Mitch Dunford:The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way educational organizations can provide the learning solutions our industry needs. Can you give us a summary of all of the online options currently available for National Alliance participants? William Hold:We have so many online options available right now. Participants can take a selfguided, self-paced course that includes online access to course content, including educational videos. All self-guided online courses have structured learning objectives for participants to work through at their own pace. Quizzes and interactivity are built into the self-paced courses so participants can take either a designation exam or review exam for CE credit. We also developed a distancelearning solution because we know our participants really enjoy classroom experiences and being able to network with peers and faculty. We love and cherish our faculty! Through our online instructor-led courses, faculty provide participants with the same practical education, claims examples, policy language, and endorsement issues, just like they do in the classroom. Online instructor-led courses are live sessions done via webinar. Instructors will often switch between the material in the course notebook and descriptions of their own realworld examples. Many will point out various online resources where participants can find information in real-time. This experience allows the participant the opportunity to interact with faculty, which is great. We’re also experimenting with chat features to encourage interaction, so participants can ask questions and get answers in real-time. You can raise your hand via chat and get called on. Mitch Dunford:Are all National Alliance designation programs available in both self-paced and instructor-led formats? William Hold:That’s correct. Our newest instructor-led offering is our Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designation program. Before, the only option for CISRs was the self-guided, self-study approach. But now we’re experimenting and expanding the CISR schedule with live faculty. Some courses are broken up and others can be completed in one day. Mitch Dunford:The National Alliance cancelled the Orlando MEGA Seminar in June due to the pandemic. Is the MEGA

Seminar also available online? And, can you describe what participants may expect with the online MEGA Seminar? William Hold:The way the online MEGA came about is one of my favorite stories. About five years ago, two board members (Greg Massey and Brad Bornemann) asked us why weren’t doing the MEGA online. They thought the program quality was great but were busy and couldn’t travel. They wanted an online option. They pushed and pushed until we launched an online MEGA as a pilot to see what people thought. That was about two years ago. The pilot exploded and is now the largest program in the history of The National Alliance. The online MEGA is very similar to a classroom MEGA. There are multiple four-hour topics, and participants can choose which they want to attend. The online MEGA is spread over the course of a year, so participants don’t have to worry if they miss a topic. MEGA registrants have 12 months to complete 16 hours of continuing education for CIC, CRM, or CPRM designations. CISRs and CSRMs have 12 months to earn two years’ worth of designation update credit. Personally, this is how I earn my update. I love the fact that Greg and Brad pushed us to create the online MEGA. It’s helped me tremendously by allowing me to pick and choose different topics, hear different faculty members and perspectives, and also earn my update around my schedule. Mitch Dunford:How many of our participants have signed up for the online MEGA this year? William Hold:Over 700 participants are currently registered. Mitch Dunford:A new subscription membership was released this year. Tell us about the new pricing options and where someone can learn more about it. William Hold: For the past several months, we’ve been discussing the idea of offering corporate clients the option to pay one fee to gain 12 months of unlimited access to our courses. A learning solution like that would provide them with huge cost savings, especially if insurance professionals want to complete more than one program a year. With a subscription membership, the process to earn a designation is streamlined to the participant’s needs. Subscribers pay a onetime annual fee and work at their own pace to earn any of the designations. We developed two subscription levels to fit any budget. We think the subscription membership removes the fear of failure for a lot of our participants. It’s a no-brainer decision. Mitch Dunford:Where can we learn more about all The National Alliance’s online offerings? William Hold:The website at scic.com is going to be the best place. On our distance learning page (http:// co.scic.com/distancelearning/), you can see all the online options available as well as the subscription pricing options. To keep our community safe and healthy, all classroom programs have been postponed until June 1st.

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing how the world operates. As with crises like severe weather events, or simple everyday disruptions like car accidents, the insurance industry consistently takes a leadership role in our country and communities. We’ve always responded with innovation, imagination, and integrity, and in our current crisis, when our clients and colleagues need us the most, we’re staying stronger and more united than ever. Stay safe. Keep learning. n