TitleBytes News & Happenings

ALTA Springboard 2017

ALTA Springboard— the new name for what was formerly ALTA Business Strategies. Springboard , this year in Fort Worth, Texas, offered a new interactive approach, sharing ideas, and collaborating with attendees from across the nation. ALTA CEO Michelle Korsmo opened Springboard by quoting Ms. Frizzle from the educational cartoon “The Magic School Bus” where viewers were encouraged to “take chances, make mistakes, get messy.” Her message was to embrace and learn from failure, using it as a SPRINGBOARD to success.

The new event format “Ideas Festival” was exciting and very interactive. Various facets of a topic were discussed in breakout groups lead by subject matter experts with the assistance of a group leader at each table. The best ideas of each group were pushed up to the subject matter experts and presented from the stage to all attendees. Not only were you able to gather ideas from your own group, but also learn about the other aspects of the topics that were discussed. All this was going on in the same room at the same time, NOT your typical classroom conference environment. (Editor’s note: sounds noisy ?)

Introduced as a peer leaning hub, the Brain Dating module was a networking and learning tool rolled into one. You set appointments and meet with individual with subject matter knowledge of interest to you. Topics ranged from “How to be a transformational leader” to “How to use a CRM platform” to “How to jump start your sales with Realtors” to getting the most out of your ALTA membership. “Brain Dates” was a 20 to 30-minute conversation with someone, title industry professional or vendor specialist who has been there and done that and lived to tell you about it.

Ft Worth is a wonderful, interesting city; a mix of old, new and the wild, wild west. From armadillo races to a cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stock Yard with real Texas longhorns. When you think about it, title insurance isn’t so very different from a cattle drive… (there is a chart to prove it)

Texas is a great place to eat! The best steak, jalapeno-bacon mac and cheese, banana bread pudding and oddly, the best croutons on a salad that I have ever had. The fajitas and margaritas were pretty darn good too.