Accelerate 2024 Agenda

From the opening festivities and inspiring keynotes to deep-dive breakout sessions and networking opportunities, there’s no shortage of things to do and learn at Accelerate! 

 

 

A Track for Everyone

Result-Driven Strategies

 Guidance and discussion on how to tackle your key initiatives around retention, cross-sell, lead generation, and more. 

Market Insights

Explore the trends, topics, and market changes at work in the financial services space so you can future-proof your strategies.

The Total Expert Platform: A Closer Look

Deep dive into the Total Expert platform with how-to sessions, product updates, and insider tips from the Total Expert team. 

Sunday, June 23

All Day | Arrivals
5:00 - 6:00 p.m. | Early Registration
6:00 - 8:00 p.m. | Pre-Conference Training Welcome Dinner | EaTo

Kick off your Accelerate experience at this Minneapolis hotspot, complete with dinner, drinks, and entertainment! Get to know your fellow training participants before you dive into your session on Monday. Walking distance from the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel (“The Depot”).  

Note: Only open to pre-conference training registrants. Learn more about pre-conference training.

Monday, June 24

All Day | Arrivals
8:00 - 9:00 a.m. | Early Registration
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Pre-Conference Training

Back by popular demand, Accelerate 2024 pre-conference training offers two unique tracks, designed to supercharge your skills, knowledge, and strategy to execute on current industry trends and drive greater ROI within the Total Expert platform. 

*Note: Pre-registration required. Learn more about pre-conference training.

1:00 - 5:00 p.m. | Registration
3:30 – 5:30 p.m. | Ask the Experts Session (Optional)

Meet face-to-face with Total Expert team members, including technical account management, engagement, and more. Get your most pressing questions answered! Registration required.

6:00 – 8:00 p.m. | Accelerate Welcome Reception

The match has been struck. The fuse has been lit. And now, it’s time to Ignite Your Future at Accelerate 2024! Connect with your peers and industry leaders from across the country as we kick off the hottest event of the year. 

Tuesday, June 25

7:45 – 8:45 a.m. | Women in FinServ Breakfast

The Women in FinServ breakfast is designed to build a community for women across the financial services industry where they can develop professional knowledge, share career advice, and grow valuable connections leading to meaningful change. Kick off your Accelerate experience with your peers and grow your professional network with the leaders who are marking a difference in our industry!

Note: registration required. Stay tuned for more information.

8:00 – 8:45 a.m. | Ask the Experts Session (Optional)

Meet face-to-face with Total Expert team members, including technical account management, engagement, and more. Get your most pressing questions answered! Registration required.

9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | Keynote: Welcome to Accelerate 2024

Total Expert Founder and CEO Joe Welu will welcome Accelerate 2024 attendees and get everyone fired up for an incredible week by sharing why now is the time to invest in building stronger customer relationships and leveraging data to obtain a competitive advantage. Joe will stoke the fire, but it’s up to every attendee to carry the torch forward! This is your opportunity to learn, network, and exchange strategies for driving growth and loyalty in any market.

9:30 - 10:30 a.m. | Keynote: ALL IN: How High-Performance Teams Lean In and Level Up

Brent will walk through how to establish the principles, methodologies, and frameworks for creating highly effective teams at ANY organization. His approach was shaped by his time serving as a Navy SEAL and although your team's structure and purpose may differ, the blueprint and mindset can be applied anywhere to enact lasting change and set up any organization for long-term success.

Speaker: Brent Gleeson, Founder & CEO of TakingPoint Leadership

10:30 – 11:00 a.m. | Break & Expo Hall 
11:00 – 11:45 a.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • Strategies for Lenders Post-NAR Settlement: Elevating the Originator in Today's Market

    Join industry leaders to explore post-NAR Settlement strategies for lenders. Learn how to enhance loan officers' value to agents, elevate originators to advisors, and maximize referrals through disruption. Gain essential insights to turn today's challenges into tomorrow's opportunity.

    Speakers: Jason Ponsonby, American Pacific Mortgage & Dan Catinella, Total Expert

  • State of the Economy in Financial Services 

    What are the factors driving the financial services industry in 2024? How do those factors determine who is succeeding in the current market and who is losing market share? This session will examine how the market is evolving, what’s driving those changes, and how you can adapt your strategy to remain agile and ensure you don’t get left behind.

    Speakers: Fabio Biasella, EngageFI, Kiah Lau Haslett, Bank Director

  • Slow Down to Speed Up

    In a world inundated with choices and constant distractions, agencies and brokerages often find themselves overwhelmed by the demands of digital transformation. However, this session offers a refreshing perspective: slow down to speed up. Join us for an interactive exploration into purposeful decision-making amidst the whirlwind of change. Through practical strategies and engaging discussions, you'll learn to align business strategies with deliberate actions, effectively navigating the delicate interplay of people, processes, and technology. Embrace change with intent and emerge as a confident navigator of today's complex landscape. 

    Speaker: Chris Cline, Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America  (Big I) 

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. | Keynote: Plated Lunch, Expy Awards, and Product Keynote

It's time to celebrate! Join us as we introduce the winners of our annual customer awards, the Expys! These coveted awards showcase industry trailblazers and the next-level tactics they've put into place at their organizations. We’ll unveil each category winner, recognizing the organizations and individuals who are driving growth via innovative, customer-centric strategies.

1:30 - 2:00 p.m. | Break & Expo Hall 
2:00 – 5:00 p.m. | Ask the Experts Session (Optional)

Meet face-to-face with Total Expert team members, including technical account management, engagement, and more. Get your most pressing questions answered! Registration required.

2:00 - 2:45 p.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • Navigating the Future of Lending: Innovation and Opportunity Creation

    Join this Lending leaders panel for a discussion on the latest insights and innovations, creating efficiencies, enhancing customer experiences, and unlocking new revenue opportunities. Gain strategic foresight to navigate the evolving landscape with confidence. Don't miss this chance to join the strategic conversations that will drive the sector forward into the future.
     
    Speakers: Dan Catinella, Total Expert, Shannon Schmidt, VanDyk Mortgage, Greg Sher, NFM Lending, Kevin Peranio, PRMG
  • 2025 Outlook for Banks and Credit Unions: What to Expect Over the Next Six Months 

    Bank failures, economic and political volatility, and continually shifting customer demands are putting even more pressure on banks and credit unions. How does the rest of 2024 play out for most organizations and what should they be focusing on as they round the corner to 2025?

    Speaker: Jason Henrichs, Alloy Labs & James White, Total Expert 

  • Build with Me: Insurance Workshop 

    Get up to speed quickly with help from the Total Expert training consultants. They’ll show you how to create and deploy dynamic Journeys for your insurance customers and prospects and leverage the Expert Content library to get your message to market faster and ensure that all collateral complies with brand and regulatory requirements.

    Speaker: Luke Wieneke, Total Expert

3:00 - 3:45 p.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • Rapid-Fire Networking

    Connect with your fellow financial service experts in this engaging admin speed-networking session! Pose your most pressing questions, discuss your strategies for utilizing Total Expert, and exchange valuable tips and tricks. By the end of the session, you'll establish new connections and gain fresh ideas to bring back to your organization.
     

    Speakers: Bobbi Jo Dallas, Total Expert

  • Total Expert + Salesforce = Better Together 

    As a Salesforce Partner, Total Expert delivers unmatched value to organizations using Salesforce. With industry-leading, purpose-built technology, the Total Expert for Salesforce App seamlessly integrates last-mile functionality that drives growth while increasing Salesforce user adoption. Join this session to learn how Total Expert can help you get the most out of your Salesforce investment and see the latest improvements to our Salesforce App.

    Speaker: Ahmad Samady, Salesforce, Patrick Hanley, Total Expert

  • A Fireside Chat With Guaranteed Rate:  Their Journey To Transforming Customer Feedback Into Business Growth 

    Join us for a rare, behind-the-curtain look at how Guaranteed Rate successfully implemented digital experiences that are powering growth.  We discuss their objectives, project scope, business outputs, and the integration of AI-driven automation with Birdeye and Total Expert.

    Speakers: Andrew Pohlmann, Guaranteed Rate & Rebecca Colwell, Birdeye

4:00 - 5:00 p.m. | Partner Power Hour 

This high-energy session will give attendees an inside look at the innovative technologies from our top sponsors and technology partners and how they are changing the game for financial institutions. Wrap up day one of Accelerate on a high note before you enjoy your free night in Minneapolis! 

5:30 p.m. | Free Evening

Wednesday, June 26

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. | Breakfast
8:00 – 8:45 a.m. | Ask the Experts Session (Optional)

Meet face-to-face with Total Expert team members, including technical account management, engagement, and more. Get your most pressing questions answered! Registration required.

9:00 – 9:45 a.m. | Keynote: This One Time at Band Camp: Driving Success with Your Story

Speaker: Sue Woodard, STRATMOR Group

10:00 - 10:45 a.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • New Ways to Increase Deposits

    Banks and credit unions are in a battle for deposits that started in 2023 and continues as rates remain at their highest levels in years. What are the best ways to capture and keep new deposits without waking the depositors sleeping in your database?

    Speakers: Neil Stanley, The Core Point & James White, Total Expert 

  • From Theory to Practice: Real-World AI Applications for Lenders

    In the rapidly evolving landscape of mortgage lending, artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming theoretical possibilities into real-world advantages for lenders. This session will delve into practical applications of AI for financial institutions to enhance decision-making, improve efficiency, and drive growth. Attendees will walk away with the knowledge and tools for implementing AI strategies effectively within their organizations.

    Speakers: Shashank Shekhar, InstaMortgage & Joe Welu, Total Expert

  • Next Level Marketing: Journey Automation Best Practices

    This session will dive into advanced strategies and best practices for marketers using the Total Expert platform—providing insights into mastering Journey automation for unparalleled customer engagement and business impact. Learn how to manage your system settings to optimize how contacts flow through Journeys and companion tools like Focused View. We’ll also explore how to create dynamic dashboards that allow you to analyze and assess Journey performance.

    Speaker: Luke Wieneke, Total Expert

10:45 – 11:15 a.m. | Break & Expo Hall 
11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • Leveraging Google to win more local mortgage partners, more referrals, and more business 

    Join Scott Harris, CEO of Experience.com, to discover the critical importance of Customer Experience in achieving online success. In this insightful session, Scott will reveal strategies to supercharge your business and gain a competitive edge in your local markets. Learn how to leverage the right tools and technologies to maximize opportunities and create exceptional customer journeys. Scott will demonstrate practical approaches to enhancing customer interactions, from initial engagement to retention, showcasing real-world examples of businesses that have thrived by prioritizing customer experience. 

    Speaker: Scott Harris, Experience.com 

  • Leading the Charge: Proven Tactics for Driving Technology Adoption

    In the dynamic landscape of modern sales, driving technology adoption is a strategic imperative. This breakout session delves into the challenges of driving adoption, explores iterative engagement strategies, and case studies how sales leaders can help accelerate the path to higher ROI.

    Speaker: Jelaire Grillo, Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC. 

  • Best Ways to Engage

    With all the data and digital tools available to financial institutions, engaging your customers and members isn’t the challenge—it’s knowing how, when, and why to engage them. By leveraging consumer behavior, intent data, and traditional seasonality to properly sequence engagement, you can build dynamic Journeys and nurture campaigns in Total Expert that deliver the next best message, product, or touchpoint.

    Speakers: Marissa Kosin & James White, Total Expert

12:00 – 1:00 p.m. | Lunch
1:00 – 1:45 p.m. | Keynote: The Future of Content in the Total Expert Platform: Maxa Design Center 

Total Expert customers are increasingly focused on providing high-quality personalized content as a key strategy to enable sales organizations and build both personal and organizational brands to become trusted partners in their local markets. It has long been our customers' hope to simplify and streamline, eliminating outside content design providers by bringing these types of capabilities into the Total Expert platform. Total Expert is thrilled to announce an exclusive partnership with Maxa Design Center.  Maxa Designs, under the visionary leadership of CEO James Wong, has developed a best-in-class marketing and design center that combines modern design capabilities with the ability to manage the complex needs of teams that require personalization and customization at a local level, all while maintaining compliance at an enterprise level. Join Joe Welu and James Wong for a fireside chat about the capabilities and potential of this new collaboration - Maxa Design Center.

2:00 – 5:00 p.m. | Ask the Experts Session (Optional)

Meet face-to-face with Total Expert team members, including technical account management, engagement, and more. Get your most pressing questions answered! Registration required.

2:00 - 2:45 p.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • End-User Engagement: Best Practices for Increasing Engagement and Incorporating Activation

    It’s time to hear from your peers. In this session, powerhouse Total Expert admins will share their best practices for increasing adoption and engagement within their organization and creative activation strategies they have tried and tested over the years. If you’re looking for new, innovative ideas on how you can increase adoption in your organization, you will not want to miss this session!

    Speaker: Bobbi Jo Dallas, Total Expert, Sarah Likens, Mann Mortgage, Sam Cress, Benchmark, Kyle Clark, Intercap Lending, Kari Poel, LMCU

  • Your Voice, Our Future: Top Ideas and Real-Time Prioritization

    Be an influencer in this interactive session where we spotlight top-voted ideas from our product ideas community. We'll present these leading suggestions and invite you to vote in real-time on which innovations we should prioritize next. This is your chance to directly influence the future of our product and share how it aligns with your needs and vision. Join us and make your voice heard!

    Speaker: Susu Adriaens, Total Expert

  • Driving Differentiated Financial Services Solutions with AWS and Total Expert

    Financial Services in Cloud — Use AWS Machine Learning to Mine for Intelligent Insights in Your Financial Organization. Better Predict Financial Outcomes Using Artificial Intelligence Powered by AWS.
     
    Discover how AWS and Total Expert are empowering the financial services industry together. Total Expert is built upon AWS, who is the world’s public cloud leader. This is unlocking Total Expert to provide revolutionary data insights and setting Total Expert up to harness the transformative potential of generative AI. 

     

    Speakers: Arun Velliangiri (AWS), Patrick Hanley (Total Expert), and Josh Jabs (Total Expert)

2:45 – 3:15 p.m. | Break & Expo Hall 
3:15 - 4:00 p.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • Lender Workshop: How Smarter Customer Data Enables Loan Officers to Close More Deals

    Empower your loan officers to excel in a competitive market. This session will discuss advanced strategies and practical insights on leveraging intelligent customer data to equip loan officers and their teams with the tools they need to close more loans in any market. You’ll also learn how to connect alerts, Journeys, dashboards, custom fields, campaign builder, and focused views to create more impactful workflows. 

    Speaker: John Chambers Dunn, Total Expert

  • Using Fintechs to Ignite Growth

    Even in a digital-first world, there will always be a place for one-to-one human connections. But financial services organizations can improve their operations and member experiences by identifying and deploying emerging technologies that make their teams more productive, more responsive, and more engaged.
     

    Speakers: Chris Otey, CU 2.0, Kiah Lau Haslett, Bank Director, James White, Patrick Hanley, Total Expert

  • From Sparks to Success: Fueling Growth and Profitability with Dynamic Data

    Production volume is down, and the loan officer population has greatly declined. But life in the mortgage industry goes on, and companies who succeed will forge forward despite treacherous conditions: Effective recruiting and creative, strategic business development techniques will be key. Join InGenius to discover how to ignite your future with data, turning initial sparks of insight into sustained success and profitability. Get ready to fuel your growth and power up your profits by unlocking the full potential of dynamic data.

    Speaker: Varant Herculian, InGenius

6:30 – 11:30 p.m. | Customer Appreciation Party

Join us for our customer appreciation party in the historic Malcolm Yards building. Enjoy delicious food prepared by talented up-and-coming chefs, pour your own drinks at the self-pour tap wall, sign up for some friendly Minnesotan competition in our cornhole tournament sponsored by The Mortgage Collaborative, and dance the night away to music from every genre and era with Pop Rocks.

Thursday, June 27

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. | Breakfast
9:00 – 9:45 a.m. | Breakout Sessions
  • Aligning Sales and Marketing to Maximize Growth

    This session provides discerning insights, sophisticated tools, and strategic methodologies to empower super administrators in fostering a symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing, ensuring optimal organizational cohesion and success.

    Speakers: Dan Miedema, Total Expert, Amber Gmerek, Mutual of Omaha, Kerrie Pennington, Liberty Federal Credit Union, Bucky Houser, Centennial Bank
  • Lender Workshop: Adding New Alerts into Your Customer Intelligence Ecosystem

    How to add new alerts into the existing CI set up and maximize the TE tool sets to optimize workflows. Delve into strategies, case studies, and hands-on practices that leverage customer intelligence to empower lenders in cultivating enriched relationships, nurturing leads, and strategically generating opportunities for sustainable growth.

    Speaker: Marissa Kosin, Total Expert

  • Now to Next: Recent Innovations and Roadmap Insights

    Join us for an insightful session where we explore the latest innovations that have shaped our product landscape. We'll highlight recent releases that are transforming user experiences and driving efficiency. Additionally, we'll provide an overview of our strategic roadmap, giving you a glimpse into the exciting developments on the horizon. Don't miss this opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and discover what's next for our product.

    Speaker: Susu Adriaens, Total Expert

10:00 – 10:55 a.m. | Game Changers Panel & Closing Remarks

Get ready to spark innovation as we hear from top executives in the industry and the game-changing strategies empowering them to stay one step ahead of the competition and drive greater ROI. As the market continues to experience its share of shake-ups, these leaders will share proven methods they rely on every day to overcome any obstacle thrown their way. You'll walk away with a battle card of ideas to put into place in your organization and set up your team for success.

Moderator: Sue Woodard
Panelists:
Shannon Schmidt, VanDyk Mortgage, Steve Majerus, Synergy One Lending, Meg Dunn, LMCU 

11:00 a.m. | Departures

A Track for Everyone

Result-Driven Strategies

 Guidance and discussion on how to tackle your key initiatives around retention, cross-sell, lead generation, and more. 

Market Insights

Explore the trends, topics, and market changes at work in the financial services space so you can future-proof your strategies.

The Total Expert Platform: A Closer Look

Deep dive into the Total Expert platform with how-to sessions, product updates, and insider tips from the Total Expert team.