As the head of Westcor’s education and training efforts, teaching is my life. My days are spent providing quality and informative knowledge to our title agent partners and their customers. My job is more than just FUN! I often tell people that I’ve got the greatest job on the planet as providing continuing education seminars for our customers around the country literally fills me with joy. There’s nothing better than a room filled with the hardest working folks on the planet, learning about how they can grow their business, protect their customers, keep up with the latest technology and learn about current trends, rules, and regulations.

We kicked off the year by planning for live events around the country as well as attending and participating in local and national conferences. The 2020 calendar was packed full of activities, and we all felt that that the Corona Virus wouldn’t create a disruption or, if it did, not a long-lasting one. It quickly became apparent how wrong we were! Life as we know it changed in what seemed like an instant and in-person education promptly became something that we would look back on with fondness for the time being anyway.

Just because we can’t provide live events doesn’t mean that we are out of the education business. It just means that like title agents and attorneys around the country are doing, we are adapting and stepping away from the “norm.” Although it is much more fun to present live classes where we can get caught up with all of the agents and attorneys who have become our friends and partners over the years, even if states were to allow large gatherings we can’t risk putting these same friends and business partners at risk. Thankfully technology gives us great options that will enable us to continue bringing great content and materials through virtual methods.

Providing web-based education is a little different than giving live classes. In a live class, the instructor can interact with the audience, answer questions as they come up, and adjust the content to fit what the students need. And while webinars and web-based classes might not be exactly the same as in-person events, we try to make them interactive. In fact, most states require that online education mimic a live experience as much as possible by providing attendees the ability to ask questions and to interact with the instructors. So although we might not be able to spend face to face time with our customers, Westcor will still be providing the quality education that we always have.

We have been hard at work, creating great informational programs covering topics such as Phishing Prevention, Economic Updates, Marketing to Real Estate Agents, Claims Prevention, and many more. Additionally, webinars providing CE and CLE credit are in production for those states that allow for webinars as a continuing education method.

And if that doesn’t work, we have partnerships with insurance agent distance education providers that allow our customers in many states to take advantage of our excellent discount program to get their required CE credits.

While education in the time of COVID-19 isn’t what we planned on earlier this year, like others in the industry, we are nothing if not adaptable. We won’t let this disruption prevent us from bringing timely and valuable courses to our title agent and attorney partners. But we will never stop looking forward to the day when we can be together again. We will have a grand celebration when we can gather in a meeting room or a hotel ballroom, share stories, and enjoy the camaraderie that is the best part of being a provider of education.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Written by: Bettina Arthur – National Education and Training Manager