ANAND GOEL

PRESIDENT - 2007

Good Morning Friends, Warm and Hearty Welcome from LIRT to all participants of 20th Annual Convention, “Widen the Horizon & go for it”, It is of great pride to welcome each one of you at this lovely land Goa.We feel Uppermost in our mind the importance of the Theme “Widen the Horizon & go for it”. All our speakers will enlighten us and sharpen our knowledge to wide our visions.

I take this opportunity to welcome all the international guests to this glorious motherland of mine.

Master salesperson, Past President of the Professional Speakers Association of Europe, terrific Motivator from Manchester  Brendan Power will exhort us to uncover our potential and exploit it to the fullest for widening our business horizon.

Horizon is an apparent meeting place of the earth and the sky.

Super salesman Terry Halloran from UK will unfold his magic to widen the horizon in the field of Insurance by using innovative methods.

William Lane will take us from our present self to our real worth with Objections. He takes us on ride to his Clinic of Objections.

I now welcome our eminent speakers from other fields for educating us to know ourselves. Mr. Hiren Vakil an eminent speaker on Time Management and Attitude. By changing the attitude and managing the time how we can achieve the heights in our professional carrier.  Mr. Arnav Pandya M.B.A., C.F.P., from Economic Times will help us to know ourselves, for ourselves and for the benefit of our policy owners by planning their finance and Investment to enjoy the Life after 60.

Taking you briefly on the road L.I.R.T. has traveled since 1988 when Idea was mooted in Hotel Taj Mansingh,New Delhi . It was resolved to set up Life Insurance Round Table since all of us can’t go toUnited State  for attending the prestigious M.D.R.T. Conventions. Those days there was restriction by Reserve Bank of India  on number of people who could participate. VISA was then a problem and is still now a problem. VISA apart, the cost of attending M.D.R.T. convention at U.S.. is not every agent’s cup of tea, likewise the Journey fatigue of almost 18 to 24 hours is not easily accepted physically by our body.

Launching of LIRT was the only possible solution, the conveners and founder members thought. Every Year LIRT holds Annual Convention and many times our MDRT Speakers have addressed the participants giving them the benefit of MDRT atmosphere. The speakers in the past included Alec Bukhman, and Ray Khanna from Canada  (1989). Mehdi Fakharzadeh (1990), and Mr. Rabjohns (MDRT President – 2000), Mr. Peter Pond Jones, Mr. Ken Clark, Frank Furnace, Deevan Cooray, Logan Naidu, Rizal Naidu, Bryan Johnston, Clive Gott, etc.

Indian Speakers who have addressed the participants: Mr. Jerry Rao, Formerly Citi Bank head (India) now Chairman Mphasis BFL, Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti Past President Indian Merchant Chamber, Mr. Dossu Paymaster, Mr. A.N. Shanbaug, Murli Mehta, Surendra Gole and Hiren Vakil.

We were only 28 participants in first LIRT. Thereafter journey was not easy. Challenges were encountered by each LIRT President. Challenges were accepted as new opportunity by LIRT Committee to inculcate professionalism in our agents.

We have crossed 300 participants but there are 1.3 Million Insurance Advisor/Agents in our country. Big Task lies ahead. We have to go every nook and corner of the country to spread professionalism among the Insurance Advisors (Agents). With this in mind we had undertaken in the LIRT year just finished; visit to distant parts of the Country:Hyderabad, Akola, Coshin, Kanpur , Solapur, Chandrapur and Goa  1000 Advisor/Agents participated.

Something new in the 18^th LIRT Meet, 1^st time, in Agra we were able to manage simultaneous Hindi interpretation, a Land mark in LIRT history. This is the result of a team work, cooperation, commitment, contribution and coordination of committee members.

I am sure; your participation in the form of interactions is going to be an important part of the whole convention. We will be benefited from presentation of speakers and interaction with them.

The meeting of various thought processes is going to be instrumental in widening this horizon. And all of us will mark out the direction to achieve it.

Once again, I welcoming you all and wish the convention Grand success, the pleasant memory of which you will continue to enjoy in times to come.

* * * Good Luck * * * *