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The Metro Toronto Convention Centre will welcome more than 7,300 of the world’s leading life insurance and financial services professionals when it hosts the Million Dollar Round Table’s (MDRT) Annual Meeting, June 22-26, 2008. MDRT members are comprised of the industry’s top producers worldwide. The meeting is considered as a one-of-a-kind event, unrivalled in the world of business, and attendees will hail from more than 60 countries.
"Each year MDRT members come together for one of the greatest gatherings of financial services professionals in the world: the MDRT Annual Meeting," said MDRT President James E. Rogers, CLU, CFP, a 35-year MDRT member from Vancouver, British Columbia. "MDRT’s meetings provide its members with inspiration, motivation and cutting-edge ideas. Toronto has been such a great host to us, and I know all members are looking forward to coming to Toronto for our 2008 Annual Meeting."
The theme of this year’s meeting is "Changing Lives," chosen to represent the power MDRT members have to make a positive change in the lives of clients. Attendees will be exposed to some of the finest and most innovative sales ideas in the life insurance-based financial services business. The meeting will feature approximately 85 speakers, including Olympic Gold Medalist Mary Lou Retton and Andes Mountain crash survivor Nando Parrado.
"We are very pleased that Toronto was chosen again to host this prestigious group of financial services experts," said Barry Smith, President and CEO of the MTCC. "These individuals and their products bring peace of mind and security to millions of people and their families each year."
Smith added that Toronto’s reputation for being a truly international city made the decision to host the 2008 meeting in Toronto a natural, given that fully half of MDRT’s membership is from outside of North America. In 2001, the last time MDRT was in Toronto for its Annual Meeting, the meeting was rated the No. 1 meeting of all of MDRT’s meetings in its 81-year history. This will be the fourth time MDRT has come to Toronto since 1989.
As a way to give back to Toronto for hosting them for the 2008 MDRT Annual Meeting, MDRT, through its MDRT Foundation, provided US$70,000 recently to build a bright and colorful state-of-the-art playground at Lord Dufferin Jr. and Sr. Public School in downtown Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood. The playground was constructed May 19-23 by 13 MDRT volunteers from across Canada and around the world, as members of the community and children from the School looked on. The MDRT Foundation is the philanthropic arm of MDRT. Since its formation in 1959, the Foundation has granted more than US$20.4 million to 1,700 charitable organizations serving people in 67 countries. In 2007, more than US$2.8 million in grants was distributed. Twenty-two organizations in Canada have received grants from the MDRT Foundation, including the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Toronto, Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Canadian MDRT Foundation.
The MTCC anticipates this major convention will produce significant revenue for Toronto’s hotels, restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, with an overall economic impact of approximately $15.8 million in direct spending.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
