2024 Broker Conference Recap
Chiefs on tour! In November 2024, the MJ Financial Chiefs flew up to Gold Coast to attend AFG’s Broker Conference which included two days of keynote speakers, industry updates, workshops and networking events. We’re pleased to be able to provide a recap of the Chief’s experience at the Gold Coast, which is much more humid than Melbourne!
Day 1
Early day 1 provided classic Chief humour, with Justin and Dylan showing how ‘business casual’ can be interpreted differently up at the Gold Coast! Formalities were kicked off by keynote speaker Jess Fox who provided a glimpse behind the curtain of what a dedicated, professional life looks like. It was very interesting to hear about the challenges of negative self-talk and doubts, the methods she used to stay motivated and continue improving, as well as the satisfaction of success. (It’s safe to say the Chiefs are now aiming for Table Tennis Olympic Gold in 2028). Overall, we’ve taken a lot away from Jess’ presentation, and have been improving our operations as a result.
In between speakers, we attended the always-valuable Sponsor Expo networking sessions which allow Brokers to interact with Bank representatives to more closely discuss their products, niches, and insights into the property and finance industry. With some banter sprinkled in, these Expo’s are always a great experience and allows us to develop relationships with lenders, allowing us to provide more tailored, and quality solutions for clients. As usual, Justin and Michael went full-vulture mode and grabbed as much free merchandise as they could fit into their bags. “You can never have enough notebooks!” – Justin Smaluch
Day 1 was concluded in style with a social event hosted at a pop-up market venue which offered many food stalls and facilitated great conversations into the night!
Day 2
Day 2 provided a more targeted learning experience which included smaller workshops that deep dived into topics including marketing, brand awareness, tech developments, broker software overhauls, the client experience and innovation. Amazingly we were treated to another round of awesome keynote speakers which included the ex-Facebook Australia CEO who covered the future of tech, a highly-credentialled Australian CEO explaining client centricity as well as an ex-navy helicopter who outlined the importance of mindset, resilience and teamwork under pressure situations.
Day 2 was concluded by the Crown Jewel of the conference, which was AFG’s 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner. This very fancy evening was a celebration of the year’s achievements by brokers and a chance to enjoy each other’s company, and even a rare opportunity for Michael, Justin and Dyl to bust some moves on the dance floor!
In summary, it’s always a pleasure to attend these yearly conferences hosted by AFG. They provide the perfect balance between professional development and industry relationship building. We hope you all liked Dyl’s social media takeover which documented our experiences! (We don’t know how he keeps finding the password to our socials!) Now that we’ve been back in the office for a few weeks, we’ve already implemented internal operations improvements as well as a brand new ‘Welcome Pack’ document which clients are already loving. There are many more developments in the Chief pipeline so stay tuned into the new year!