Recapping the NWCDC

The feet have stopped throbbing, business cards have been entered into the CRM (aka contact database), and the whirlwind that is NWCDC has been left behind to be replaced by some general themes.

Here are a couple of takeaways.

Big show, lots of attendees. Looks like the economy’s recovery, change in venue, and increased profitability of work comp (for payers and vendors alike) drove more folks to attend the conference.  Either that or a whole lot of Latin music fans were attending sessions and working the floor.  Sessions were well attended; topics and/or speakers seemed to attract more interest than at other meetings I’ve been to recently and there was some new information from different folks that I hadn’t heard before.  

Lots of sessions on opioids, which indicates a) the industry is paying attention; b) payers are looking for solutions; and c) there are business opportunities.  I’d note that the depth of knowledge demonstrated by some hawkers pitching solutions was rather unimpressive.  There were far too many instant solutions that are anything but, thrown together by folks with very little understanding of the problem and obstacles to solutions.

I met with several new up-and-comers, folks who built businesses before, sold them, and are now developing their next offering.  Unlike the mega-companies that were the talk of the show, these are focusing narrowly, building slowly, and finding under-served, or not-well-served niches.  Liked what I saw.

Comp remains attractive hot in the investment community.  Among the many private equity folks in circulation were several Apax folks, the PE firm that just acquired One Call and Align.  More to come.

There’s nothing like sharing space with the Latin Grammys to show an old white guy just how uncool and out-of-the-loop he is.  If a celebrity walked by me, I never knew it.

And the Mandalay Bay is waaaay nicer than the former LV Hilton.  Need to get the exhibits closer to the sessions, though.