The Insurance Tech Guru

The wind and power loss were only the beginning of the bizarre string of natural events that occurred between April 14 and 15 during the conference in Reno.

The windstorm began early on Monday, April 14, after local forecasters had predicted a sunny day with temperatures in the 60s. The same forecasters, however, also warned of high winds gusting up to 90 miles-per-hour. Later television weather reports would place the gusts at 100 m.p.h., although the National Weather Service reported a top figure of 60 m.p.h. Having experienced hurricane winds first hand, let me assure you that the higher figures were, at least at times, more accurate.

The winds were strong enough to knock out power to several areas, downing power lines and trees, and damaging construction sites, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. The paper also said roofs were blown off of some local buildings. A local television news broadcast showed one car crushed by a falling tree.

Power to the convention center began blinking out in mid-afternoon, finally leaving the exhibit hall completely dark, except for a few emergency lights near the exits. While some at the conference went for the exits and the daylight outside, many remained inside and searched out giveaway flashlights that would enable them to continue roaming the show floor. Several exhibitors held the flashlights above their booth tables to draw in the remaining traffic. Attendess actually looked like groups of trick-or-treaters going house-to-house on Halloween night.

Through it all, AMS Users' Group employees were everywhere, helping to disseminate information and keeping everyone up to date on what was happening. Power to the convention center remained off for the rest of the day and into the middle of Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, however, three earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more hit the area, the newspaper said. Few among the conference-goers seemed aware of the tremors, however, and no damage was reported. Adding insult to injury, Tuesday morning also brought a brief snowstorm that dumped about an inch of the white stuff Reno, after a relatively mild—if extremely windy—day on Monday. Still that wasn't enough to scare the customers away.

Once power was restored, conference organizers shifted and expanded the schedule to get in as many classes as possible. In a very classy move, AMSUG also sent a letter of apology to the attendees at their hotels, attaching a $25 certificate to be used for hotel meals.

No one could have blamed showgoers for complaining about their luck, but in reality, I heard very few complaints. Instead, these hearty attendees made the best of the situation--as agents will do--and did a fine job of making lemonade out of some pretty sour lemons. All in all, the AMS Users' Group also deserves tremendous credit for keeping their wits about them and making what could have been a harrowing experience into a memorable adventure for most showgoers.

How about you? Were you there? Comments, as always, are welcomed.