My Experience at the Fall 2014 IMBA Compliance Seminar

I was recently asked to speak on a panel at the Indiana Mortgage Banker Association (IMBA) Fall 2014 Compliance Conference, with three other individuals, about the newest “hot topic” in our industry, the RESPA/TILA Integration. The other 3 panel members included Alan Thorup, Executive Director of the Indiana Mortgage Bankers Association and Greater Indianapolis Mortgage Bankers Association, Karen Hart, Vice President/Director of Corporate Escrow Operations at Meridian Title, and Tonya Ott, Indiana State Sales Manager at Chicago Title – combined we have almost 100 years of mortgage experience.

Just being asked to speak at a state compliance conference was a pleasant surprise for me, as well as an honor, but public speaking is not exactly my favorite thing to do.

Preparing for the panel was a lot of fun. We started planning about 4-5 weeks in advance with weekly conference calls and random email exchanges. Information from each of us went into creating the PowerPoint we ended up using during the presentation.

Day of the seminar

By the time November 12th rolled around I was ready to go. I won’t say I slept extremely well, but I walked out of my house looking the part, in a black pinstriped suit, pink shirt and matching pink paisley tie.

As the day progressed, so did my anxiety level. I received a tap on my shoulder 5 minutes before our group was scheduled to go on stage to finalize the logistics. It was determined then, each member of the panel would stand at the podium to deliver their portion of the presentation. This was not something I was happy to hear. Did I mention I was a little bit nervous and had a little anxiety?

Al started us off with the customary “disclaimer” to protect us, in the event we said something incorrectly. The rest of his portion is pretty much a blur for me as I had to follow him. I felt my ears turning red as my blood pressure seemed to reach new levels. As Alan introduced me, I stood carefully and walked toward the podium with extreme caution – I did not want to trip in front of 150+ people.

I started my portion of the presentation from slide 5 and went through slide 15. As I finished, I passed the podium off to Karen and she looked like she had done this a billion times in the past. You could just see the confidence oozing from her as she presented her slides to the audience. Tonya wrapped us up with the last portion of our presentation with nothing but poise.

I was very lucky to be a part of a great panel. The 3 veterans on the panel made me look good, so I have to thank them for that. Hopefully I will have the same effect on someone in the future.

Honestly, I learned a lot from this whole experience. I would love to do something like this again in the future, although a smaller audience would be preferred.

You can download the full slide deck for our panel here. What questions do you have about the RESPA/TILA Integration?