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Is it just me or did April FLY by? I’ve been busy with a video project this month as you can see above, and that is certainly not all that’s been happening around the office these days.

It’s really interesting having our two main offices across the country from one another – one in Boston and one in Phoenix. This month, we used all the amazing technology we have at our fingertips to unite the two offices in different ways. First, we celebrated John’s birthday over Skype together, which was really fun. We did have to have two cakes – one for each office! We also had our Q1 business review at the end of the month, and the entire company met via phone and GoToMeeting to review our progress and goals. Exciting things have been and continue to happen around here! And lastly, we now have two trusty clocks hanging in Boston so we can be on both Boston and Phoenix time!

Here’s to a great May at NGI!

The NAFSA Annual Conference is quickly approaching! There’s just over a month to go until it’s start on May 27th. We will be attending and you can come find us at booth #142 to learn more about our services, college risk and why universities and students alike should consider protecting themselves with the help of our different insurance plans.

Be sure to look for us at the conference and for our #nafsa12 Tweets on Twitter. You can follow us at @nextgenins, @GradGuard, @JohnTFees, @WentworthDennis for updates during the conference!

I enjoy writing a monthly recap based on the Instagrams on our nextgenins account. Though primarily photos from the Boston office and from my perspective, it’s a neat way to reflect on what’s happened around the office and around the country at NGI. Of course we’ve all been working hard, stretched to the limit with meetings, launches, new cool swag (check out that new SMIS sign!), webinars and projects. But what jumps out at me this month is  the people that work here – almost all of us are pictured celebrating the end of NGIFitKick.

The Arizona office won (congratulations!). I’m based here in the Boston office, and from where I sit, I saw an incredible network of support emerge. From daily “fit tips” over email, to group fitness adventures (most notably running the stairs to our 4th floor office), to leaning on one another for help during fitness moments of weakness. Both teams lost weight and I’m not sure any of us would have been so successful without the encouragement of the rest of the team. At the end of the challenge, both offices got to spend some time together outside the office to celebrate, which was very fun! A little healthy competition and some office bonding has strengthened the ever-growing team at NGI.

In next month’s Instagrams, you’ll probably see a few new faces and more exciting news from the folks here at NGI. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram!

Team Phat have been crowned the victors! Averaging 4.22% weight lost, they edged by Team Svelte by a margin of just .08%! Despite this mystery pizza showing up in the Phoenix office just days before the final weigh-in, Team Phat stayed strong and made a solid finish, bringing victory to the Phoenix office.

The Arizona office got to enjoy a half day and a happy hour during March Madness for a job well done.

Team Svelte wasn’t far behind, enjoying our own March Madness celebration in honor of a valiant effort up in Boston.

Both teams did a great job, and everyone around the office looks great. Here’s to continued health and happiness for everyone at NGI, and congratulations again to our winners!

At NGI, we believe birthdays are a thing to be celebrated! For a small office here in Boston, we’ve had lots of birthdays in the past couple months. One of the best parts of birthdays in the office are the delicious cakes our celebrations center around. Lately, our very own Customer Advocacy Coordinator, Ceysa, has taken on the cake challenge and has been baking up delicious and beautiful cakes for our office birthdays. If you follow us on Twitter or Instagram or Like us on Facebook, then you’ve seen her incredible creations!

Ceysa’s talents are not lost on us! Her beautiful cakes and cupcakes are just as good as they look. Ceysa goes above and beyond to make sure her creations are truly customized to their recipient – she snoops around in the days before in order to get the flavors and gorgeous decorating perfect. And though my birthday has yet to come around, Ceysa has even taken into account my challenging allergy, and has started making her cakes gluten-free so that everyone in the office can enjoy her creations. Amazing!

I sat down with Ceysa this morning to learn a little more about her hobby and talents! Here’s what she had to say:

NGI: When did you start baking? 

Ceysa: I would say the first cake that I was proud of happened a year ago in February. I actually started for the decorating, it was fun and a good creative outlet. More recently I’ve started to play with homemade recipes.

NGI: What do you love about baking?

I love baking for lots of reasons – it’s relaxing, it’s creative, it’s fun to try new things and challenge myself, and most of all I like seeing other people enjoy the final product!

NGI: What is your favorite kind of cake?

Ceysa: I don’t know that I have a favorite kind… I don’t typically like things that are super sweet, but I will enjoy a few bites of red velvet or chocolate. My favorite flavor combo is probably mini dark chocolate cupcakes with creamcheese frosting and a fresh raspberry on top.

NGI: How do you choose what kind of cake to make for someone?

Deciding what to make for anybody is always a fun process.  I typically ask for favorite flavors/colors/themes and go from there.  A lot of inspiration comes from walking around the grocery store and seeing what fun things I find.  Mary likes Strawberries, Bonnie’s favorite color is white and she’s a super classy gal, and Mike is a fan of lifesavers.  It all just goes from there

This post would not be complete without showing off some of the amazing cakes Ceysa has made for us, so here they are!

For Mary’s birthday, Ceysa made these Strawberry Cupcakes:  Mini vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry filling, topped with vanilla icing and a fresh strawberry.

To celebrate Bonnie’s birthday, she created this Classy Birthday Cake: Gluten-Free chocolate layer cake with a raspberry filling and cream cheese icing.

Today’s birthday creation is  Mike’s Little-LifeSaver-Dude Cake:  Gluten Free 4 layer rainbow velvet cake with vanilla frosting and cool dudes.

Of course, this post would not be complete without a birthday shout out to the other better half of Team Do Stuff, Mike! Happy birthday from all of us!

February was a short month, and it went by very quickly here at NGI. We’ve been busy! Although it’s usually very cold in Boston this time of year,  the temperature has been heating up, reaching 55! Things have been heating up around the NGI offices as well.

This month the “lamination station” and our sales folks prepared and headed off to Phoenix for the Sallie Mae sales conference. Our social media efforts have been moving along, we worked on a webinar with Today’s Campus, we’ve kept up our #NGIFitKick resolutions, and professed our love for insurance. We are ready for March!

Hammock Beach Resort, Home of PIMA 2012

I returned to Boston this week from Florida after attending the 2012 annual meeting of the Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA). The group is regarded as the premier business development group for affinity and direct marketers within the insurance or “protection product” space. As a first-time attendee, I came away from the conference impressed with the quality of the program and the number of key decision makers in attendance. Five observations I made:

Positivity on the economy.
Potential renaming opportunity to “lack of negativity on the economy.” In the myriad conversations I had at PIMA, the subject of our tough economic times was absent. In general, the overall tone of the conference was optimistic on the subject of future economic prospects for the industry and the economy in general.

Internet and mobile take center stage.
Affinity marketing has a long legacy in direct mail, but a great deal of attention was given to digital channels in the program. Speakers such as eHealth Government Systems CEO Sam Gibbs, Envisage International CEO Keith Clausen, and Ventura Associates SVP Renee Azoulay provided tangible and compelling roadmaps for the use of the web and mobile to drive affinity sales of financial services products.

New opportunities.
As a first-time attendee, it was quickly apparent to me that PIMA is a close-knit group focused on developing their market. One of the themes of the conference was to challenge attendees to think more broadly about affinity marketing, in an effort to inspire the creation of new economic opportunities for members and business partners. My observation was that the effort was successful and that the conference was a positive step toward this goal. Networking was non-stop and broad, with agencies, underwriters, and business partners swapping innovative and non-traditional ideas and business opportunities freely.

Direct mail still core to affinity.
Don’t let the digital focus of some of the program fool you, direct mail was strongly represented at the conference. Most of the business partners and vendors attending the conference whom I interacted with had a strong focus in direct mail, direct response analytics, creative services, and print.

Inbound marketing deserves attention.
American General Life Companies President & CEO Mary Jane Fortin shared a useful piece of research in the opening keynote: only 36% of online shoppers for life insurance purchased a policy. In e-commerce circles, that’s an eye-opening number. Sentiment amongst conference attendees I spoke with was that this kind of result was common. Ironic, and timely, that HubSpot Inbound Marketing Strategist and author Kipp Bodnar delivered a well-attended presentation on the power of inbound marketing on the final day of the conference. Kipp’s remarks underscored to me how massive an opportunity financial services marketers have to improve the sales experience and nurture website users from interested shoppers to purchasers through methods such as inbound marketing.

Lastly, I’ll note a bit of good news – NGI Managing Partner Bill Suneson was elected to PIMA’s board for the upcoming year. Congratulations to Bill!

Who are these fit people? Well, let me introduce you. First up, we’ve got Team Svelte, representing the NGI offices east of the Mississippi:

I know what you are thinking. “Wow! What a good lookin’ crew!” Winning the #NGIFitKick challenge may prove difficult for this group, since, as you can see here, they have little if anything to lose!

Disclaimer: I may be a bit biased as I am a part of the Boston office.

I don’t want to give away all their secrets, but Team Svelte is employing a multi-faceted strategy to achieve their weight loss goals. Combining exercise, diet and office calisthenics, this team is definitely dedicated. Their philosophy and effort can even be seen on the snack table:

Yes, that is a Shake Weight, and no, Team Svelte is not afraid to use it.

Team Svelte, whatever your personal goals are, all of us at NGI wish you luck during the challenge!

If January at NGI is any indicator of what the rest of 2012 will be like for us, we are going to have a lot going on this year!

This month in Instagrams is filled with blog launches, birthdays, vacations, and new developments – a new year, new phones, new #NGIFitKick regimes, new business cards and all the new faces from December have become friends. It wasn’t all work and no play, we did stop to enjoy a gorgeous sunset, taste a treat (or four…), try our hands at the shake weight and play with the puppy!

To see these photos and more, follow us on Instagram at @nextgenins.