Tom Wall · Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina · 2025
How Fast Start Forum Took Life Insurance Agents Out of the Ballroom and Launched Tom Wall's Inner Circle Mastermind
Summary
Life insurance events usually start and end in a stuffy ballroom. Tom Wall of Whole Life Mastermind wanted something better for his agents. For the first Fast Start Forum, at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, we opened with a Sunday mixer, took Monday night to Topgolf and closed with a VIP dinner and live jazz at YOLO, around a program of 11 speakers. 194 attendees came, and Tom sold several spots in his first offer and in the Inner Circle Mastermind we helped him design.
The Problem
Life insurance events had a reputation: stuffy ballrooms, no excitement and no mixers worth staying for. Tom Wall, who runs Whole Life Mastermind, a mastermind and support group for life insurance agents, wanted to build something better for the agents in his community.
What We Did
Here is how we built it, from the first plan to the last guest out. One team held all of it.
- 1Launched publicly with about three months to sell the room.
- 2Opened Sunday with registration and a mixer, so agents met before the first session.
- 3Took Monday night to Topgolf instead of another ballroom reception and open bar, so agents bonded over something they could do together. Tom is a big golfer, and it gave him the chance to show it.
- 4Closed Tuesday with a VIP dinner at YOLO, one of Fort Lauderdale's hottest destinations, with live jazz and a floor to dance on.
- 5Built a speaker lineup of 11, hosted by Tom Wall, including Garrett Gunderson, Vince D'Addona and Kristin Andree.
Scope of Services
Everything we were accountable for.
How It Went
It went really well. 194 attendees came to the first Fast Start Forum, and Tom sold several spots in his first offer, along with a couple of places in the Inner Circle Mastermind we helped him design. The agents left having bonded over golf and jazz instead of another ballroom reception, and Tom brought the event back the next year.
- Client
- Tom Wall
- Venue
- Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina
- Year
- 2025
- Attendees at the first Fast Start Forum
- 194
- Attendees at the first Fast Start Forum
- Speakers on the program
- 11
- Speakers on the program
Right For
Any industry whose events tend to be standardized and stale, such as insurance or health and wellness, where events usually start and end in a ballroom. Fast Start Forum is a model for breaking that pattern.
Steal This
Replace the ballroom mixer with an experience. A night at Topgolf gave agents something to do together, not just something to drink, and the bonding carried back into the sessions. Pick an activity your host loves, too: Tom is a big golfer, and it showed.
Questions, answered
Who produced Tom Wall's Fast Start Forum 2025?+
Iconic Events, a Florida based event production and coordination company, produced the first Fast Start Forum for Tom Wall of Whole Life Mastermind at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina in February 2025, delivering event design and management, offer design for his Inner Circle Mastermind, an 11 speaker program, a Topgolf night and a VIP dinner at YOLO for 194 attendees.
What did Iconic Events actually deliver for Fast Start Forum 2025?+
Event design: Event design and management for the first Fast Start Forum. Offer: Design of Tom's Inner Circle Mastermind offer. Venue: The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. Program: A program of 11 speakers, hosted by Tom Wall. Experiences: A Sunday mixer, a Monday night at Topgolf and a VIP dinner with live jazz at YOLO. Production: Production and on site execution.
How many people attended Fast Start Forum 2025?+
194 attendees. The room was sized against the commercial objective rather than a headcount target.
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