NWCDC Chairman's Message

NWCDC 2017: A Chance to Share Your Knowledge

Apply now to be a presenter at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.
By: | January 30, 2017

The 26th annual National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo returns to Las Vegas later this year with a new technology breakout session track added to its lineup of presentations.

Don’t miss an opportunity to speak at the conference, known as nation’s top meeting event for work comp professionals. Presenting at the event requires submitting proposals before the March 3rd deadline.

Applications to speak are available now on the conference website.

After taking place in New Orleans last year, the 2017 conference will be back at Las Vegas’ Mandalay bay December 6-8.

In addition to the conference’s five existing session tracks, the new track presents an expansion of conference program offerings and promises to help employers and other workers’ comp professionals learn about the technology shaping claims management and insurance arrangements.

Just as NWCDC has done in the past with its other tracks for breakout sessions, the conference prioritizes speaker and panel proposals that include employers as presenters. We will prioritize speaker submissions for the technology track in the same manner.

NWCDC attendees have let us know that they don’t like sales pitches. They prefer case studies with employers and other claims payers demonstrating the strategies they have successfully applied and the outcomes they experienced.

While presentations that are merely sales-pitch type product demonstrations are discouraged, technology demonstrations that are part of an overall claims payer’s strategy are welcome and will receive consideration for the technology track.

We are also open to evaluating proposals discussing expectations for future technological innovations.

The latest technology used to manage claims and insurance are not the only topics NWCDC needs panels and individual speakers to address during breakout sessions.

The conference’s other breakout session tracks include Claims Management, Disability Management, Legal/Regulatory, Medical Management and Workers’ Comp Program Management. Regardless of the track, the emphasis should be on helping worker’s comp payers solve claims challenges. Yet there is room for other topics, such as analysis of any trends impacting care of injured workers.




Employers, vendors, attorneys, medical providers, regulators and other workers’ comp professionals are all invited to apply to speak.

We are eager to review proposals that focus on new, innovative strategies that reduce injuries and costs. But risk managers, workers’ comp managers, and disability managers are also welcome to share their unique experiences adopting time-proven practices at their companies.

Non-occupational disability strategies, including those that integrate solutions for workers’ comp challenges and other drivers of employee-absences, are also welcome.

Anyone wishing to discuss their speaker proposal ideas before submitting them can contact Roberto Ceniceros, conference chair, at 208 957-8705 or at [email protected].

Roberto Ceniceros is a retired senior editor of Risk & Insurance® and the former chair of the National Workers' Compensation and Disability Conference® & Expo. Read more of his columns and features.

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