The Million Dollar Round Table threw a great opening welcome reception party Sunday night in Atlanta at the Georgia Aquarium – billed as the world's largest.
The aquarium become a veritable worldwide melting pot, as thousands of MDRT members from 76 countries descended upon the aquatic life to celebrate the opening of the 84th annual meeting. What struck me was the utter enthusiasm of the international attendees. Attending this meeting is a very big deal to them, and it shows. Many wear special apparel created for the event, including the MDRT logo and the country they are from.
MDRT President Julian Good, CLU, ChFC, told the crowd from the main platform Monday morning (moments before a scary incident involving a loud, unexplained crashing noise from the Georgia Congress Convention Center that unsettled attendees for a few moments before the program resumed – rumor has it is may have involved the air conditioning system) that MDRT membership has grown from 31,000 members last year to 36,000 members in 2011 from 76 countries. Good also noted that for the first time in six years, U.S. MDRT membership did not experience a decline.
