Hint: It's Not the Booth
The expo hall is gone. The banners have been rolled up. The booths have been dismantled. The lanyards are sitting on desks, hanging on coat hooks, or already buried somewhere in the bottom of a bag that won't get cleaned out until next spring. In fact, I think I left mine in the Vegas hotel room.
Even the LinkedIn posts have slowed down.
And yet, some things from ITC Vegas are still very much alive.
It was my first time at ITC, and heading into it, I was focused on two things: Insurance and Technology. Which would make sense, right? Since when you break down the word “InsureTech”, that’s what you get.
And, of course, Insurance is the industry we’re serving. And Technology is what most of us are buying, selling, implementing, evaluating, integrating, or discussing.
But if we're being honest about what people actually remember a week later, I don't think it's either of those things.
It's the Connections.
The Value in the Connection
Let's try a quick thought exercise.
Can you remember every product demo you saw at ITC?
Probably not. And I bet you don’t remember every feature you saw on a banner either.
Can you remember every keynote?
Probably not. I mean, I saw a lot of people in the exhibit hall while the keynotes were on (sorry keynote speakers).
But can you remember the person you bumped into while waiting for coffee who ended up sharing their novel writing adventures with you? How about that person you sat with at lunch because there was an open spot at the table? Or maybe that crazy balloon-animal lady who told you she could make you a balloon moose, who could then be the cause of a balloon car accident, and now you’ve come up with an advertising idea (that last one is true btw).
What about a conversation that completely changed how you thought about a market problem?
Or a partner who said, "You really need to meet so-and-so"? Shout out to the SPLICE Partners who did this for me at least a handful of times in two days.
What about a potential customer who finally put language around a challenge your solution could address?
Those stories tend to stick.
And that's because ecosystems aren't built through exposure.
They're built through connection.
Events Create Possibility. Connections Create Movement.
A lot of industries think of conferences as destinations.
Show up > Network > Learn > Go home
But ecosystems don’t work like that. Specifically, they don’t work linearly. They are a collection of relationships that can continue creating value, in multiple directions, long after the ignition point.
If we decide to keep it going.
The Gap Between Meeting and Momentum
Most people leave ITC (and most conferences) with good intentions.
"We should do something together."
"Let’s follow up."
"That’s a great idea to explore."
"Let’s get our teams introduced."
Sound familiar? I’m pretty sure I said similar things multiple times on the conference floor.
The challenge is that intentions don't automatically become outcomes, even WITH a great Connect. Because a connection is like a seed. And a seed only grows when it’s nurtured. With nutrients, water, and sunlight. And in an ecosystem connection way, that looks like more than just a transaction.
It looks like sharing insights. Making introductions. Helping someone solve a problem. Connecting people who should know each other even when there's nothing immediate in it for you.
That's how individual connections become ecosystems.
Technology Doesn't Build Ecosystems. People Do.
Now, I know this might sound odd coming from an industry event built around technology. And while technology isn't actually what creates an ecosystem, it does enable it.
The important thing is to understand the difference.
The real ecosystem is built by people who trust one another enough to collaborate. People who understand each other's capabilities. People who know when to lead, when to contribute, and when to connect someone else into the conversation. This is often what turns a collection of partners into a functioning ecosystem rather than a list of companies that happen to know each other.
I've seen organizations spend months evaluating technology while spending almost no time investing in the relationships required to make that technology successful.
And then everyone wonders why adoption stalls. Or why referrals don't happen. Or why partnerships fail to create measurable value.
Technology was never the problem. It was, in fact, precisely the skeleton it promised it would be.
It was just missing the connective tissue.
The Connective Tissue in a Healthy Ecosystem
So, what is the connective tissue? It’s the reminder that our industry is bigger than our own product or solution. It’s the opportunity to see people working on adjacent problems with complementary capabilities. It’s the sharing of different perspectives and expertise to create different ways of helping people achieve better outcomes.
The connective tissue is the new possibility that emerges that wouldn't have existed otherwise.
So, What's Still Living After ITC Vegas 2026?
Not the booth. Not the badge. Not the branded stress ball that somehow found its way into your suitcase. And definitely not the balloon animals (those never last).
What's still living are the connections. The emails responded to and calls answered because of a meaningful exchange. The introduction that happens 6 months down the line because someone remembered something you said. A new idea that makes you think of someone else. Or better yet, the opportunity to solve new problems together.
The entire planet operates as an ecosystem. And insurance does too. And while technology helps enable that ecosystem, the human connection is what keeps it alive.
And if we only stay connected to people who are immediate leads? We’re underserving the opportunity.
I’m down to keep the conversation going.
Who’s with me?
Author's Note: At SPLICE, we spend a lot of time thinking about ecosystems, partnerships, and how organizations create more value together than they can alone. ITC may only last a few days, but the connections formed there have the potential to create impact for years. The question isn't how many people we met in Vegas. The question is: Which relationships are we still investing in now?