Premonition are on our way to attend the San Antonio for the 56th annual conference of the Risk & Insurance Management Society (aka RIMS). Â Â The conference is due to take place from 15th – 18th April 2018 and we were delighted to be joined on the Premonition podcast by the RIMS programs manager Brandon Righi, to explain more about the conference, the schedule and some of the aims and ambitions for the 2018 event.
For more information about RIMS 2018, visit :Â https://www.rims.org/RIMS2018/Exhibitor/Pages/Home.aspx
“Lawyer Win Rates Are Coming to RIMS2018″ : https://premonition.ai/lawyer-win-rates-are-coming-to-rims-2018/
Transcript for Premonition Podcast 9 with Brandon Righi
Andrew Weaver: An unusual Premonition Podcast to normal, because it is, and I make no apologies for this, a 100% unadulterated plug for an event taking place and at which Premonition will be attending next week in the fine Texan city of San Antonio.
San Antonio, the home of the Alamo, scene of many a fierce battle in the Mexican-American War, has seen its fair share of risk over the years.
Next week, it will be seeing its fair share of risk managers, because it is hosting the 56th annual RIMS conference, the Risk Management Society conference, at which Premonition will be attending.
Booth 1352 will be the location for Nathan, Ty and the Premonition team.
We thought it’d be a great idea to ask one of the RIMS team on board this Premonition podcast to explain a little more about the history of the conference, the ambition of the conference, some of the unusual events taking place with some great keynote speakers.
So without further ado, very pleased to be joined by Brandon Righi, Programme Manager from RIMS.
Brandon Righi: Thank you for having me.
AW: Well Brandon, great to speak to you. I know that spring hasn’t quite arrived in New York as it has here in London, actually. The temperature has gone up in the last day or two, so we’re feeling spring-like. We are particularly excited to Premonition HQ, the team in Miami, because they will be attending next week in San Antonio, their first visit to a RIMS conference.
You very kindly come along and tell us a little bit more. Just before we go into the conference itself, Brandon, give us a little bit of background to what RIMS do, and perhaps the history of the conference.
BR: Yeah, RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society, more commonly known as RIMS, is the largest risk management, non-profit membership association in the world. We’re known as being a most heavily active in North America, but we actually do events all around the world.
We strive to bring the best, just to advance the field of risk management, and risk management practises. Especially with our events, and especially with the annual conference that’s happening at San Antonio, we strive to bring together … and create meetings of the minds between corporate risk managers and the top talents in the business insurance fields, and so lot of folks from underwriters and from brokerage firms, meeting with the risk management community.
AW: How long has the conference been going?
BR: This is our 56th year. Our first one was in New Orleans back in the ’50s or early ’60s, I believe. Now we’re in Texas for the fourth time. This is actually our first time in San Antonio. Like the past several years, we are expecting over 10,000 attendees.
AW: Wow, so it’s a real heritage, the conference. I mean, in general, Brandon, who attends? I mean, we’re obviously coming along. We’re going to discuss briefly one of the elements to this conference being AI and the impact of AI on the industry, so we’re very excited. But who generally attends? What’s the profile?
BR: Sure. Like I said before, it’s kind of the big … I think the world’s preeminent meeting between the risk management community and the business insurance community. Roughly half of the attendees are corporate risk managers. That ranges from risk analysts, insurance buyers, all the way up to CROs, and heads of risk management, and heads of enterprise risk management. Then the other half are folks from the big brokerage firms, big and small consulting firms, and underwriters, and service providers of all kinds.
AW: There’s a theme to this year’s conference, which is Go Big. Just give me a little bit of background of what the ambition is with that title.
BR: Yeah, well everything in Texas is big, so we had to incorporate something about going big. We feel that risk management is being asked to demonstrate ever more value with each passing year, and so we need some big ideas, big connections, and big solutions.
In our big ideas area, we’re bringing some new educational content and programming. We are upping the game with the networking events, that’s the big connections. The big solutions is of course the exhibition hall, which has over 400 exhibitors.
AW: I’d be really interested to see what the agenda was 56 years ago. I suspect it was reasonably small, reasonably limited, and over the years will have, I suppose, kept pace with the changes going on around the industry. I’m interested this year’s focus, there’s a couple of elements to this year’s focus that I’m interested in getting a bit more background from you, and that’s the fact that you’ve got a diversity and inclusion session that’s very much a hot topic at the moment, in terms of diversity.
Also, as I mentioned briefly before, a look at the impact of AI on the industry. Are there particular reasons why you’ve introduced those to the conference this year, and what would you like to be seeing delegates get out of those sessions?
BR: Sure. Well, so I’ll start with the diversity and inclusion idea. It’s an issue that’s near and dear to RIMS’ 2018 president, Robert Cartwright Junior, who works for Bridgestone, the Japanese tyre company. He’s actually our first African American president.
This is something I think in risk management and insurance people have been talking about for a while now, about especially the business insurance world is not as diverse as the country at large, or as the world at large. It’s dominated by older white men, to use a shorthand.
All of these organisations are concerned about bringing in young people, and attracting any non-traditional candidates into the field. At the urging of our 2018 president, Robert Cartwright, yeah, we are unveiling a new diversity and inclusion meetup that takes place on Sunday the 15th of April, right before the opening party for the conference.
It’s going to be run by a professional moderator. We’re going to have some interesting speakers, including the head of HR from Marsh, and not limited to that person, there’s some other interesting folks speaking as well. We’re going to unpack these issues, and try to come up with a plan for how to up our game, and improve on the diversity front in this industry.
As far as artificial intelligence goes, this is something that I think risk management professionals know is a big deal, and they don’t really know what to make of it. Everyone’s talking about AI, and there’s a lot of concern about, “Is AI going to make my job obsolete in five years, or 10 years? If it does make my job or part of my job obsolete, what skills do I need to know to still be viable in five to 10 years. Or the new people that we’re hiring, what kind of skills should they have so that they don’t lose their jobs in five to 10 years because of advances in technology?”
It’s a topic that’s on the minds of our membership. Our membership really wants to hear more about it, and so we’re trying to deliver on that for them.
AW: Yeah, well, we’re really on the cusp of the uncertainty as well as the opportunity, aren’t we, in terms of what the impact that might be. Just going back briefly to the diversity issue, I notice you’ve got actually a meetup and a safe space that’s going to be available for people to discuss what might be viewed as a sensitive issues, which is really interesting.
Also, some of the keynote speakers, quite interesting, kind of a diverse panel of speakers. Alex Sheen, I noticed, founder of Because I said I Would, which is a really interesting concept, a non-profit that seeks to better humanity through making and keeping promises. I love the sound of that.
BR: Yeah, he’s a great speaker, and he’s an American gentleman. Of course during the awards luncheon happening on Monday, we have a woman who’s speaking who’s the first African American fighter jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force. She’s a very engaging, high energy speaker as well.
We also have some education sessions about this. We have a session on the journey of the African American insurance professional, a session on how to handle LGBTQ issues with cultural sensitivity, and also just the risks and opportunities of diversity and inclusion. There’s a lot of great content on that front, for sure.
AW: Yeah, great stuff. You said it was the first time San Antonio, everybody excited? Part of your team already heading down there, I guess, have they?
BR: Yeah, a lot of my colleagues are already down there. I’m heading down on Saturday. Yeah, first time in San Antonio. It’s a beautiful city, it has a beautiful downtown. It’s a really exciting place, and I think a lot of people haven’t visited before. I think they’re going to be pleasantly surprised. The city has been a fantastic host for us, we couldn’t be happier.
AW: Well, it’s all brewing up to be a wonderful event. Give us the official times of the event, would you, Brandon, for next week?
BR: Sure. The event officially kicks off with the RIMS annual conference and exhibition opening party, which takes place Sunday, April 15th. I think the doors open at 6:00. Yeah, that’s 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. local time. Then there’s an opening keynote speeches on Monday morning. There’s a seated breakfast, and then opening speeches on Monday morning.
The exhibition hall opens Monday. After that, I think that’s at 10:00 in the morning that the exhibition hall opens, and then we have just a flurry of activity, 107 education sessions happening all throughout the education centre. It wraps up on Wednesday afternoon with our closing speaker. We’re very excited to have Jay Leno. He’s going to be very entertaining and funny. It’s a must see.
AW: Well, a great way to finish off. I’m sure there will be a few exhausted delegates left at that stage, so it will be a good way to finish off. Well brilliant. Listen, thank you for joining us. We’re at booth 1352 for those of you listening and interested in coming to see us at Premonition. Brandon, I wish you the very best. It’s been excellent talking to you, and I’m sure it will be a wonderful event.