2008 RIMS Conference preview
Education sessions vary in complexity; networking opportunities abound
By By Michael J. Moody, MBA, ARM
The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) is set to sail into San Diego for its 46th annual conference April 27-May 1, 2008. The majority of the events and sessions will be held at the San Diego Convention Center.
As in years past, the first day of the conference (April 27) is typically dedicated to several Spencer Educational Foundation fundraising events. Among the more popular events will be the 17th Annual Spencer/Gallagher Golf Tournament, held at Barona Creek Golf Club and Riverwalk Golf Club. The 14th Annual Spencer/Logic Tennis Tournament will be held at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina. The final fundraising event will be the NAPCO/Spencer Cup Hockey game and will feature Team USA vs. Team Canada.
Additionally, RIMS’ 2008 Community Service Day is Sunday, April 27. Based on the success of the program in New Orleans last year, RIMS has set aside this day to allow the risk management community to support the recovery efforts from the October 2007 wildfires that devastated a great part of Southern California. This year’s effort will include cleaning, painting and building local schools, community centers and homes.
Sunday’s events will wind down with the annual RIMS Opening Reception titled “Aquatic Odyssey” and held at the Convention Center. Attendees will have an opportunity to reconnect with peers as well as build new friendships.
Educational sessions
A full slate of educational sessions will begin on Monday, April 28, at the Convention Center. According to Mary Lynn Bangs, conference programming committee chair, this year’s schedule includes 140 educational sessions. Bangs, who is the director of risk management for Omni Hotels, points out that of the 140 sessions, 26 are industry sessions and four are “Hot Topics sessions.” She says that each year, “We leave four to six session time slots open for topical presentations. The conference program is finalized in August before the next conference, after reviewing over 1,100 suggestion forms that are submitted.” However, “we also need to keep some open time available for Hot Topics.”
This year’s Hot Topics include:
• California Wildfires. How do you manage a work force, student body or patrons when more than a million people are evacuated from their homes and businesses? Did FEMA respond efficiently and effectively? Do you have the trigger you need to initiate a business interruption claim? Get the answers from multiple perspectives and hear the lessons learned from the southern California wildfires emergency response.
• 2009 Medicare Legislation. “Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007” (S.2499) was passed and signed into law in December 2007. Even though this law is not effective until July 1, 2009, it is time now for risk managers to begin to plan their companies’ compliance. Many details still remain to be established; however, ignoring this law can be very costly. This session will provide details on how the law will affect a company’s risk management program and ideas on how to be proactive in compliance.
• Building Resiliency Through ERM. Enacted in August 2007, Title IX of U.S. Public Law 110-53 calls for the creation of a voluntary preparedness standards program. Learn from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and an interdisciplinary panel of concerned associations what actions DHS is taking in establishing this program, how this legislation may affect your organization, and how private sector companies may choose to achieve and verify preparedness.
• Green by Design: Insurance Coverage for Building Green. The past few years have seen exponential growth in green building construction. Valued for their benefits, green buildings integrate sustainable design, construction, operation and maintenance, paving the way for potentially dramatic increases in property value and economic net worth. Green buildings may also be more resistant to catastrophic disasters, including extreme weather-related events linked to global climate change.
Green buildings are not without risk, however. Incorporating unfamiliar technologies may lead to poorly integrated and/or unreliable designs or systems. Building upgrades or formal certifications under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards may not be handled properly. In this session, discover the unique benefits and risks of green building construction and learn to gauge the availability of coverage under CGL policies (as well as under new green building policies) for some of the potential liabilities that companies can face when building green.
In addition to the above noted Hot Topics, RIMS offers a wide variety of regular educational sessions. Bangs says that there are essentially two major trends with regard to the general sessions. She says, “One trend covers traditional risk management topics that appeal to the newer risk managers.” These would cover basic risk management topics such as risk assessment, measuring broker performance, writing risk management reports, and contractual risk management. They also offer a number of sessions that address specific coverage issues such as property insurance programs, construction defect insurance and certificate of insurance-related issues.
Bangs also notes that some of the sessions are more advanced and go beyond traditional risk management topics. She says, “It’s important to keep up to speed with what’s going on in our industry.” One example of this is enterprise risk management (ERM). She notes, “We introduced ERM at the conference several years ago.” The response has been great, she says, “And now we have a separate ERM track at this year’s conference.” As such, there is at least one ERM session in each time slot, and she indicates that this “provides cutting-edge ERM material provided by industry experts.”
Among the ERM sessions scheduled are: Managing Risk in an Enterprising Way; Risk Mapping—How to Overcome the Resistance Barrier; Governance, Risk and Compliance—ERM on Steroids; Enterprise Risk Management—Leveraging Analytics to Drive Decision Making; ERM for the Public Sector.
“Risk management is moving quickly towards ERM, and we need to address where the industry is heading,” says Bangs.
The Conference Programming Committee has provided a wide range of topics for both beginning risk managers and those looking for more advanced topics. And while the conference has a full slate of educational topics, one of the aspects that Bangs really stresses is the importance of interaction with other attendees. She says that during the “First Timers” meeting, the presenters always point out how important it is to include interaction as part of the attendees’ educational process.
She notes that time spent in the exhibit hall is a good case in point. With more than 400 exhibitors again this year, she recognizes, “it can be a little overwhelming.” But, she observes, “It is just as important as any of the educational sessions.” It provides a great opportunity to see state-of-the-art risk management goods and services. “The exhibit hall is not to be missed,” she stresses.
The 2008 RIMS conference promises to be another great event. It provides a unique learning experience, not only for risk managers, but also for agents and brokers with an interest in risk management as well. *
For more information:
Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
Web site: www.rims.org