RIMS: 2009 conference preview

Disney World area is the site for an excursion into practicality

By Michael J. Moody, MBA, ARM

Planning an annual convention is a challenge, and when the gathering is the size of the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s (RIMS) 47th Annual Conference & Exhibition, the logistics can be especially daunting. Featuring 120-plus educational sessions, 400 exhibitors and other special events, RIMS is headed to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, April 19-23, 2009.

Community Service Day, on Sunday, April 19, takes place at the “Give Kids the World Village,” a nonprofit, 70-acre resort for children with life-threatening illnesses. Volunteer activities will include clearing trash, assembling welcome baskets, installing and painting fencing, and helping with construction.

April 19 also includes several fund-raising endeavors. One of these activities is the annual Spencer/Gallagher Golf Tournament that benefits the Spencer Educational Foundation, named for its founder and dedicated to investing in “education research for the purpose of making education better.” The Spencer Cup Hockey game is also scheduled that day.

Disney’s Epcot Center is the venue for the conference opening reception on Sunday evening. Attendees will be transported around the world in one night. Savoring international cuisine, dancing to global rhythms, being entertained by international performance artists and mingling with colleagues are on the evening’s agenda.

Educational sessions

Each year, RIMS provides a full agenda of educational sessions which cover a broad range of topics. Leesha Heard, RIMS conference programming committee chair, notes that significant effort is required to finalize a program as diverse as the RIMS conference. She explains that work on the next year’s sessions starts shortly after the previous conference.

“We strongly encourage partici-pants to begin thinking of potential sessions as soon as they return home,” she says. RIMS typically asks their members to submit session topics by early August. The programming committee members then systematically review the 1,300 or so suggestions. Paring down the list to the 120 needed topics “is the easy part,” Heard says. The committee must balance the number of entry-level sessions with the more advanced sessions, as well as spread each level appropriately over the conference timeframe.

Conference educational sessions will again follow a track system, covering topics such as finance, insurance, international, risk management and claims. This year will also have a separate track for enterprise risk management (ERM). In fact, Heard notes, “ERM is becoming more important and, as a result, we have 17 sessions on ERM-related topics.” This year’s ERM sessions include topics such as “How to Right-Size ERM for Your Mid-Size Organization,” and “Leverage ERM to Improve S&P Credit Ratings.”

Another area of the educational sessions that has proven to be very popular is the “Hot Topics.” Heard points out that due to their nature, the topics are typically not selected until closer to the conference. This year’s Hot Topics include:

• “Navigating The Financial Tsunami”—Like a tsunami, the U.S. financial crisis has expanded to encompass our global trading partners, customers, suppliers and outsourcers. The ripple effects will negatively impact almost every business, government, charity, consumer, employee and student throughout 2009 and into 2010. This session takes an enterprise view of the financial and operational impacts that will most likely affect organizations and provides a series of recommendations to help organizations mitigate risks, survive the next 18 to 24 months and prepare for economic recovery.

• “Five Questions to Ask Before Switching Insurance Companies”— The federal government’s huge loan to AIG has led many corporate policyholders to take stock of their insurance portfolios and consider changing insurance companies on one or more lines of coverage. While re-examining existing insurance at this point is a matter of due diligence, risk managers should recognize that the decision to switch insurance companies—or stay put—should not be made purely on the bases of price and financial strength. This panel will examine issues that must be considered if the insurance portfolio is to work as planned, including limits, additional layers, claims handling history, mandatory policy clauses, pre-existing conditions and the pitfalls of a new application process.

• “Insurance Coverage for Subprime Mortgage Lawsuits”—Lawsuits have begun against investment banks, investment advisors, banks, mortgage companies and nearly everyone involved in the securitization of mortgages. Many of those lawsuits may be covered under standard insurance policies already purchased prior to the financial crisis, including D&O, E&O, fiduciary liability insurance or financial institution (FI) bonds. Policyholders seeking protection under these policies need to be prepared to counter typical insurance industry defenses against coverage, including unilateral rescission, the bad acts exclusion and the insured vs. insured exclusion. Learn how these defenses can be effectively countered in many cases by the policyholder.

• “D&O Insurance During the Economic Crisis”—Directors and officers (D&O) insurance may be your company’s most valuable insurance asset during this economic downturn. Learn how the economic crisis is revolutionizing the D&O marketplace and how you can take advantage of the upheaval. Insurance companies are adding new exclusions and changing underwriting criteria. Stay a step ahead by knowing what your D&O insurers are thinking, discovering how to negotiate for better terms, discussing whether it’s time to switch carriers and learning what precautions to take if you switch. Get checklists of coverage provisions to request and exclusions to avoid.

Other items of interest

This year’s RIMS conference offers several opportunities that are rarely available to the general public. For example, a session held at a Disney theme park offers participants a “peek behind the magic.” These sessions will include both a survey of risk management at The Walt Disney Company as well as a fascinating tour of the artistic, scientific and technical operations that go into creating the magic of the Walt Disney World Resort. Participants will go underground and behind the scenes to see how Disney “cast members” handle risk management every day.

Another unique opportunity will allow participants to go behind the scenes of the busiest airport in Florida (Orlando International Airport) and experience first-hand how fire and rescue keeps the airport and airlines as safe as possible. Learn an overview of aviation regulations, response protocols and training, then jump into the “hot seat” and participate in an actual rescue event. Learn how mutual aid response from all community organizations around the airport keeps planes in the air. Bomb dogs and bomb detection techniques will be discussed and demonstrated.

One other event that is a must-see is the conference Exhibition. With 400-plus exhibitors from all areas of the risk management profession, the exhibit hall has something for everyone. From large insurance companies and brokers to specialty service providers, participants can learn more about the various vendors in a relaxed atmosphere.

Conclusion

Risk management is changing rapidly and the RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition is the place to keep up to date with those changes. Whether you are a risk manager for your firm or are a broker who wants to keep your finger on the pulse of risk management, the RIMS conference is the place to go.