April 14, 2020

Insurance trends and boogie moves at InsureTalk1 – and you can still catch it online if you missed it!

If you didn’t make it to CN&CO Events’ first-ever InsureTalk online mini-conference, don’t stress… you can still stream it via the CN&CO Events website. (Cost to stream is R200 plus VAT and watching the conference will earn you 1.5 CPD hours, so it’s definitely a worthwhile exercise.)

For the 170+ people who joined us, here’s a reminder of what happened. (And for those who didn’t, here’s what you missed):

CN&CO’s Carel Nolte welcomed delegates, saying how brave the speakers and performers were for joining us on our first online mini-conference. He also thanked our sponsors, ITOO and Marsh, for their support “coming in blind”. 

Futurist Graeme Codrington believes it’ll be a long time before we get back to business as usual after Covid-19. This “new normal” won’t end on 1 May, he says. He also posed the question “What if we find that we prefer this new way of doing things?”

‘What if we find that we prefer this new way of doing things?’ asks Graeme Codrington

Justin Naylor, MD of ITOO (who headline-sponsored the conference), spoke on his favourite Winston Churchill quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. His talk focused on the way various companies have dealt with crisis. He also shared his personal insights into trends that will be sparked by Covid-19 and chatted a bit about the disparity in the insurance market between coverage of tangible and intangible assets.

Simon Colman of SHA (a.k.a. Judge Dread from The Insurance Apprentice) excelled as emcee of the conference, raising some interesting points himself around cyber risk during the pandemic.

The CEOs of the Financial Intermediaries Association (Lizelle van der Merwe), South African Insurance Association (Viviene Pearson) and Insurance Institute of South Africa (Thokozile Mahlangu) shared the views and initiatives taken by their respective organisations in response to Coronavirus.

CN&CO’s Carel Nolte then engaged in a conversation with Simon about the plethora of online tools available for use during lockdown, and how well SA is doing during the crisis.

South African singer Leah provided some incredible entertainment during the “break”, performing live via video conference. Her talent and energy were absolutely amazing, especially considering the conditions under which she was performing. Delegates reported all sorts of things going on in their homes during Leah’s performance, including dancing with kids and dogs. Check out Leah’s latest music video below:

Marsh fielded the next two speakers, Sashnee Singh and Justin Keevy.

Sashnee spoke on the importance of online security, particularly when it comes to video conferencing facilities. She spoke of our “at home” mindset, which might make us a little more lax when it comes to the threat of cyber risks.

Justin went into detail from a broker perspective on the types of policies that have the potential to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. He also discussed cyber exposure and unpacked the difference between commercial crime and cyber insurance

Our final two speakers were from ENS – Matthew Morrison and Rob Scott.

Matthew gave an in-depth explanation on what happens if a person or company is unable to meet the conditions of a contract due to our current unusual circumstances. The legal term is “the common law of supervening impossibility”.

Our final speaker, Rob Scott, faced some technical difficulties with his presentation, which centred on the insurance implications surrounding our present situation. Rob was just getting warmed up when the connectivity gremlins crept in and cut him off from the conference – but not before he had shared the FSCA’s standpoint on treating customers fairly during the crisis.

To watch the conference online, click here. A reminder: the cost is R200 (excl. VAT) and it will earn you 1.5 CPD hours.

Also make a note to attend InsureTalk2, which takes place on 14 May 2020… wherever you are! Booking is now open!

BOOK HERE for InsureTalk2

The last word

“InsureTalk provided delegates with the opportunity to embrace the new normal and highlighted that the new normal is here to stay. Furthermore the talks encouraged us to care about our communities and think beyond self.” – Thokozile Mahlangu, IISA

“Brilliant session with fantastic speakers, singers and dancers. We have normally avoided these conferences in the past often due to the time and hassles associated getting to and from the event. VIRTUAL is the way to go, even out of lockdown. Congrats to you and your team for making this webinar happen.” – Rhett Barker, Barker Insurance Brokers

“The vital, takeaway-insights I gained from today’s InsureTalk webinar, hosted by CN&CO, resonate with me. Our insurance industry must register that adopting a comprehensive, digital operating model is mandatory for survival. The days of forests of paper have passed and post-Covid we must urgently reevaluate our technology strategies and adapt our key processes accordingly, to service the ‘new normal’. Eye-contact will be predominantly via screens, making the ‘human-touch’ of empathy even more important to building relationships. For our business to thrive in a post-pandemic marketplace, we will need to meet very different needs, for example … restricted freedom of movement will alter personal risk profiles – and some! Put simply … digitise or die!  Thank you CN&CO for this timeous reality check.” – Wimpie van der Merwe, Global Choices