The RIMS Apprentice: Day 3

Hello All,

I know this post is a bit late, but this is literally the first time I have been in my room in about 24 hours. Unlike all you business folk, I am a measly student with no blackberry or wireless Internet, and my hotel is a 15-minute cab ride from the convention center, so I have no way of accessing my laptop.

I will write about yesterday's events today, and today's events tomorrow so I have time to catch up!

Yesterday, Monday, was quite a long day! I woke up and wrote about 900 e-mails to mostly everyone I had met the day before. Many industry people responded almost immediately; it was nice to have a response back. All of the Temple students then headed to the luncheon, which was fantastic. There was a doo wop band after, and everyone sang along!

After lunch, we went to a session on captives. Of course, we walked right up and sat in the front row, at which time one of the speakers said "A ha, you must be students, students are the only people who ever sit in the front row!"

It was nice to chat with the speakers one on one before the presentation. The presentation was very interesting. The other students and I were contained in the 5 percent of the people in the room who didn't own or operate a captive. I find captives to be a very interesting market, so it was interesting to hear other people in the industry's takes on the captive markets.

We took the trolley back to the hotel to get ready, then the night truly began. Everyone has been joking that I seem to know where all the parties are, but it is the truth. I have a habit of meeting people who will be hosting the parties that night just in the nick of time.

My friend Tiffany and I began the night at the Miller party at a bar/lounge. There was quite a large turnout. It was very nice, because Tiffany's aunt's best friend (if you can follow that!) actually runs the Bermuda office for Miller. It is definitely true what is said; the insurance industry is a very small industry. Sure, there are offices and people in every corner of the globe, but everyone seems to know everyone! Six degrees of separation definitely applies, and usually it is only 2 or 3 degrees!

David Fuhrman of Willis had invited us to a party at PETCO park, so that was our next stop. Another friend of ours from Temple, Jon, met up to mingle with everyone from Willis and their guests. It was incredible, hosted up in one of the suites on the third floor. There were all kinds of self serve food stations, including one complete with Chinese take out boxes that you could fill with Asian delicacies.

David introduced me to Frank Beuthin, the Vice President of Property Risk Solutions at Willis, and I was very excited to find out that he was originally from Berlin, Germany! Ich liebe Deutschland! I have been there a few times, and it was great to talk with someone who knew the area.

That is another thing I have learned over the trip: Once you have made a connection with someone and formed some sort of common ground, it is very easy to network and get along.

Much to the moaning and groaning of the Willis party attendees, we had to leave to go to the Marsh party at Dick's last resort (sorry guys!). The party was very crowded, but I recognized a lot of people I knew.

My friend Erica and I ended up meeting Paul Funchess and Kyle Bassett from RPost, a neat company specializing in registered email, who we hung out with for most of the party. They introduced us to a lot of their friends and clients as well.

Once they closed up the Marsh party, all of us rushed over to the Convention Center to see Hootie and the Blowfish. The show was intense; they played many amazing songs. I may be young, people, but I still know who Hootie is!

But in all seriousness, was anyone else severely freaked out by the floor shaking? Will Nagel of riskproducts.com and I were laughing at how ironic it would be if the floor caved in at a risk management conference. It was literally shaking and pulsating to the music. I tried to stick near the edge, figuring that if the floor collapsed, it wouldn't be near me. Or since I was on the edge, if I collapsed in too, my fall would at least be cushioned by everyone in the center who had already fallen! Just kidding, I know that is morbid.

The ACE party was of course amazing. The food, lighting, decorations, and of course music was phenomenal.

After ACE, Tiffany, our faculty advisor Dr. Drennan, our professor Mike McClosky, and I took a cab to the Zurich party on the other side of the harbor. It was quite a sight to see: we were greeted with flashing necklaces and waitresses carrying rum drinks! We mingled with everyone at the party, and I made some new friends out on the deck. A big thank you to Eleanor Barnard, who put us on her private guest list!

I looked all over the bar for a family friend of mine who helps run the Zurich Philadelphia office, but alas he was nowhere to be found! I especially loved all of the floating advertisements (aka yachts) for Zurich. I was dying to go for a sail on one, but no one would take me :-(

They said they were for advertisements only, but someone has to be on the boat steering, right?

We finally finished up the night and headed back to my hotel in Old Town. We had an early meeting the next day, so I had to get to bed.

It is now 3 a.m. in San Diego, and I am such a devoted blogger that I am up typing. Did I mention that I have a taxi picking me up to take me to the airport at 6 a.m.? Oh well! I will write my blog all about today (well, technically yesterday) tomorrow (again, technically today) either in the airport or when I get home to Philadelphia.

Until then, Goodbye, Ciao, Auf Wiedersehen, Adios, etc.