Well, another big RIMS conference has come and gone, and I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect as we adjust back to the humdrum routine of our daily lives.
Denver was a good, albeit cold, host city for the conference this year. Hotels were reasonable and close to the Conference Center, and the Colorado Convention Center was a great facility. It was a big, BIG improvement over Los Angeles last year.
The workers' compensation agenda was, however, disappointing this year. While comp has never been a big portion of RIMS, this year it took a definitive back seat to other lines and topics, and while the comp sessions offered were good, they were too few and far between. I honestly think the folks at RIMS need to make a conscientious effort to expand the offerings for those of us in workers' compensation to keep attendance a viable option for us.
Now, as most of us know, sessions aren't the only reason to make the annual migration to this risk management Mecca. This is the place to meet and greet, as well as see and be seen. To that end it was a busy week of meetings and social events, and our hosts did not disappoint.
I want to thank Tristar Insurance Group and Safety National for invitations to their terrific receptions. The food and Margaritas were excellent at both locales! Also, I thoroughly enjoyed a media dinner hosted by Sedgwick, and their closing event on Wednesday night truly rocked the house. I've never seen a waterfall capable of spelling words, displaying logos and entertaining a crowd with a variety of images, but they had one there.
Also, the music was of “my generation” – loved every minute of it.
And of course, no major conference would be complete without a blowout bash from the folks at MedRisk. Their Event O2 RIMS Event at Mile High Station drew over 800 people and was a smashing success. Attendees were greeted by a huge MedRisk billboard outside Mile High Station, and were entertained by Spinphony: a cutting edge classical pop group consisting of four virtuosic strings players and a DJ. Spinphony writes their own arrangements blending well known classical pieces into pop hits to create unique mash ups. The “Grand Finale” consisted of a dramatic ending with “vertical drummers” playing with Spinphony. Essentially, the drummers were attached to rigging and they “flew” above the audience while performing. There was VIP vodka tasting, and a Sushi Bar with Koi swimming around it. By the way, the drummers apparently scared the crap out of the fish – I didn't witness it, but I'm told the fish swam to the other end of the pool, huddling together. They survived, and to my knowledge no injury or stress claim has been filed.
That would be a fishy claim, after all.
And there we have it – another one under the belt as it were. RIMS is back in the big easy next year, its third visit to New Orleans since I began going to these things. Here is to a year of recovery, and to great things at next year's event.