AIR Envision Europe 2014 was held in the greater London area at The Runnymede on Thames resort. It was the largest AIR conference outside the United States, both in terms of the number of attendees (nearly 100) and the number of sessions (28). The conference opened with a welcome reception at Runnymede's Lock Bar and Grill, followed by two full days of sessions and a private AIR-only event at Thorpe Amusement Park.
The purpose of the conference was to help clients become even more effective at their jobs and truly own the risk. The conference had two basic tracks; one that focused on AIR software-Touchstone® and CATRADER®, and the other on models. That goal was certainly reached at AIR Envision Europe 2014 based on feedback from attendees.
Giovanni Garcia and Yörn Tatge, managing directors of AIR's London and Munich offices, were the co-hosts. After a strong keynote by AIR President and CEO Ming Lee describing AIR's vision for the future of analytics, COO Bill Churney provided an overview of key existing Touchstone functionality, including geospatial analytics, underwriting mode and non-cat analytics, as well as a technology roadmap for the future of Touchstone. Over the course of Envision Europe, there were several in-depth Touchstone sessions covering recently released functionality, which was available for further hands-on exploration in the Solution Centre.
Of course, modeling is at AIR's core. The most anticipated and well-attended sessions were the launch of the U.S. inland flood model, updates to the U.S. severe thunderstorm model, and the Canada earthquake model. In addition, we had three modeling sessions specifically related to Europe-Overview of the 2013/2014 Winter Storm Season, Analysis of Floods in the UK and Central Europe in 2013 and 2014, and Preview of the Expansion of AIR's Flood Model for Europe.
In addition, Envision Europe included three panel sessions. The Future of Analytics Industry Panel featured panelists Kei Horie (IRRIC, a group company of MS&AD) and Alan Calder (Aspen Re). This was followed by the Reinsurance Brokers Perspective Panel, with Paul Miller (Aon Benfield), Imelda Powers (Guy Carpenter), and Matthew Eagle (Willis Re). On day two, the Third-Party Provider Panel featured representatives from Ambiental, EuroTempest, IHS, and PERILS.
AIR Envision Europe 2014 was a success all around -from the learning opportunities to the social and networking activities. But you don't have to take our word for it-the AIR Meeting Pilot conference app provided opportunities for attendees to provide feedback in real time. Average scores for all aspects of the event-including presenters, content, food, venue, and offsite events-were consistently higher than 4.0 on a scale of 5.0. And almost everyone stated that the sessions would help them do their jobs better. We're looking forward to another exciting Europe conference next year!
