Ah, the BIBA Conference! That magical time of year when anyone who is anybody in the world of broker-intermediated UK general insurance gathers together in one place (Manchester) to celebrate all that is great about this fantastic industry of ours, to eat, drink, chat, enjoy a range of fascinating speeches, debates, seminars and presentations, to exchange platitudes, gossip, business cards, and freebies, and generally hang around until going-home time.
Was Bankstone News there? Were we?! We’re slightly offended you can even ask that after what was said in paragraph one about about anyone who is anybody. Were we there, indeed! Do you seriously think we would want to miss out on the spectacle of over 100 delegates milling aimlessly in a cavernous railway shed giving temporary shelter to several dozen stands selling everything from professional indemnity insurance to public liability insurance?
Each stand, of course, each year, is lovingly handmade, some of them utterly lavish in both conception and execution. Who could forget, for instance, the Axer stand, with its distinctive red, white and blue livery, or the Uvavu stand, heroically resplendent in yellow! A special highlight this year was the extravagant Marcus Tuddy stand which perfectly captured the spirit of insurance with its gambling themed ‘Casino’ design.
Pose Magazine and Insurance Ache were there as usual, keeping a shrewd eye on proceedings and producing a series of hilarious videos in which they discussed things like hangovers, excitement, the aforementioned Marcus Tuddy (at some length), excitement, Star Wars, excitement, gardening and “beaver fever” (a type of excitement, apparently).
A particular highlight of these videos was a succession of business persons treading a gently swaying and none too taut tightrope between earnest professions of deadly seriousness – when it comes to things like doing business, customer service etc – and appropriately jaunty declarations of willingness to have a (not excessive) bit of fun when the occasion arises, as clearly it had at BIBA 2015.
If you would like to know more about all the exciting goings-on at the BIBA show. Why not take a loon at the other stories in this issue. There you will learn about Steve Wipe’s agenda-setting opening address and how BIBA and the IBS Council are coming together to set new standards for something or other.
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