Craig Weber had some interesting thoughts on the scheduling of insurance technology conferences in a recent post on the Celent blog page. The 2011 ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum began on May 22 and the IASA Educational Conference & Business Show began 14 days later on June 5. No matter how you look at it, that's bad timing.
It's not getting much better in 2012, either. ACORD LOMA is returning to Orlando on May 15 (a mid-week conference) and the IASA event will be in San Diego on June 3. That's a 19-day spread between the two events.
Like Weber, I'd love to see these two major events spread out over months, not weeks. I'll also admit that this is selfish on my part. Our publication puts out daily magazines at each of these conferences, so conference season was an incredibly busy time for me.
But organizations rarely do things for my benefit, so I've learned to adapt.
Vendors, though, are sought out by these organizations and asked to pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of exposing their products and services to the members of these insurance associations.
I spoke to several vendors that attended both conferences and their wish was for a longer break between these two shows. But that hasn't kept the vendors away; IASA announced they sold more booths in 2011 than ever before. I'm not sure how well ACORD LOMA did in a historical perspective, but they appear to have bounced back quite nicely from the horrors of the 2009 economic problems.
I don't have the ability to run the attendee lists of the two conferences against one another, but I think it's safe to say the list of attendees from insurance companies doesn't contain many duplications. Given the cost of travel, time away from the office, and the expense of registration and hotels, I'm guessing not many insurers are scheduling both major conferences in the same year.
Would spreading out the conferences help increase attendance? It's possible, but with other smaller players in the conference market—such as the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America's insurance technology conference in October, IASA's Executive EDGE Conference in September, and the many events ACORD has planned throughout the year, the dance card already is full.
Weber's other suggestion was to merge the two conferences, but given the success each has achieved as the economy climbs out of its dark hole, it seems doubtful either side would consider such a move today. ACORD and LOMA successfully pulled off a merger of their individual conferences in 2004, but mergers rarely happen when both sides are enjoying bountiful success.
Since this is my blog and I have the right to be selfish, I would love to see the two sides create a little more space between conferences. If ACORD LOMA could move ahead one week and IASA move back a week, it might allow everyone—the vendors who line the associations' coffers and the analysts and consultants who provide a knowledge base for the attendees—to breathe a little easier.
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