Here I’m going to follow up on that short talk and give the guys and gals a bit of advice on how to improve their LinkedIn profiles as many of them are on this platform already.

Here goes – top five tips on improving your LinkedIn profile for my new actuarial buddies – (and a big thanks to The Actuarial Profession for asking me to give the talk) and for non-actuaries too!

1. Looking good. First things first – get ready. Fill out your summary, put up a picture (and ladies out there who are camera shy, you just have to get over this) and fill out your background and education. This is your calling card, and people will check you out on here, so make sure it is as well presented as it can be. If spelling or grammar is not your thing, or English is not your first language, get someone to proof-read it.
2. Connect. Every time you meet someone or get a business card, add them to your connections on LinkedIn. It is amazing how quickly your circle of connections can grow. Remember, that until you have a good number of connections, what you say will have a limited audience. There is a useful “people you may know” section at the top right of the home page – so click on it and have a look. When you send invitations to connect, personalise them. Say where you met or why you would like to connect – it matters.
3. Update your status regularly. There is no better way to stay in the consciousness of your connections than to update your status – it will stream on the homepage of your connections. If you are on Twitter, be careful about sharing everything on LinkedIn – these are two very different audiences, and some people on LinkedIn will not understand you are using Twitter shorthand, or the like the more casual tone used on Twitter. Instead (sorry for those of you not on Twitter for getting a bit technical here), use #in to add it to your LinkdeIn stream.
   

   This is only funny if you use twitter!

   Think about when you post your updates – if your connections are in different time zones, then it may be useful to use a tool such as Hootsuite, that will send out updates at different times.

4. Join groups. Some groups on LinkedIn are really, really good. Some are full of spam. So join and check them out. I’m a member of two specific types of groups: those of my peers such as fellow PR professionals; and those of potential clients such as insurers, reinsurers, actuaries, lawyers, brokers, accountants etc. For insurance and reinsurance, there is a wealth of knowledge out there, from Takaful groups (Insurance that complies with Islamic laws) to catastrophe or Insurance Linked Securities groups. When I have found there is not a group in an area, I’ve set one up – for example, the Rendez-Vouse de Monte Carlo and 100 Women in Reinsurance. Have a look around the groups – or the groups your connections are members of.  You can join up to 50. I’d also recommend setting updates for once a week (they will come into your email), otherwise you will feel like you are being spammed. Once you’ve joined, actively participate and show your expertise. But remember – stay away from politics or religion – and never get drawn into an argument.
5. Content matters. Make sure what you say is relevant. I can’t emphasise this enough. What you say matters so make it appropriate for what you do. Add connections to good articles about your company, your work, stories on clients, comments on other people’s updates. Remember this is work, and LinkedIn is a very formal place, so your tone matters. Be a resource and be helpful, and remember your audience (ie your connections or group members) and what they might be interested in.

The Learning Centre on LinkedIn is great too. Have a look at it, it is worth taking the time

And finally, for the actuaries who have been asking for the video I played during the session, here is The Actuary Song. Enjoy – and go be a hero:

That said, in the same week, I met another CEO who is striving to have a 50/50 split of men and women in his busniess to avoid the testosterone-charged decisions being made. He says he is still a long way off, but he has a goal in mind.

At a recent Swiss Re/Aon talk held in New York, the Women in Leadership Forum had Katherine Giscombe of Catalyst, a leading research firm, as a keynote speaker. Her statistics revealed that companies with more women in the C-suite and on boards of directors are more financially successful, as measured by ROE (return on equity) and total return to shareholders. To read about it, click here.

In fact, in an interview with the Financial Times Weekend Magazine a couple of weeks ago with Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund,  said (about the financial crisis of 2008): “We don’t know if 2008 would have been different with more women in finance, but my intuition tells me it might have been.”

Lloyd’s Director of Market Development Sue Langley has written an interesting article on women taking the lead in encouraging diversity in the London Market, which you can find here… And a short extract , which shows the article is worth reading:

“I’m always told there are not enough senior women out there and that they drop out due to the ‘work life balance’. Well we all, men and women, want one of those. Personally, I think we are not creative enough about where we look for talent. Yes, of course more women than men drop out from the workplace, but we’re not yet looking for a 50:50 balance on Boards, just achieving 25 percent of women would be good!”

Well, just before Christmas myself and a friend set up a new group on LinkedIn – 100 Women in Reinsurance. There are now 57 members, and as you would expect for a group of reinsurance professionals, members are spread around the globe, and contains some of the highest ranking women in reinsurance. We are working on getting more on board.

The highest percentage comes from the US – 33 percent, and are mainly New York, but a few from Princeton, where Munich Re has its American offices. The second is from Bermuda, 25 percent, with women from all ranks and ranges. Then London takes up 21 percent of the women, and Zurich and Ireland are on equal footing at 9 percent. The remainder are spread equally between Cayman and South Africa.

The question is: what to do with the group? There are relatively few women in reinsurance, particularly at executive level, but we are gathering them together using LinkedIn.

Please let me know what you think about this post – and if you know any women who should be part of 100 Women in Reinsurance!

Finally, apologies to readers of @reinsurancegirl’s blog for the delay since the last post – time has gotten away with us, as it can do at this time of year.

We are delighted, of course. It is the second year running that we have been voted onto this list, and we find ourselves in very distinguished company. As rein4ce is a public relations company rather than an insurance or law firm, it is particularly pleasing to have made the list. We specialise in public relations for the insurance and reinsurance markets – and companies that service them such as law firms – and it is a real accolade to have been selected.

LexisNexis stated: “The Top Blogs contain some of the best writing out there on insurance law. They contain a wealth of information for the insurance law community with timely news items, practical information, expert analysis, practice tips, frequent postings, and helpful links to other sites.These blogsites demonstrate how bloggers can impact the world of insurance law.”

We still find it fascinating that so many new blogs keep appearing, and this year the competition was tougher than ever. Thank you to those of you who voted for us and for those of you who keep on reading the blog.

What is interesting about the LexisNexis list is how the depth and bredth of companies with blogs has changed in the past year alone – there is a lot more out there to choose from and with great quality of writing and information too. Click here to see the list.

Included are old favourites, such as Guy Carpenter’s GC Capital Ideas, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge’sInsureReinsure, Risk and Insurance Management Society’s Risk Management Monitor and Goldberg Segalla’s The Insurance and Reinsurance Report.

But check out some of the other law firms and experts on here – there is a wealth of knowledge out there. Ones I’d not come accross before include Zalma on Insurance, 
and there is a lot of in-depth knowledge in White and Williams’ Binding Authority Blog.

Thanks once again for reading the blog, and please pass it on to any colleagues you think would find it interesting.

The list is featured on the LexisNexis Insurance Law Community and is well worth checking out as it has some favourite resources on there – from Artemis.bm, to GC Capital Ideas, to Lloyd’s of London’s blog, to Goldberg Segalla’s Insurance and Reinsurance Report, Risk Management Monitor and Willis’ new Willis Wire blog.

At rein4ce, we don’t normally ask for much, but we would today ask for your support by voting for our blog. Simply follow the link here and leave a comment by October 7th offering your support. Every little helps!

Among the diamonds, champagne and glitz of the setting, real work was being done, brokers standing their ground on reinsurance pricing for the January 1, 2012 renewals, reinsurers saying prices will rise by up to 10%.

This dance will continue in Baden Baden in October, when the real negotiations are finalised, and may well result in a 5 to 7% rise, according to those in the know.

This year, there was a newcomer to the event, however. World Risk and Insurance News – a new dedicated insurance news channel launched there and has produced several reports on the back of it – and they are very good, well edited and well presented with good content.

You need to login, but the service is free here – sorry no image as I can’t see how to share it – but if I do, I will post it up here.

World Risk and Insurance News

And while I’m at it – a big round of applause to the insurance and reinsurance publications who slogged away producing daily newspapers, Global Reinsurance, Insurance Day, Intelligent Insurer, Reactions, The Review and to those who tweeted about the event:

@toreornottore,@reactionsnet @reinsurancegirl @ToReOrNotToRe @InitioH @EQECAT @thepeav @BerkowitzRtrs @BlacklerCW

And, PS to regular readers, sorry for the lack of posts as we’ve been hard at it re-doing our website and rebranding.

Please give us your feedback – and anything you would like to see on here that is not explained.

As many readers know, we are a public relations company that specialises in financial services, particularly insurance and reinsurance and we also deal with the companies that serve this market.

We also have a niche expertise in business to business social media – a skill set developed out of a need in the market. So, if you are so inclined and are on any platforms, please find us – we are on Twitter (@rein4cePR and @reinsurancegirl), Facebook, and LinkedIn and Mairi Mallon and Stephen Breen are also on Google+.

And if you are not, here is a wee video (showing my age here) to help us celebrate…. Celebration time! Cool and the Gang

It's Free!

Some say you don’t get something for nothing – well that is not true. Today we are feeling generous.

At rein4ce, we feel that social media should be part of the public relations (PR) offering – and we help clients get to grips with it.

And the first thing we do is issue guidelines for staff – they need to know where they stand, and management needs to draw a line in the sand to legally protect their company.

Today, below, you will find sensible social media guidelines to use in your company. This will not only help your employees know what they are and are not allowed to do, but also help you with risk management by ring-fencing your company from inappropriate behaviour from rogue staff (and it happens, I tell you).

Here below I’ve pasted a short set of rules, and a longer set of guidelines. They are based a lot on common sense, other guidelines we have come across and are the ones we use here at rein4ce and sister company Breen Media for our staff.

So…. (drum roll…..)

FREE GUIDELINES!

Social Media Guidelines

This is a guideline document for corporate use of Blogs, wikis, social networks, and social media

Introduction

Responsible engagement

Whether or not a user chooses to create or participate in a blog, wiki, online social network or any other form of online publishing or discussion is his or her own decision.

However, online collaboration platforms are fundamentally changing the way we work and engage with each other, clients and partners and therefore the company has issued these guidelines for the use of such platforms.

Summary

1. Know and follow our (INSERT LINK TO OWN CORPORATE GUIDELINES) corporate guidelines . The same rules apply online.
2. Users are personally responsible for the content they publish on blogs, Facebook LinkedIn, Twitter or any other form of user-generated media.
3. Identify yourself—name and, when relevant, role within the organisation—when you discuss company or company-related matters. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the company.
4. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
5. Don’t provide our or another’s confidential or other proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations that may be deemed to be private or internal to the company.
6. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, where possible link back to the source.
7. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in our workplace.

General Social Media Good Practice

1.    Respect your audience. You should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory—such as politics and religion.

2.    Be aware of your association with the company in online social networks. If you identify yourself as an employee, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients.

1. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
2. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. The company is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on the company.
3. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time, whether on pictures, video or written word. Protect your privacy.
4. If you publish content to any company website outside of the company and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with the company, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent the company’s positions, strategies or opinions.”

Social Media Guidelines:

Our Business Conduct Guidelines and laws provide the foundation for Our policies and guidelines for blogs and social computing.
The same principles and guidelines that apply to users’ activities in general, as found in our Business Conduct Guidelines, apply to users’ activities online. This includes forms of online publishing and discussion, including blogs, wikis, file-sharing, user-generated video and audio, virtual worlds and social networks.

As outlined in the Business Conduct Guidelines, we fully respect the legal rights of our employees in all countries in which we operate. In general, what you do on your own time is your affair. However, activities in or outside of work that affect your job performance, the performance of others, or our business interests are a proper focus for company policy.

We support open dialogue and the exchange of ideas.
We regard blogs and other forms of online discourse as primarily a form of communication and relationship among individuals. When the company wishes to communicate publicly as a company—whether to the marketplace or to the general public—it has well established means to do so. Only those officially designated by the company have the authorisation to speak on behalf of the company.

However, we believe in dialogue among employees and with our partners, clients, members of the many communities in which we participate. Such dialogue is inherent in our business model of innovation, and in our commitment to the development of open standards. We believe employees can both derive and provide important benefits from exchanges of perspective.

One of our employees’ core values is “trust and personal responsibility in all relationships.” As a company, we trust — and expect — employees to exercise personal responsibility whenever they participate in social media. This includes not violating the trust of those with whom they are engaging. Users should not use these media for covert marketing or public relations. If and when members of our Communications, Marketing, Sales or other functions engaged in advocacy for the company have the authorisation to participate in social media, they should identify themselves as such.

What does an employee’s personal responsibility mean in online social media activities? Online social media enables individuals to share their insights, express their opinions and share information within the context of a globally distributed conversation. Each tool and medium has proper and improper uses. While we encourage all of our employees to join a global conversation, it is important for employees who choose to do so to understand what is recommended, expected and required when they discuss company-related topics, whether at work or on their own time.

Know Our Business Conduct Guidelines. If you have any confusion about whether you ought to publish something online, chances are the BCGs will resolve it. Pay particular attention to what the BCGs have to say about proprietary information, about avoiding misrepresentation and about competing in the field. If, after checking the BCG’s, you are still unclear as to the propriety of a post, it is best to refrain and seek the advice of management.

Be who you are. Some bloggers work anonymously, using pseudonyms or false screen names. The company discourages that in blogs, wikis or other forms of online participation that relate to our company, our business or issues with which the company is engaged. We believe in transparency and honesty. If you are blogging about your work for our company, we encourage you to use your real name, be clear who you are, and identify that you work for our company. Nothing gains you more notice in the online social media environment than honesty—or dishonesty. If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, be the first to point it out. But also be smart about protecting yourself and your privacy. What you publish will be around for a long time, so consider the content carefully and also be judicious in disclosing personal details.

Be thoughtful about how you present yourself in online social networks. The lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred in online social networks. By virtue of identifying yourself as an employee within a social network, you are now connected to your colleagues, managers and even our clients. You should ensure that content associated with you is consistent with your work at our company. If you have joined the company recently, be sure to update your social profiles to reflect our guidelines.

Speak in the first person. Use your own voice; bring your own personality to the forefront; say what is on your mind.

Use a disclaimer. Whether you publish to a blog or some other form of social media, make it clear that what you say there is representative of your views and opinions and not necessarily the views and opinions of the company. At a minimum in your own blog, you should include the following standard disclaimer: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent the company’s positions, strategies or opinions.”

Managers and executives take note: This standard disclaimer does not by itself exempt managers and executives from a special responsibility when blogging. By virtue of their position, they must consider whether personal thoughts they publish may be misunderstood as expressing company positions. And a manager should assume that his or her team will read what is written. A public blog is not the place to communicate our policies to company employees.

Respect copyright and fair use laws. For the company’s protection as well as your own, it is critical that you show proper respect for the laws governing copyright and fair use of copyrighted material owned by others, including our own copyright and brand. You should never quote more than short excerpts of someone else’s work. And it is good general blogging practice to link to others’ work. Keep in mind that laws will be different depending on where you live and work and that our company has offices in many jurisdictions.

Protecting confidential and proprietary information. Social computing blurs many of the traditional boundaries between internal and external communications. Be thoughtful about what you publish—particularly on external platforms. You must make sure you do not disclose or use confidential or proprietary information or that of any other person or company in any online social computing platform. For example, ask permission before posting someone’s picture in a social network or publishing in a blog a conversation that was meant to be private.

Our business performance. You must not comment on confidential financial information such as future business performance, business plans, or prospects anywhere in world. This includes statements about an upcoming quarter or future periods or information about alliances, and applies to anyone including conversations with Wall Street analysts, press or other third parties (including friends). Our policy is not to comment on rumours in any way. You should merely say, “no comment” to rumours. Do not deny or affirm them—or suggest either denial or affirmation in subtle ways.

Protect our clients, business partners and suppliers. Clients, partners or suppliers should not be cited or obviously referenced without their approval. Externally, never identify a client, partner or supplier by name without permission and never discuss confidential details of a client engagement. Internal social computing platforms permit suppliers and business partners to participate so be sensitive to who will see your content. If a client hasn’t given explicit permission for their name to be used, think carefully about the content you’re going to publish on any internal social media and get the appropriate permission where necessary.

It is acceptable to discuss general details about kinds of projects and to use non-identifying pseudonyms for a client (e.g., Client 123) so long as the information provided does not make it easy for someone to identify the client or violate any non-disclosure or intellectual property agreements that may be in place with the client. Furthermore, your blog or online social network is not the place to conduct confidential business with a client.

Respect your audience and your co-workers. Remember that we are a global organisation whose employees and clients reflect a diverse set of customs, values and points of view. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, but do so respectfully. This includes not only the obvious (no ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc.) but also proper consideration of privacy and of topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory—such as politics and religion. For example, if your blog is hosted on company-owned property, avoid these topics and focus on subjects that are business-related. If your blog is self-hosted, use your best judgment and be sure to make it clear that the views and opinions expressed are yours alone and do not represent the official views of the company. Further, blogs, wikis, virtual worlds, social networks, or other tools hosted outside of our protected Intranet environment should not be used for internal communications among fellow employees. It is fine for employees to disagree, but please don’t use your external blog or other online social media to air your differences in an inappropriate manner.

Add value. The company is best represented by its people and everything you publish reflects upon it. Blogs and social networks that are hosted on company-owned domains should be used in a way that adds value to our business. If it helps you, your co-workers, our clients or our partners to do their jobs and solve problems; if it helps to improve knowledge or skills; if it contributes directly or indirectly to the improvement of our products, processes and policies; if it builds a sense of community; or if it helps to promote our values, then it is adding value. Though not directly business-related, background information you choose to share about yourself, such as information about your family or personal interests, may be useful in helping establish a relationship between you and your readers, but it is entirely your choice whether to share this information.

Don’t pick fights. When you see misrepresentations made about the company by media, analysts or by other bloggers, you may certainly use your blog—or join someone else’s to point that out. Always do so with respect, stick to the facts and identify your appropriate affiliation to the company. Also, if you speak about a competitor, you must make sure that what you say is factual and that it does not disparage the competitor. Avoid unnecessary or unproductive arguments. Brawls may earn traffic, but nobody wins in the end. Don’t try to settle scores or goad competitors or others into inflammatory debates. Here and in other areas of public discussion, make sure that what you are saying is factually correct.

Be the first to respond to your own mistakes. If you make an error, be up front about your mistake and correct it quickly. In a blog, if you choose to modify an earlier post, make it clear that you have done so.

Use your best judgment. Remember that there are always consequences to what you publish. If you’re about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, review the suggestions above and think about why that is. If you’re still unsure, and it is related to company business, feel free to discuss it with your manager. Ultimately, however, you have sole responsibility for what you post to your blog or publish in any form of online social media.

And finally… don’t forget your day job. You should make sure that your online activities do not interfere with your job or commitments to customers.

What is interesting in both cases was how much buzz a core handful of people could create – those that were listening, were listening intently, and those who were not listening, wanted to know what it was all about.

I feel these two conferences will be remembered as watersheds in the use of social media in insurance. What would be nice next year is to see if they are used as part of a social media strategy that incorporates not only other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogging but also works in tandem with advertising, marketing and PR – how much more effective could this be?  We will have to wait and see…

RIMS (knicked from excellent Risk Management Monitor)

Well, well. Knock me over with a feather – social media has come to risk management. At the RIMS conference in Vancouver we saw a whole swathe of mega-corporates Tweeting their hearts out, expressing opionons, talking to each other and delegates.

It is normal for the press now to tweet, but the most surprising thing was the gusto with which some really embraced Twitter this year.I have to acknowledge Risk Management Monitor here – I’ve stolen one of their pictures here. They did a grand job for those of us who could not make it and kept us up to date with words and pictures.

There were some big corpoations who obviously get it, with @AonCorp and @ZurichNAnews topping my list of non-press Tweeple (twitter people).  Other biggies out Tweeting their corporate messages out (and doing a very good job too) were:

@FMGlobal, @WillisGroup, @EQECAT , @LloydsofLondon, @ACE_Group, @Marsh_Inc, @ZurichAdvocate, @TRV_Insurance, @libertymutual.

Honestly, in the rest of Twitter, this would barely be a blip – but here, in risk, risk management, insurance and reinsurance, it is a HUGE deal.

There were some names I know well from the insurance/risk management Twitterverse who kept everything going, as usual:

@Bank_Risk @normanmarks @ClearRisk @jamiepachomski @CybilRose @ tyfrancis @tjohansmeyer @dsanmarco@ hmriskgroup and @GirlPR, and worth a huge pat on the back were @RiskMgmt and @RiskInsurance and organisers @RIMSorg.

There were a lot of new or newish faces for me out there, made up of actuaries, lawyers, marketing people, risk managers, insurance broker, agents small and big … there is a long list, but here are some that I liked (let me know who I’ve missed off and I’ll do another roll of honour): @wcanalysisgroup, @aflibglobal, @David_Seibert, @ServiceMasterRM, @UGAJack, @Carter_CAN, @riskchief, @IBBSolutions, @progressivemed, @KellerTXDad, @BusInsPWinston, @BusInsMHofmann, @NLPeLearning, @DougYPark, @FreemanCo, @ SCCMedia, @ pmlawcanada, @FBMC, @zurichCommunity, @Squrrell, @SmartCompInc, @safetynational, @ilstv, @FocalPoint_NJ, @RiskAce

A big congratulations to you all. Roll on #RIMS2012!

Opinion on the insured cost of the earthquake and tsunami vary from $10 billion to $35 billion. But with each estimate looking at different perameters, it is difficult to compare like with like. Some say the cost will be much higher once international business interruption (BI) cover is taken into account, while others believe that the way the Japanese market works, the cost will, in fact, be surprisingly low. Some in the know say that total cost of reinsured losses will be as little as $6 billion ($2.5 billion Zenkyoren, $1 billion unknown and $2.5 billion non-life). Others say it has been grossly underestimated with losses from international BI to roll in for years and years to come.

What is certain is that prices in the Australasia region are already  going up. Retrocessional cover has increased in price and while earthquake renewals in Japan have been put back from the April 1 renwal date, initial figures show that windstorm cover in Japan has already risen by between four and seven percent.

What is less clear is what will happen with pricing in other catastrophe-prone areas around the world. In the US, there will be squeals of “not fair” if prices go up from events happening the other side of the world in say, Florida.

We will have to wait and see – and let me know what you think or have heard.

In the meantime, this is the most frightening video of the tsunami I have seen so far, and well worth taking the six minutes of your life out to watch it.