Luke Holloway reflects on a buzzing Insuring Women's Futures Live week, held in March
The Chartered Insurance Institute's (CII) Insuring Women's Futures Live week in March was a huge success.
'The Big Conversation' was an action-packed happening of keynote speakers from across the insurance and financial planning profession and beyond, lively panel discussions and interactive workshops, all aimed at improving the way the insurance profession engages with women as consumers.
The event welcomed nearly 300 delegates on the day -- well in excess of the anticipated target of 250 -- and the CII's social media was a buzz of activity, with CII tweets alone gaining nearly 1,000 engagements on the day, helping #IWFLive trend on Twitter at number seven.
Host for the day was award-winning broadcaster and presenter, Angela Lamont, and speakers included Dr Sue Black, founder of global community TechMums, who shared insights she has gained from 20 years of campaigning for more recognition and support for women; and Jane Portas, Women's Risks in Life lead, who outlined key themes arising from the Insuring Women's Futures (IWF) research into women's risks in life.
INTERACTIVE INNOVATION
Collaborative workshops were held in the afternoon, where delegates generated a huge number of innovative ideas for the IWF Market Task Force to consider in changing attitudes and culture towards women's risks. These included topics such as flexible working, future talent, senior decisions, trust and transparency, education, and the positive business impact of diversity.
Following the interactive sessions, the event was completed with the live sharing of results and feedback from the day's voting and discussions, showing what were attendees' priority concerns and what people felt were the best ways to make a change and positive impact.
The event also saw the launch of season two of the CII Podcasts series, recorded at IWF Live and featuring a fantastic selection of speakers and attendees. These included Charlotte Matier, director of development, Alzheimer's Society; Rose St Louis, head of strategic partnerships at Zurich; Dame Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd's of London; and Sam Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub Enterprise.
The podcasts have now had more than 4,000 downloads since their launch earlier this year.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD
Furthermore, during March the CII supported Women of The World (WoW) once more, holding a 'think-in' idea generation session with people from outside the profession, while the CII's chief executive, Sian Fisher, and Jane Portas joined panel sessions with the Fawcett Society, sharing thoughts on how we can improve the equality of pensions and debt.
One delegate returned to WoW from last year to share the news that as a direct result of our previous event she had gained a significant degree of financial independence, having convinced her wealthy husband to create a pension in her own name, and opened all their finances to joint control.
Both events and the overall message of IWF gained massive attention across the profession and beyond, and you can keep the conversation going by using the #IWFLive hashtag on social media. Look out for more to come from the IWF Task Force.
91% gave the IWF live a 'Good to Excellent' rating
82 % of IWF live attendees said they were inspired to get involved with MTF initiatives.
FIND OUT MORE
You can still download the full IWF Securing The Financial Future of The Next Generation report, by visiting: www.insuringwomensfutures.co.uk
And to listen to latest episodes of CII Podcasts, visit: bit.ly/2Gx4HyC or search your usual podcast provider.