I can’t lie, I was a bit skeptical going into ITI Europe this year, the layout is different, there were more people registered to an already jammed packed attendee list from last year and if I’m honest, I think I preferred the ITI Europe 2023 set up.
Having said this, the event has been great. The communication around the event and opportunity to meet people and network have been in abundance. I started my ITI week off on Tuesday with *** club. Apparently there’s a rule…we can’t talk about it!
But it was great. I met a lot of lovely people, some people I’ve furthered an existing connection with and some people it was the first time we had met. But running around the city does really bring people together.
Day 1 - the morning of the first day of ITI Europe was an early start for yoga, much needed after the events of the day before! It was a lovely calm and relaxing way to start the day. I will definitely do it again next year! Even if just for the breakfast and the views!
For the rest of the event, now what can I say, the stand was busy all day, the footfall was high, the lights were low and the smoke machine smokey. It was a crazy day, as events are, but I did feel like there was a disconnect between the floors. The ground floor (where we were) had the atmosphere of last year, but the 1st floor had the space (and wine) that people were drawn to, and the 2nd floor was just a free for all of meeting tables that were so close together you couldn’t hear your own conversations, it was just a raucous of noise and people in a green house, with lovely views of the city. I didn’t have time to attend any talks, so that was my aim for day two.
I did however manage to reconnect with people that I haven’t seen in a long time, and people I only manage to see at events, so that was really nice and has definitely made me realise I have been working in insurance for far too long!
Day 2 - what a morning. The Buzz Wire Game competition really kicked in. And times were rapidly coming down. The winner with an impressive time of 20.55 seconds was Semiye-Dilber Avci, Account Manager at Endeva - well done. This is definitely going to be a staple on the stand moving forwards.
Throughout the day there was still lots of footfall. Which we weren’t really expecting for day 2 and the room was buzzing with activity until about 3pm.
I managed to sneak off for a quick interview with Nicole at Insurance Knowledge Hub. It was my first opportunity to do anything like this. I was excited and nervous and who knows, the content might not actually be any good, but I gave it a go and Nicole and her team made me feel so relaxed. It was a pleasure to be helping to create content for them.
Finally, I decided that with a fully loaded two days it was time to take to a rescheduled talk at 4.05pm and Melanie Malherbe definitely didn’t disappoint. I took my wine and I sat in awe of an amazing woman (with great pants) and how she is truly adding value to an industry where value is easily added, if only they would listen!
The event ended reconnecting with Irene Paguio and connecting with Melanie and her colleague.
For me, this event was great from a business perspective but also a personal perspective. distriBind is not only curing the insurance industry of its spreadsheet addiction, it’s enabling its employees these opportunities to continue their professional development and make connections for life.