Education the ongoing commitment

NZILA President’s message – Kavita Deobhakta

The start to 2022 has seen the New Zealand National Committee put its commitment to members’ ongoing education and development at the forefront of its agenda.

Coaxing members back to in-person meetings and events has been challenging, with Auckland especially facing an Omicron surge in February and the rest of the country gradually following suit.

However, the second quarter of the year has seen a gradual return to the office workspace, with companies encouraging staff to return to the workplace and engage again in person-to-person meetings.

That has been a good omen for organisations such as NZILA, which is committed to delivering the right mix of in person and online professional development. In line with its objectives, the NZILA committee was excited to offer members focused professional development with speakers from among senior members of the industry and the legal profession.   

Of particular note for the year ahead, June sees the popular “Meet the Leaders” series launch around the country. The event brings together industry leaders from all aspects of insurance, from claims executives, brokers and adjusters to lawyers, to share their industry insights and knowledge over informal breakfasts or lunches.

The event is especially designed to encourage newer members of the industry to hear the experiences and challenges facing the industry and the leaders’ unique approaches to solving industry issues. Now in its second year, the event is well attended and has a growing reputation for being the ‘speed dating’ of insurance – a good opportunity to ask the leaders all those tricky questions, face to face.

The final half of the year sees the NZILA annual conference on 28-30 September in gorgeous Queenstown. We look forward to being able to deliver the long-awaited in-person conference.

With lockdowns and myriad issues later, the conference committee’s dedication to persevering with the event means we can finally deliver the conference, despite the setbacks. We look forward to welcoming NZILA members and our Australian counterparts.