An Inside Look into this Year’s RISKWORLD

Diane Tang, Content Marketing Director  

I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, for my first-ever RIMS national conference a week ago. Joining me in Atlanta were 10 of my LineSlip teammates. Together, we made up a small team of delegates to represent LineSlip for the company’s second appearance at the event.  

Coming into the event, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Everything I heard was from my teammates who had previously attended the event. From my understanding, RISKWORLD is the equivalent of the Super Bowl for risk managers. Although I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, I sensed a lot of excitement from my team. The weeks leading up to the event were buzzing with activities internally — meetings and demos were booked, email campaigns were sent, discussions were held with partners, and more. As things were set in motion, I couldn’t help but be filled with excitement for what was to come. This was my opportunity to speak to risk managers and get a sense of their challenges and what they like.  

However, I knew I had to manage my expectations, especially with everything I had heard about our missing booth debacle last year. I knew our team had to stay on our toes and expect the unexpected. Luckily for us, RISKWORLD 2023 went as smoothly as can be, other than a hotel debacle (but that’s a story for another day).  

LineSlip’s Happy Hour Event  

Our team wanted to kick off this year’s RISKWORLD with a bang. And what’s a better way than with a happy hour event? LineSlip hosted a happy hour event at Dos Bocas on Sunday night before RISKWORLD officially started. Our team was expecting the event to be fun and social, where we connect with our current and future clients. What we weren’t expecting was a full house. The place was packed! More people showed up at the event than anticipated, but the more, the merrier! Alcohol was poured, the nacho bar was set up, margaritas were made, and hors d’oeuvres were passed around. What can we say? LineSlip knows how to throw a party!  

The Marketplace  

When the conference commenced, I was shocked at the size of the event. There were almost 10,000 attendees at the event, with hundreds of exhibitors in the Marketplace. I’ve been to my fair share of huge events like this, but I still couldn’t help but be astonished at the scale of the event. My teammates weren’t kidding when they referred to this as the Super Bowl for risk managers.  

When I showed up at the LineSlip booth, it was a relief to see that it was there! For the time being, our team could let out a sigh of relief that we didn’t have to deal with the fiasco we had the year before. And not to be biased, but our booth looked really darn great!  

During the duration of the event, there was a lot of activity at our booth. We held countless meetings and demos. There were many instances where I had to jump in to tell people how LineSlip could transform their risk practices. Overall, I loved conversing with the people that showed up at our booth — whether it was about LineSlip or just fun small talk about random subjects. I also enjoyed watching my teammates give demos and seeing how people’s eyes lit up when they realized what LineSlip could do for them in their risk departments.  

Luckily, I found some time away from our booth to walk around and explore the Marketplace. I was amazed at how creative people were at their booth. I know risk and insurance kind of have a bad rap for being bland, but from what I saw, it was definitely not dry or bland. There was ice cream, popcorn, sand sculptures, a gumball machine, photobooths, a large bobblehead structure, and even dogs to pet!  

Smoothie Bar  

With the level of creativity around us, the LineSlip team knew we had to step up our game and do something fun (after all, we would say we’re a pretty fun company). After thinking long and hard, we decided to have a smoothie bar so attendees could have a refreshing pick-me-up during the event. We were happy to see many people stopping by our booth to grab a strawberry, peach, or mango smoothie!  

Fictional Risk Manager Drawing 

Another fun activity we did was a drawing of which fictional characters would make the best risk managers. The choices were Dwight Schrute from The Office, Velma from Scooby Doo, and Spock from Star Trek.  

When we created the drawing, we were genuinely curious about who the risk managers would choose. However, we weren’t prepared for the debates and discussions that came with it. In true risk manager fashion, almost everyone had a rationale behind their choices. We heard many people debate the options with their colleagues. Everyone had A LOT to say and was super confident in their choice of who would make the best risk manager.  

It ended up being a super close race, with Dwight beating out Velma with ONLY two votes for the new title of risk manager added to his resume, along with beet farmer, volunteer sheriff’s deputy, and assistant to the regional manager. You can read a hot take on the results here.   

Outside of RISKWORLD  

Since LineSlip is a fully remote company, it’s always a treat when we have the opportunity to meet one another in person. We took advantage of every chance we had to bond with each other, from sharing meals to riding scooters around Atlanta.  

Personally, my favorite meal from Atlanta was the team dinner we had after the first day of RISKWORLD at Bulla Gastrobar, where we enjoyed our tapas-style meal consisting of meatballs, shrimp, Spanish omelets, pork tenderloin, salmon, and more. And not to mention, the churros and flan were to die for!  

I can’t wait till the next time I get to meet up with my LineSlip team again!  

Final Thoughts on the Event  

All in all, I had a lot of fun at my first RIMS event — a lot more fun than I thought I would have at a risk and insurance event. It was stimulating to interact with risk managers in person and see what they like and dislike. I left this event with a better understanding of the space as someone who doesn’t come from the insurance world.  

It was also refreshing and reassuring to see students at the event, as I know the risk management field needs more young people in the space. It’s exciting to think that these people will be the future of risk management one day in the near future.   

It was gratifying to be here with LineSlip. Many attendees would come to our booth and events filled with excitement to see LineSlip in action. From what I’ve witnessed, more and more people are starting to recognize LineSlip. Seeing other people’s excitement for us makes all our hard work worthwhile. I left feeling more inspired for the work that I do because I know it’s contributing to the digital transformation of the risk management industry.