The Underwriting Agencies Council (UAC) has postponed its Melbourne expo and is keeping a “watching brief” on future events as the coronavirus pandemic halts more large-scale industry gatherings.

The Melbourne expo, held in collaboration with the National Insurance Brokers Association, was due to be held at Crown on May 22 and follows the recent Sydney event, which did take place at the end of last month.

Further expos scheduled for Brisbane on July 15, northwestern Sydney on August 12, Adelaide on September 10 and Perth on November 12 remain in doubt.

“A decision on whether each one will go ahead will be made closer to the date and depend on the situation at that time,” UAC says in advice sent to members today.

The council has also delayed the start of this year’s morning seminar series until at least August.

“This has been done as a sign of corporate responsibility to members and the wider community and is a reflection of suggestions for social distancing, where practical,” it says.

The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) has rescheduled its Cyber Terrorism Research and Insurance Seminar from this month to November 12 at NSW Parliament House in Sydney.

The event is intended to share findings from a research project, Insurance Risk Assessment of Cyber Terrorism in Australia.

“With the project now complete, ARPC is keen to share the research findings with government and insurance industry stakeholders who generously supported our research through active participation in cyber workshops and other means,” it says.

Insurtech Australia says it has postponed events until mid-May, at which point it will reassess the situation.

An event on breaking down barriers to enable insurtech was due to be held next week in Sydney, with speakers including Envest MD Greg Mullins and Insurtech Gateway co-founder and director Robert Lumley.

The Australian Insurance Law Association (AILA) has so far postponed five events and others are likely to proceed via livestreaming only. The Annual General Insurance Law Review in Sydney last week was converted to livestreaming and AILA says it's well advanced with plans to use alternative options to present its educational events, including webinars and podcasts, as an interim measure.

The Risk Management Institute of Australasia (RMIA) is in the middle of running full day coronavirus masterclasses for risk management and HR practitioners, hosting an event in Melbourne last Friday, Brisbane today and Sydney on Thursday. It also has other enterprise risk management courses scheduled.

CEO Jason Smith says there has been significant demand for the masterclasses which have been kept to only 20-30 people, and the group is following health authorities’ guidance for participants.

“In speaking with those that attended the masterclass in Melbourne and Brisbane, every attendee said that knowing what they know now about the virus, they would still have attended,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“Interestingly, the drop-out rates of members cancelling their attendance to training occurring over the next two weeks has been minimal, and due to either their need to self-isolate due to recent travel, or an explicit directive from their employer not to attend any external events.”

The group is preparing to offer webinars and digitally enabled training in future, if necessary.

Internationally, the high-profile Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) annual conference in the US is no longer going ahead. This year’s conference was set to be held at the Colorado Convention Centre in Denver from May 3-6.

It’s the first time in the society’s 70-year history that RIMS has had to cancel its annual conference, which usually attracts Australian risk managers, insurers and brokers.