The annual Austbrokers & IBNA Member Services (AIMS) conference kicked off on the Gold Coast this morning, with 432 delegates gathering to network and discuss industry issues and the catastrophes which have affected Australian communities this year.

The conference brings together the members of Austbrokers and the Insurance Brokers Network of Australia, and this year also has a significant number of very young delegates – the children of brokers enjoying their first-semester school holidays.

GM Martin McAvenna says the annual gathering of AIMS members has a very serious purpose this year.

“In a conference like this we have an opportunity to sit down with brokers and insurers to examine the events of the past three months and how we manage such events in the future,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“We have to deal with claims and technical issues right across Australia, and that’s what we’ll be concentrating on over the next few days.”

The conference finishes on Wednesday night.