Take Advantage of this High Profile Volunteer Opportunity: More on the Call for Proposals 2022

Listen in and you won’t be disappointed when you hear about the #protips to getting an education proposal accepted at URMIA. Take advantage of this high-profile volunteer opportunity and learn more about the changes to the Call for Proposals for the professional development line up in 2022. Executive Director Jenny Whittington hosts co-chairs Kathy Hargis and Marje Lemmon along with staffer Michelle Smith to review all you need to know! 

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Transcript

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Show Notes

URMIA website
Call for Proposals
Call for Volunteers

Guests

Kathy Hargis, MBA, DRM - Associate Vice President of Risk Management and Compliance, Lipscomb University
Marje Lemmon, ARM, CPCU, DRM - Risk Manager, Yale University
Michelle Smith, CAE – Senior Director of Events, URMIA

Host
Jenny Whittington, CAE - Executive Director, URMIA

Transcript

Jenny: Hello out there. This is Jenny Whittington. URMIA’s executive director. Happy to be back to do another URMIA Matters podcast with, again, three of my favorite people today, we have two of our annual conference chairs, Marje Lemon from Yale and Kathy Hargis from Lipscomb University. And we also have Michelle Smith, our meetings person here at URMIA.

And we are here to talk about our call for proposals and the differences that we are going to share with the URMIA audience today. So why don't we go around Marje, just say, give a big hello and welcome.

Marje: Hello everybody. in URMIA land. Thanks for joining us today, And Jenny, you always say. whoever's on the podcast or your favorite.

So it kind of dilutes it just, just wanted to tell that, 

Jenny: But it's so true. You guys are, are really my favorite, but I have a lot of favorite people in the, in the URMIA land.

Marje: Glad to be here looking forward to the conference. 

Jenny: Okay Kathy, give us a big, big Tennessee welcome. 

Kathy: Good morning, everybody. And, uh, it's great to be here today and, uh, looking forward to discussion today about some fun things coming up. So, and we'd love to be your favorite people, Jenny, for sure. We like to think were your favorite people, even if we're not, you know, what can I say?

Jenny: and uh last, but certainly not least is Michelle Smith. Our meetings person, Michelle has all kinds of knowledge to share with us today. So Michelle, give everybody a warm welcome.

Michelle: Hello everyone and listening. Um, thank you for tuning in today to URMIA matters. Happy to be in season three and talking about one of my favorite things, um, the annual conference and our regional conferences.

Jenny: And first let's give a shout out to Todd from University of Kentucky who, um, everybody I think is aware that there were some terrible storms in the central part of the United States and his institution, University of Kentucky was, was affected and our thoughts are, are to him and any other or URMIA members - folks that were affected by those storms where we're thinking of all of you and hoping for a speedy recovery.

Okay, so today we are talking about the call for proposals. We have launched this part of our website and we're trying something pretty different this year. We're doing “one call for all” of our programs.

So this, this call includes the annual conference, the regional conferences, our webinars, our podcasts articles for URMIA insights and our community. conversations or our facilitated discussions. So, Michelle, do you want to give us a little background on why we came to this model?

Michelle: Sure. Thanks, Jenny. Um, yes, we are indeed trying something a little bit different. Um, part of it is, uh, intentional and part of it was sort of a hand that was dealt to us. We, in 2021 as, you know, had our annual conference later in the year than usual and so it put us administratively behind a little bit on getting things up and out to the membership and so we want to make it a little bit easier for our members to consolidate their work when they are sharing their expertise with us. And this “call for all” is one document, one wufoo form, where they can drop in all of the information and then tell us how they'd like to share it.

And so a particular content area could be shared at a regional conference, an annual conference and, on a podcast discussion. So, uh, they only have to enter it that one time in this document, in this form.

Jenny: Awesome. And I know some behind the scenes, things have been happening for the annual conference in Indianapolis, which is September 10th through the 14th at the beautiful JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis. And, uh, Kathy and Todd and Marje and the team here, we've met a few times, getting things going, talking early about what we want the program to look at, Marje, I'm going to turn to you… when you think about our planning for the, uh, the 2022 conference, what kind of things are you looking for to get in the call for presence for proposals? 

Marje: Well, I think, um, you know, one of the beautiful things that we've done is and this is all shown on the call for proposals. website. is, the selection criteria is specifically listed.

Contributors to focus on URMIA’s education plan and on the core competencies, that they're all spelled out on there, there's links to, detailed information. which makes it super easy for anyone who wants to put a presentation together to just kind of click through and figure out what we're looking for and tailor the presentations to that.

Um, I think the nice thing about it as well is that it outlines where the focus is obviously the annual conference we want focuses on all four core competencies. Um, but each of the regionals are focusing on different things. So that helps when people think what they want to put together and what they want to present on and how they want to present.

So there's, uh, new things, I mean, there's always the tried and true things that everyone's always interested in learning about, but new topics and new emerging type things that fit in with the core competencies and with our education plan would be super helpful for, the proposals. 

Jenny: Awesome. Well, I'm glad you brought up the education plan. So for those out there in URMIA land who have not clicked on our education plan recently, Gary Lansdale, um, has been working tirelessly on updating the education plan. It's an Excel sheet so it's, it's not some, um, elaborate complicated document, but it is a series of topics that Gary has worked with some URMIA members on things that we would like to see, through our conferences, through our programming, just in general. So if you guys open up the education plan, And you go to the far, left-hand upper corner. You can see that we, the things that we're really looking for are highlighted. Um, so if you open up the sheet and you look at the pink cells, we haven't had anything on that topic in our programming in the last three years and the orange for kind of a salmony color.

We've only had a few of these topics in prior years. So to me, that's kind of some low hanging. Those are the ones we're really trying to get to in the education plan. So I encourage everybody to, to, um, open up that document and look, and Michelle, do you have anything to add in that, to the education plan specifically?

Michelle: Um, no, I think again, yeah, those emerging risks are going to be, great topics,  of the tried and true all, you know, all four of the core competencies are important, but there are some areas that we just haven't been able to zero in on recently in any of our topics. One of those for example, is technology and technology integration. If you're using a risk management information system, we don't have a lot of information and, and continually have questions within the URMIAnetwork and community posts, asking for some guidance in that, in those areas specifically what tech solutions our campuses are using. And so if you have information that you'd like to share, or you can talk about the differences between different types of systems that you've used, the scope of a system that you've created in, um, that would be a really great presentation with lots of things to share, visually as well, and could provide some takeaways, in a document or an actual system that you might be able to share with other folks. So that's one example of a specific topic we might be looking for.

Jenny: Excellent. And Kathy, let me turn to you here and ask, I mean, are there any specific topics you're looking for or any, any kind of deeper dives? I know we've talked internally about really trying to mix up our schedule in, Indianapolis and really kind of take deeper dives into certain topics, maybe doing some pre-cons and some post-cons. Do you have any specific thoughts about that, Kathy? 

Kathy: Sure Um, you know, we're all excited about, you know, a number of different topics, but you know, some of the things specifically, we've already talked a little bit about those emerging risks that are out there. I mean, those are always on the forefront. And I think in today's time, we seem to have more and more of those, but you're looking at some things too, from International perspective, um, those international risk. And we've definitely had a lot of those during COVID and, um, looking at what the new normal is going to be with that. ERM, our enterprise risk management is always a very big topic, uh, that we're looking for and. This past conference in Seattle, that was a very, very popular track.

And I think I would be estimating that that's probably going to continue on, uh, as we look at, at, in the as well, you know, some things around compliance. I think we're seeing a lot of newcomers. Things come down the pike. So those are just a few of the, you know, probably things that jump out, for the upcoming conference that we might really be, uh, particularly interested in hearing about from all of our members.

Jenny: And I know on the submission form, we talk about having three kind of basic, session, formats. Um, we, we offer breakout sessions that are about 60 minutes. We have flash sessions that are 30 minutes and limited to one speaker only, and those are open to our affiliate members. So if you are a solo presenter on a, a topic that can be covered in 30 minutes, we will continue the flash session tradition that we've started. And again, we are doing pre and post conference workshops. Um, so we described those as three-to-eight hour sessions, exploring a topic in depth. Um, big, big reminder here that the deadline for all of this is January 31st. So it is mid December now. Uh, we have a big holiday season coming and in just a few weeks. Um, and I think we all know in the higher education landscape, that things kind of slow down this time of year. And, uh, we all need that, we all all need a break. We need, uh some relaxation this time of year, but when you guys get back to campus back to your, your day jobs in early January, please start thinking about, uh, submitting to this, this call for proposals, because we really, we want to offer, really stellar programming through 2022. We are putting the Five in-person regional conferences.

Now I know Marje, you've been really involved in the Northeast regional over time. We will you speak to the needs of that conference a little bit?

Marje: Sure. and Jeanette is our conference chair for this year from Babson and she'll do a great job.

So excited about that. and so the Northeast regional conference is scheduled for April 4th and fifth. So it usually starts with an evening event on the fourth. And then the conference itself is the full day on the fifth. And this year, the focus for the Northeast will be competency one, which is the risk management technical skills. So think about that. If you're thinking about going to the Northeast early April is a beautiful time of year, or it could be. One or the other in new England. So, you know, it's a crapshoot, but come visit us anyway. It's always lovely. Um, so yeah, we're really looking forward to that. We're back at the Babson Executive Center this year, which is a great place to have a conference and the food is really good and plentiful.

So you'll get good instruction. You'll get alert. You'll learn a lot. You'll eat well. You'll see all your friends. You may see snow who knows it'll be great. it's a focus on the competency. Number one, the risk management, technical skills. So keep that in mind. 

Jenny: Excellent. And then this year we are doing something pretty, pretty different too. Um, we are partnering with three of our sister associations in higher education. We are working with ACCED-I, which are the conference and event planning. In Atlanta on March 7th and 8th, we will have a little overlap with some of these, these groups during our conferences, but they really will be like a regular army or regional where you will be with fellow risk management professionals.

But we, you, you will have the added, um, insight from seeing, uh, other parts of higher education, campuses. So in Atlanta, we partner with a set-up. On 

March 7th and 8th, and then March 16th or 17th, we are going to Chicago and partnering with ACUI. Those are the student unions. So kind of, um, student life folks.

And then on March 29th and 30th, we are partnering with ACUA, which are the auditors in higher education. And we will have a audit and compliance theme there, and that is going to be in Raleigh. So this is all a little bit different. we encourage you to really check out the schedule. we will round out the regional conferences with a Western regional in Denver.

Um, Michelle, anything to add on those, those sister associations.

Michelle: Um, I think it's just a really great opportunity for both associations and for URMIA specifically just reaching across campus to get that collaboration. And, obviously within core competency four, we have that, emphasis in, in those sub competencies on each of these areas. And, these. associations have been very gracious in sharing their space. And so URMIA is, um, working within their contracts rather than creating our own, which helps us create less financial risk. And we are excited about these opportunities and have been talking about them for a while, and they've finally been able to come to fruition. So if you're thinking about expanding your knowledge across campus and deepening your tool belt. Um, this, this is a great way to do it. And so they have offered us a full membership discount to attend their full conference. If you want to go to the full conference, or if you just want to attend the URMIA regional conference, you can do so at that typical rate with that typical schedule, but know that there will be at least one or two sessions where we overlap with that group and share content.

Jenny: So again, the one call for all. I encourage everybody listening to this podcast to check out the website. It's important to consider submitting content to all of our different channels. And we were always looking for great content to bring to the podcast and we might have some special, podcast guest hosts.

Again, this year I could see Kathy and Marje being guests hosts to a future podcast. cause we should have a ongoing, um, promotion of the annual conference all year again, September 10th through the 14th and the beautiful JW Marriott in Indianapolis. the deadline for, the submissions is January 31st.

Any, any final comments Marje? 

Marje: The deadline think of it this way... if you're on your sofa, watching the NFL playoffs, the deadline's coming close. If you're watching the super bowl, you've already missed it. So once you start watching it while you're watching your favorite team play football type up your presentation proposals,

Jenny: Hey, did you happen to see that game last night? Did you hear about Mr. Brady's big achievement?

Marje: I did. Yes, I did. I didn't watch the, all of the game, but I was, I heard the highlights when I was driving to work this Pretty impressive, man. Regardless of what state he plays in, 

Jenny: totally. Kathy, any, any closing?

Kathy: Sure. I just want to encourage you as Marge's just said, we've got, you have going to have 45 days, 45 days folks to get these in. So that's plenty of time be thinking, you know, about the topics I encourage you as, uh, as we've already heard to really go to it. Look at this on the website to kind of get some ideas, you know, be thinking about collaboration.

Some of your, uh, fellow risk managers and other professionals in the industry and what, um, you might be able to, uh, bring together collaboratively and, uh, bring to these conferences. We're really excited. I want to personally say that, you know, I've been, been working on the, uh, indie conference now. It seems like, uh, uh, Uh, while, you know, it was supposed to have been.

I know. So for me, I am particularly excited that, you know, we're really going to be there in 2022. Um, missed it in 2020. So, you know, I'm going to be doubly excited to, uh, be able to be there all of us in person and have a great conference and really looking forward some to some great, great submissions from all of my colleagues out in the field.

Uh, I know you all are going to hit a home run.

Jenny: You brought up a great topic. So new year's resolutions, everybody might consider. Making a submission, a new year's resolution. Maybe there's a topic that you've been meaning to learn more about, or a colleague that you wanted to get to know. Um, I'll challenge all of you out there. 

Put that up, farther up on the, on the list and get to that before January 31st.

Um, this is a great time to, uh, invest in yourself and in your professional development. So as we're thinking about a new year and a new beginning, and hopefully, all positive things, for 2020 to put, put this on your, your list and how about you, Michelle? Any closing comments?

Michelle: Well, I think they've given some great advice here. Thanks, Kathy and Marje already. Um, I also would underlie that we are looking for all levels of learning. And so if you're a newcomer, if you're new to the association, but came from another field, uh, we would love to hear from you. I think it takes all, perspectives to get us to the finish line.

And as I've learned in my short time here at URMIA, everyone is very generous in sharing their knowledge and sharing their tools and their best practices. So, um, don't be intimidated if you are a newcomer, we would love to look at your proposal as well. And then I would say that, learning styles are very different.

So, uh, we have presentations that typically are, lecture style. We have group work sort of workshoppy type. The styles of presentation. So be creative. tell us how you're wanting to engage your audience. And, um, we look forward to reviewing those regardless of the style of the presentation to, 

Marje: yeah I think Jenny you raised a really good point with the new year's resolution is. There's so many different with all of doing the one call for all and all of the different mediums, whether it be annual conference, regional conference, webinar, podcasts, whatever.

There's so many opportunities for everybody to submit something larger, small, and, and to, and to pick up on something that Michelle said earlier, you know, look at what's on there. It'd be a discussion board. What are people asking about? What are, what do they need to know more about? Pick up on one of those topics.

And if you do a grid of what they're asking about and all the different ways you can communicate about it, there's a ton of opportunities for newcomers old timers. In-betweeners everything. So it's great. It's a, it's a great way to reformat it. I love this one call for all, and that there's a ton of opportunities out there for our members to help And to learn 

so kudos to you guys. 

Kathy: And don't forget January 31st. Be there, be

Jenny: before, you know it, 

and 

Kathy: 45 

Jenny: I loved Michelle's, um, tie into the finish line because we do have a race theme in 2022. So the, the, the conference theme for our annual conferences, race for risk management and our regional theme is on track with core competencies. So I challenge you all to work a few, um, racing themes into your session somehow. we do plan to do some, some great tie-ins to the racing environment in Indianapolis, more to come on that and we will share some sneak peaks as we get them for the conference. But thank you all for being my guests today on the, on the URMIA matters podcast, I think that's going to be a wrap for URMIA matters.