Description: Negotiation - it's not just for buying a car! Actuaries negotiate every day at work, whether it's getting buy-in to change a critical assumption or a more reasonable timeline to complete a project. This workshop will be led by an instructor specializing in executive education and will offer techniques you can use to be more effective in your day-to-day life.

Description: Learn concrete strategies to manage executive dysfunction. The author discusses techniques she has learned along the way to improve productivity and manage time. High-level tips are: 1) Write it down. 2) Plan your day. 3) Don't let email and social media steal all your precious time. 4) Give your brain a little distraction. 5) Find an accountability partner. 6) Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. 7) When distracted, begin again. 8) Give yourself grace.

Description: Discussion of peer mentoring: what it is, how it is different than traditional mentoring, and different forms that it can take. Some forms are 1 on 1, informal, formal, talking partners, groups, Lean In Circles, SOA Community Engagement. Includes a list of potential discussion topics for use in peer mentor conversations.

Description: Hear from the chairperson on themes in the June 2017 issue of Product Matters published by the Product Development Section.

Description: Article Description * “Agile” development is all the buzz in the IT world. You may have heard your IT teams talk about scrums, sprints, and the war room and wondered if they were playing a strange new sport. Or perhaps you are already applying agile techniques in your product development. This article will discuss what agile methodology is, pros and cons, and how you might apply it to insurance product development.

Description: Recent and upcoming changes to U.S. statutory reserving rules are expected to impact term insurance prices. This article is an analysis on what that impact might be.

Description: Companies can implement VM-20 as early as 2017. While there have been research and educational materials produced to help actuaries and others better understand the implications and implementation of the new requirements from a financial reporting perspective, little has been developed emphasizing the product development actuary perspective. This SOA research project examines the impact of VM-20 from a product development actuarial perspective. The research will help actuaries and others enhance current practices to optimize pricing and product development activities within a VM-20 framework as well as enhance intracompany communication and efficiencies related to VM-20. This session is a follow-up to the session at last year’s symposium and will focus on Phase 2 of the research project.

Description: Discussion of Product Development section volunteer opportunities and why someone should consider volunteering.

Description: Administration system updates and conversions. Legacy systems and their associated problems. Continued low interest rates and in-force policy management actions affecting policyholder behavior. These are but a few of the taxation challenges facing insurers managing the growing complexity of their businesses.<p> Presenters will consider these and other product taxation-related issues, highlighting ways insurers have sought to address them, their impacts, and potential mitigation strategies