Key Takeaways for a First-time Attendee at the SOA ImpACT Conference

By Timothy M Quast

Actuary of the Future, January 2023

I attended the SOA ImpACT conference in Orlando for the first time in October 2022 as a new FSA. It was a great experience. I was able to build my network, reconnect with old contacts, and learn a lot about the actuarial profession through both education sessions and informal conversations. But there are some things I would have done differently, knowing what I know now. I am going to share some key takeaways that I believe will be helpful to other newly credentialed actuaries and first-time attendees.

1. Find out your company’s policy on actuarial conferences.

One of the first things I did when I got my FSA is reach out to leaders at my company to ask if I could attend actuarial conferences. Based on my company’s policy, I was able to get that approved. Many companies have policies that allow actuaries to attend conferences based on their designations, so if you don’t know, ask!

2. Read the attendees list.

The SOA publishes a list of attendees that you can find on the conference home page. It has names, locations, and companies. The SOA updates it periodically with newly registered attendees. In advance of the meeting, I highly recommend that you read through the list for people you know or people who you might be interested in meeting. One of the biggest areas where conferences add value is networking. Don’t fly in blind to networking. Take advantage of the attendees list.  

3. Reach out to your contacts in advance.

The SOA ImpACT conference is huge. It’s a lot bigger than most other actuarial conferences. Based on prior conferences I’ve attended, I thought it would be easy to find all the people I wanted to meet. It wasn’t. There was a sea of people. It took a long time to find anyone I was looking to meet. Instead of waiting until the conference, make sure you reach out to people in advance. You could propose a time to meet them at a specific place in the venue. If they’re a colleague or someone you know well, you could ask them if they know of any groups going to dinner. For each contact, think about the best approach to reach out to them considering your existing relationship (whether you know them very well or have never met them before).  

4. Find company happy hours.

Companies represented at the conference usually host happy hours and dinners for clients. You will often find out about these through your network (which is why you should reach out in advance). They are fun. Find them, go to them, meet actuaries.

5. Use the app.

The SOA sent out a link via email to install their SOA Events app before the conference. The most useful feature was the interactive map that showed where each session is located. You can even see the locations of sessions you didn’t sign up for in-case you want to make some last-minute changes to your schedule. The app has several other useful features, including a searchable attendees list, links to evaluation forms, and links to the SOA CPD tracker page for each session.

6. Education sessions

The educations sessions almost always have multiple facilitators who present on the session’s topic. The sessions I attended had a few different formats.

• Panels: Some were panels wherein a moderator would call on the panelists to talk about their experience related to the topic.
• Separate Presentations: Others had separate presentations on specific work the facilitators performed related to the overarching topic.  
• Combined Presentations: Finally, one session I attended had the facilitators combine their separate experience into a single PowerPoint presentation.

All the sessions made time for a Q&A at the end where you could ask a question of any facilitator. You can receive CPD credits for all of the education sessions at the conference, so make sure you log them in your CPD tracker.

7. General expectations

Here are a few general things to expect at the conference:

• Dress Code: Most people dressed business casual for the entire conference, but you wouldn’t stand out if you dressed up more. Facilitators usually dress up when they are presenting.
• Food & Drink: The conference included breakfast each day, but not always lunch and dinner. Some conference events included lunch and dinner, but sometimes we were on our own. All the conference’s evening events that I attended had free beer and wine bars.
• Exhibit Hall: The conference has a big main ballroom that will include numerous exhibits from a variety of companies. In Orlando, this was also where they served breakfast and snacks. This will be the main place where you can mingle. The Exhibit Hall would be a good place to propose to meet up with someone between sessions, just make sure to specify which part (e.g., near a certain booth) because it’s very big!  
• Sign In: There was a big sign-in table outside the conference where you can print your name badge and get ribbons that apply to you. For example, there were ribbons for New Associates, SOA Volunteers, and session Presenters.

That’s all I’ve got! I hope you found these takeaways useful.

Timothy M Quast, FSA, is a consultant, Life Actuarial & Insurance Solutions, for Deloitte Consulting LLP. He can be contacted at tmquast@deloitte.com.