Client events
At least once a year we try to organise a get-together
with our clients, socializing and exploring a topical risk theme. Click
on the links to find out about our previous events:
An Enigma Variation
Cabinet War Rooms (October 2005)
With terrorism and national security at the top of the political agenda
we chose a related theme for our 2005 client event. Having 'rendezvoused'
at the Cabinet War Rooms our guests were set the challenging task of
decoding intercepted messages to prevent an attempt on Churchill's
life. The evening also gave us chance to explore the importance of
making decisions despite uncertainty, taking account of societal concern
and the need to present information in ways that inform and can be
readily acted upon.
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
Lloyd's Building (June 2004)
Insurance has been a vital risk management tool for centuries and where
better to explore the topic than the Lloyd's Building? Our guests formed
18th Century shipping consortia and competed against each other and
an unlikely number of disasters (including pirates, unrest in the colonies
and extreme weather conditions) to see who could amass the greatest
wealth over the evening. In recognition of their efforts, we gave a
donation to the winning team's charity of choice (Save The Children)
and our chairman, Ray Proctor, rounded off the evening with anecdotes
of how 'risk thinking' has evolved over the years.
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A Knight at the Temple
Middle Temple Hall (June 2003)
The Middle Temple Hall provided a classic setting for our light hearted
examination of risk in the legal process. The need for a case to be
proved 'beyond reasonable doubt' indicates that doubt can remain and
that juries need to weigh up the risks to society of acquitting the
guilty against those of punishing the innocent. To explore the issues,
we invited our friends at The Spontaneity Shop to stage mock trials
of Robin Hood and Sir Walter Raleigh, examining their conduct from
legal and ethical perspectives, and asking our guests to pass judgement.
Fortunately, both were acquitted!
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Good Times, Bard Times
Kensington Roof Gardens (June 2002)
Literature can provide an amusing and instructive insight into why people
take risks. We decided to use scenes from popular Shakespearian plays
to look at themes that resonate today. A talented troupe of actors
presented scenes from Romeo & Juliet, Henry V and Midsummer Night's
Dream plus an impromptu play, in the Elizabethan style, based on the
experiences of two of our guests. The Kensington Roof Gardens provided
an unusual setting for the event, with minstrels and street entertainers
helping to evoke an Elizabethan atmosphere.
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Breaking the Mould
Leighton House (November 2001)
We chose the home of Lord Leighton to explore how innovators, in art
as in all areas of life, take risks. Our guests were invited to take
a few risks themselves by expressing their creative side through photographic
compositions, poetry (on risk taking), plasticine sculptures and collages
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Of Trading, Ryskes and Remedyes
Chelsea Physic Garden (June 2000)
We chose the Chelsea Physic Garden to explore some topical risk issues
with clients in June 2000. Guests were provided with a guide to the
garden and notes drawing parallels between historic events and issues
of today on the themes of:
- fair trade & trading barriers
- genetic modification & gene patenting
- conservation & sustainability
- drug development & testing
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A Transport of Delight
London Transport Museum (January 2000)
We saw in the new millennium with a look at transport safety in the appropriate
setting of the London Transport Museum. Our guests were treated to
a thought-provoking talk on risk in the transport sector, and how it
feels to bear the risk of running a major transport service organisation
by Denis Tunnicliffe, then Chairman of London Underground and Chief
Executive of London Transport. Further food for thought was laid on
in the form of our own temporary exhibits at the museum and a quiz
on risk covering each of the major modes of transport.
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An Evening with Attitude
Hurlingham Club (July 1999)
The Hurlingham Club, by the banks of the Thames, provided a delightful
summer evening backdrop of tennis, croquet, quiet lawns, shrubs and
borders. Our theme built on a research project carried out in May and
June, to collate and analyse references to 'risk' in the UK media.
Attitudes to risk (and to the things people do to control risk) shape
a great deal of our behaviour, and some provocative interactive sketches
set the evening off in style.
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The Upside of Uncertainty
London Zoo (November 1998)
Our second event was held in November 1998 at London Zoo. The reception
was held in the Aquarium (in sub-arctic conditions) followed by a presentation
looking at how animals have thrived in even tougher environments! Skits,
following the animal theme, suggested why the Dodo and others had failed
to seize the Upside of Uncertainty.
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The Drama of Risk
National Theatre Museum (September 1997)
Our launch event was at the National Theatre Museum in Covent Garden
with the 'drama of risk' as its topic. Risk Solutions' philosophy was
presented (with the help of a young team of actors) under the themes
of:
- providing assurance in a changing world
- developing new and better 'recipes' for risk control
- engaging and communicating with stakeholders on risk topics.
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Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.
Warren Buffett |
