Launch of Dive In Festival in Sydney rallies insurance leaders to make their organisations fit for the future

On the heels of a successful inaugural Dive In Festival for Diversity & Inclusion in Insurance, held in London in 2015, the Sydney insurance community has come together to bring Dive In to Sydney.

The festival will run across ten locations in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, from 27th to 29th September 2016, and will feature over 45 events which will take place  in 16 cities across Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, as well as multiple cities in the UK and the US. Such a presence makes Dive In the only international, sector-wide, concurrent diversity and inclusion event of its kind anywhere in the world, with a potential audience of over 1 million insurance sector leaders and employees.

Chris Mackinnon, Lloyd's General Representative in Australia said: “Lloyd’s Australia is delighted to be hosting the first Dive In Festival in Sydney, and we are overwhelmed with the support that we have received for this initiative from the Australian insurance community. The feedback that we have had suggests that whilst there is a high level of awareness around the benefits and advantages of a diverse and inclusive workplace, the opportunities to drive home that message and promote its execution can be limited. The Dive In Festival creates the perfect environment to showcase our commitment as an industry to offer a diverse and inclusive working environment.”   

Kelly Lyles, Chief Regional Officer, Insurance at XL Catlin said: “I am very excited to be in Sydney to help launch our 2016 Global Dive In Festival on 27 September. As an industry, although we are quite diverse with regards to acquired diversity (gained through experience) when it comes to inherent diversity, including gender, we can still do more to promote diversity and by doing so, foster innovation. Innovation is how the insurance industry will stay relevant into the future. Not only must our industry champion diversity to attract and retain the best and brightest minds; we must each look for, seize and create opportunities to strengthen diversity and lead  the change we want to see in our industry.”

This year the themes covered at the global Dive In Festival include amongst others multicultural diversity, gender diversity, LGBTI  and workability, which covers both physical and mental health.

Sydney will be the first city to kick off the festival with platinum sponsor XL Catlin and event co-sponsors Aon and Norton Rose Fulbright holding a gender diversity discussion panel followed by networking drinks.

Day two will see Willis Towers Watson host an event focusing on people who are LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) in the workplace, our industry and our community, and, GSA Insurance Brokers and JLT will host an event celebrating Multiculturalism in Australia accompanied by an exclusive viewing of Martin Sharp’s Artwork.

On Day three, DUAL Australia and co-sponsor Marsh will host a cooking demonstration at QBE Australia’s head office, incorporating discussion about the importance of mental health awareness, and, to close the festival, Lloyd’s Australia will host an ‘expo’ style networking function focusing on physical disabilities.

All events are open to everyone who works in the insurance industry to attend free of charge with prior registration via the website or app for iPhone and Android.

A video learning library of diversity and inclusion content from the first Dive In festival is available on the web site at www.diveinfestival.com. Pauline Miller, Lloyd’s Head of D&I said, “The festival creates a useful focus for D&I, but we need to educate, engage and embed D&I principles into our everyday business. These videos are bite-size, free, quick to view but still pack a punch in terms of impact and I would encourage people to watch them to create an inspirational bridge from Dive In 2015 to the next event in September 2016.’

Lloyd’s would like to thank all the organising committee, sponsors and participants for the Sydney events including:

Allianz Australia, Aon Australia, Arch Underwriting, Axis Underwriting, Beazley, DUAL Australia, Finity Consulting, Gen Re, GSA Insurance Brokers, JLT, Marsh, McInnes Wilson Lawyers, Norton Rose Fulbright, QBE Australia, Sparke Helmore Lawyers, Spinal Cure Australia,  Willis Towers Watson and XL Catlin.

Sydney event details and registration for event tickets can be found at www.diveinfestival.com

For more information please contact the Dive In Press office:
divein@gongcommunications.com + 44 (0)20 7467 5823