I wish someone had told me that AC no longer means air-conditioning

“I wish someone had told me” is a series of posts that feed into our inquisitive nature at CN&CO. Each week we hear from someone in our network about something interesting or surprising that’s recently happened or occurred to them – or lessons they learnt. These blogs are a way to pay it forward and form part of CN&CO’s belief that the world can be a better place – and we all have a responsibility to make it so. This week’s post is by Colin.

In a previous life I was a motoring journalist. I remember one day travelling with the late Morgan Naidu on a car launch. We were heading north on the N2 outside Durban, probably around where King Shaka airport currently stands. It was a warm summer’s day.

“Hey Colin,” said Morgan, “put a bit of corn.”

“What?” I asked.

“Put a bit of corn,” he repeated. “Air-corn!”

It was then that I realised he was asking me to turn up the AC.

Now, in my mind AC has always meant one of two things – either alternating current (and I don’t know if that’s the dangerous one or the harmless one) or air-conditioning. Morgan was obviously asking me to make it cooler in the car.

Now imagine my confusion when, earlier this week, I read the programme for the upcoming InsureTalk conference and saw the following item on the agenda:

14 April 2020
10:00 – State of SA AC, Graeme Codrington

Graeme is a futurist, author, strategy consultant and founder of the firm TomorrowToday. I found myself wondering if he had switched and become an electrician, or perhaps an air-con technician.

“No,” I was told. “These days ‘AC’ stands for ‘after Covid-19.” As opposed to “BC”, of course, which also doesn’t mean what it used to.

“DC”, I guess, means “during Covid-19”, which is where we are currently (see what I did there?). And it’s for this reason that CN&CO Events is hosting an online insurance conference on 14 April, where Graeme is one of the speakers.

“We put the conference together with the help of our main sponsor, ITOO, to help insurance professionals keep abreast of what’s happening ‘DC’,” says CN&CO Events’ Llewellyn du Plessis. “It will also help members of the industry to rack up a few CPD hours, which are usually awarded at ‘physical’ events.

“There are so many companies doing great jobs keeping in touch with each other, keeping their teams together, staying in touch, sharing ideas, learning and having fun. Through InsureTalk we want to help the industry stay in touch and promote some cross-company interaction in the process.”

The event takes place online on 14 April 2020, from 10am to 1pm. Topics covered will include:

• State of SA AC
• Don’t waste a good crisis
• FIA response to Covid-19
• SAIA response to Covid-19
• IISA response to Covid-19
• Optimal business tools for AC
• Broking during Covid-19, sponsored by Marsh
• The law and corona – what have we seen and what is coming

Speakers include:

• ITOO MD, Justin Naylor
• IISA CEO, Thokozile Mahlangu
• SAIA CEO, Viviene Pearson
• FIA CEO, Lizelle van der Merwe
• TodayTomorrow founder, Graeme Codrington

One-and-a-half CPD hours will be awarded to those who register for and attend the event. There will also be entertainment from a couple of top local artists, as well as the chance to win some great prizes.

So clear up some time in your diary, set the AC to a comfortable temperature and join us for what promises to be an informative and fun session – from the comfort of your own home!

The cost to register is R200 plus VAT (R230 including VAT). 

REGISTER HERE for InsureTalk1, sponsored by ITOO and hosted by CN&CO Events.