COVID-19 May Limit Insurance Events for Rest of Year: SIR
Only 10% of survey participants said they'd feel good about traveling far outside their state.
Insurance organizations may have trouble attracting people to national events even after COVID-19-related restrictions on travel and gatherings end.
Mike Myers, the president-elect of the Society of Insurance Research (SIR), has included data on attitudes toward industry meetings in a summary of results from a new SIR survey.
SIR — a Minneapolis-based group for insurance carrier researchers — conducted the survey from May 5 through May 15. That was after the pandemic led to lockdowns in much of the country, and before fury over a police officer’s killing of George Floyd led to unrest in many big cities.
Resources
- A link to a copy of the report, which is free but behind a registration wall, is available here.
- An article about virtual networking is available here.
The survey attracted responses from about 120 people who work for insurers, and about 60 people who work for companies that sell goods and services to insurers.
About 45 of the participants work for life insurers or health insurers.
Here’s a look at some of what SIR found:
Travel restrictions
- 98% of the participants said their companies had imposed travel restrictions.
- 22% of the participants said their employers’ travel restrictions are set to expire this summer.
- 16% of the participants have restrictions that are set to last at least until the end of the year.
Distance
SIR asked about where the participants would be comfortable traveling for an event, once travel restrictions are lifted.
- Within their city: 54%
- Within their state: 31%
- Far from home, but within the United States: 10%
Vendors v. Insurers
About 54% of all survey participants said they prefer online events. Just 10% said they prefer in-person events.
But only 42% of the participants who work for vendors prefer online events.
Protection
- 24% of participants want event attendees to wear face masks.
- 45% want to go to in-person events only if there’s a COVID-19 vaccine.
— Read How COVID-19 Is Impacting More Than Industry Events, on ThinkAdvisor.
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