The BCI Symposium 2008 was held on the 9th and 10th of October.

Proceedings are available to BCI members in the Members Only area.

Details on the 2009 Symposium will be available shortly.

Any queries should be directed to lucy.burns@thebci.org

Report: BCI Annual Symposium 2008

The BCI Annual Symposium took place on 9th and 10th October 2008 in the English seaside town of Brighton. Approximately 300 business continuity professionals attended, listening to the high quality and varied presentations, and taking advantage of the networking opportunity the Symposium provided.

The Symposium began with an introduction from the Chairman of the BCI, Chris Green FBCI and a presentation from the keynote speaker Dr Deborah Pretty, Principal, Oxford Metrica, entitled ‘Reputational Turmoil in the Financial Sector’. There were two other plenary sessions during the Symposium, ‘The ‘GODFEAR’ Continuity Community’ by Maitland Hyslop MBCI and James Royds FBCI, and ‘Future View, Business Continuity Management. Shift Happens’ by Louise Knegtel MBCI.

The rest of the two days were divided into three streams, two examining key stages of the BCM Lifecycle with one going back to basics for those relatively new to business continuity and the other targeted at experienced practitioners considering ways of taking BCM to the next level. The third stream, entitled BCM in Action, looked at certification and standards, various case studies and legislation and regulation.

An exhibition ran alongside the presentations, with the following Industry Partners of the BCI exhibiting: 4CStrategies; AdtApt; BSI; Continuity Shop; GlaxoSmithKline; ICM; Office-Shadow; Reed Exhibitions. There was also a table with information about some of our Consultant Members, including Merrycon, Technology Management and Consultancy Ltd and Avian Flu Action.

The BCI were very grateful to their Partners who supported the event by providing items for the delegate bags: Atkins Global; eBRP Solutions; ICM; Steelhenge Consulting; SunGard Availability Services.

Feedback from the Symposium has been very encouraging, with 63% of delegates who returned their evaluation forms saying they would definitely attend next year. The quotes below, taken from the feedback forms, illustrate the positive response receive towards the Symposium.

‘My first attendance and I was very impressed. Very good Symposium’

‘Overall impression - well organised, very professional presentations. A very enjoyable two days. The streams worked well. Very thought provoking and valuable. Something for everyone.’

‘An excellent networking event’

‘Excellent! Some of the presentations were very thought provoking. I liked the idea of the three separate streams, I think this has been a great improvement on previous years’

‘Great facilitation of sessions and opportunities for questions. Excellent networking opportunity’

‘Very enjoyable and informative’

‘Event was well orchestrated. Stream C had nice variety. Discussion breaks during sessions went well’

‘Organisation in streams according to BCI experience is excellent. Facilitation was almost always very effective to achieve interactivity and discussions on key topics.’

The date for next year’s Symposium will be announced in the next couple of months. If you would like to register your interest and receive information when it is released, please e-mail lucy.burns@thebci.org