Out and about

David Lawrence, Controller Lloyds Agents, and Mike Schwarz at the networking event
David Lawrence, Controller Lloyds Agents, and Mike Schwarz at the networking event

Meeting IIMS members face to face is always pleasurable. It seems I can find out much more about what members like, their gripes and even pick up some great ideas when meeting face to face as I go out and about. Somehow email exchanges rarely bring the same result. And so it was when I joined the Small Craft Working Group two day training session at Rosneath west of Glasgow. On the first day I gave a short presentation on head office activities. It was clear that some of what I was saying was news and of interest to them. Yet again I question the true value of email. All of the information had been made available by email, yet not seen by most. My challenge for 2015 is to find other ways to effectively communicate with the membership.

The previous week, John Noble and I had been invited as a group of just 7 organisations to represent our business at the Lloyd’s Agents Conference, being held in London near Tower Bridge. Once again I found myself meeting a few familiar overseas faces from the IIMS family. It was great to have the opportunity to promote IIMS and the education programme to an appreciative audience at such a networking event.

Yesterday I found myself standing in for Peter Morgan following his enforced absence through serious ill health. My task? To deliver a presentation to the Superyacht Builders Association (SYBAss) coatings committee meeting held at the METS show in Amsterdam. The theme of the presentation was the Registered Marine Coatings Inspectors course and qualification. SYBAss is one of the stakeholders in the project and their committee was keen for an update. the whole issue of superyacht coatings inspections remains a troubled area for the industry and the new RMCI course will go a long way to providing a solution.

Until next time.

Mike Schwarz

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