Will there be less champagne flowing at the 2009 Rendez-Vous?

This time in two weeks I will be in Monte Carlo along with another 2500 or so people from the weird and wonderful world of reinsurance.
For those of you not familiar with the annual Rendez-Vous, it is the largest reinsurance conference in the world, a place where the brokers and underwriters do a preliminary dance to decide on reinsurance pricing for the January renewals.
For those of you who have never been to Rendez-vous, it is a conference unlike any other. The hub of the action takes place around Casino Square and in the Cafe de Paris, where men (and a handful of women) in chinos and button-down pastel-coloured shirts meet. Over €10 espressos, there are half hourly meetings where numbers are scribbled down on bits of paper, pushed around, and debated hotly, before everyone gets up on the half hour mark, shakes hands and checks the Blackberry for the name of the person and location of the next half hour meeting. This merry dance goes on from the Sunday 9th of September to Wednesday 9th of September, sometimes even to the Thursday.
Every night there are lavish cocktail parties, champagne flowing with fancy canapés to nibble on, followed by rich dinners and late drinks, followed by even later drinks and sometimes a spot of gambling. Chief Executives can be seen at tables at the two casinos, which seems appropriate, given the nature of the business. At the late night bars, pocket loads of business cards are collected, as people meet and exchange industry gossip and arrange to meet again in Baden Baden in October (or London, Bermuda, Zurich, Dublin or New York).
But this year, will the credit crunch affect the way people spend? According to the Principality of Monaco, only the world-famous Grand Prix brings in more money than the Rendez-Vous. Already parties have been cancelled and few have sprung up to take their place. What do you think? I've created a short (only four questions) survey to see what you think of spending at Monte - please take it and I'll publish the results.


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Md07orF1Qmn6IlAcPPAwlQ_3d_3d
http://www.rein4ce.co.uk/

The best live entertainment at the rendezvous yet

With Aon Benfield and the DIFC cancelling champagne-fuelled parties this year at the Rendezvous, I was worried that entertainment might be a bit hard to come by come September in Monte Carlo.
But help is at hand. Well-known Monte aficionados John Guy, Adrian Ladbury and Neil Smith have decided to create a new form of entertainment - and one that is highly suitable for the credit crunch. They are taking part in the Iron Man Half Marathon.
Now, let's remember that these guys are in the 40s and have between them probably propped up more hotel bars than they would care to admit while working and schmoozing in the re/insurance space.
So they are on the wagon and in training as we speak in order to raise cash for prostate cancer.
Many of you will know John well - he is doing the running on the Sunday, 6th Sept, the final leg a 21 km run. Adrian is swimming 1.9km and Neil has a 90k cycle. The best time to catch them is during the final run which should be between 11.30 and 1.30, when the half marathon is underway round the streets. It is in a three mile loop, I am told, including a climb up from the harbour to the Casino Square five times including the finish.
So it is time for us to empty out our wallets for them. To sponsor this mad dash in the mid-day sun go to http://www.justgiving.com/jonguyironman/. Or at least put down your €10 coffee at Casino square and go and watch - then buy them all a beer at the end.