They say a picture paints a thousand words. So look at the faces above: they are the 30 experts who have confirmed they will be giving a presentation or joining a panel discussion at the Summer Conference of the Risk & Assurance Group, to be held in London on July 7th and 8th.
The agenda is going to showcase some of the best brains in the industry. There is Nixon Wampamba, who has managed RAFM teams on three continents and done consulting work on two more. And Pedro Bravo, who manages RA and Credit Scoring for NOS, the innovative Portuguese quad-play operator. And Marcus Bryant, who will talk about the RAFM education program he developed for MTN’s 21 operating companies. And our host and keynote speaker is Bernice DeMarco, Director of Revenue Assurance for BT Group, who will explain how they are taking assurance to places it has never been before.
Do you want some representatives of other industry associations? We have them too! Jason Lane-Sellers of the Communications Fraud Control Association will sit with Rene Felber of the TM Forum to discuss what they have learned from the global fraud and assurance surveys they each run. Do you want to hear the opinions of people who have shaped the telecoms landscape? We have David Smith, who organized the first ever RA benchmarks, and Jack Wraith, who oversaw the Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum for 16 years, and Tony Poulos, who was listed by Billing and OSS World as one of the 25 most influential people in the telecom software industry.
Perhaps you want to learn about controls to stop roaming fraud? That is on the agenda. Are you worried about OTT bypass? We will be covering that too. Maybe you want advice on how to start an Enterprise Risk Management program? We have two current ERM Directors and a couple of former ones. Do you want an update on the latest anti-fraud technology? Or advice about analytics? Or case studies involving law enforcement? They are all on the agenda.
Or maybe you want to hear how the risk and assurance skills developed inside telcos can be transferred to other industries? Then we have a special panel composed of practitioners who have crossed over into retail, utilities and finance.
Published authors? Check. Award winners? Check. Thought leaders? Check, check, check. And if you want to know about something that is not on the agenda, you can stick your hand up and ask (or use your smartphone to go online and ask, because we also love technology that boosts interaction). If none of the 30 confirmed speakers knows the answer to your query, then probably one of the 100 other registered attendees will.
I can hardly believe I am going to type the next sentence. There are even more speakers still to be announced. A sane organizing committee would say they have a strong enough line-up already. Our crazy RAG committee keeps adding more and more to the agenda. My worry is how we will fit all the content into the time available, and still have a few minutes for the lunch and coffees provided, plus the networking we always encourage. But so far the draft schedule looks surprisingly plausible. That document gets updated every time a speaker is added, so keep checking the link to see how we will cram even more presentations into just two days!
And nobody can say the RAG does not give good value for money, because this event is free. Now I feel like one of those guys in a cheesy advert for your local sofa/carpet/car dealership. You just need toregister online and you could be spending two days in the company of some of the most knowledgeable people working in telco RAFM and risk management. And thanks to our generous sponsors your attendance will cost you nada, zilch, nothing. You read that correctly: over 30 top speakers can be yours for the low, low price of a zero downpayment with absolutely nothing to pay afterwards. How crazy is that? We give away priceless advice; you just need to show up to hear it!
Oh, and the 30 speakers did not include RAG Chairman Rob Chapman, who will be overseeing proceedings with his usual aplomb. And I did not count me either, because I will be there to make a nuisance of myself moderate some of the panels. So come meet me, Rob, the speakers, and the 30+ telcos already registered to attend. But do not delay booking your place. Whilst the conference is still 6 weeks away, the number of seats is strictly limited, and fewer than 50 remain on either day!
Or you could go to a conference that looks like the following. This is a genuine group photo taken by the organizers of a recent RAFM conference that cost people lots of money. I could pretend the faces were obscured to avoid litigation, but really it was because they looked so miserable that I worried their frowns could be contagious.
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