So it’s all off to Manchester for this year’s Biba conference. I’ll be pleased to be back at the G-Mex – much better to have everyone together in a regional centre than out at the windswept Docklands, nipping back to the office on the clunky DLR every five minutes.

As ever, the Insurance Times team will be out in force at the conference, with coverage online and in print before, during and after – and a few surprises in store, too.

Our dedicated BIBAvision website will be bringing you insight and commentary from the key personalities organising, speaking at, reporting on and attending this year’s conference in the weeks leading up to it.

So what will the highlights be this year? The official theme is “opportunities in adversity”, but conversation is more likely to centre around what’s happening in the market.

You can guarantee that Amanda Blanc will be high profile, making a case for AXA with the brokers – and her opposite numbers will have to step up to the mark. Brokers can expect to feel the love this Biba.

Meanwhile, the future of the consolidators will be the talk of the town – somewhere at the conference will be Andy Homer’s successor as chief exec of Towergate. Who knows – the deal may even be done there.

And if Philip Hodson is spotted talking to Chris Giles, those mega-merger rumours will raise their head again.

Insurance what?

The celebrity speaker is always a treat. A few years ago, I was enthralled by Bob Geldof, and I have been a big fan of Joanna Lumley ever since her Absolutely Fabulous days, so last year was a highlight.

What either of them have to do with insurance or broking, I can’t begin to fathom – but never mind about that. Sir Alan Sugar doesn’t hold quite the same appeal, for me anyway, but he does at least have more in common with many brokers than Ms Lumley.

Setting out your stall

I also look forward to seeing what the exhibiting insurers come up with this year. It’s always a case of “my stall’s bigger than yours”, with Aviva and RSA normally winning the day.

Watch out for AXA this year, though. It’ll have to go a long way to beat RSA, which had its own dedicated bar last year, with specially brewed beer (the way to a broker’s heart, indeed). And who can forget that Lorega cow?

ellen.bennett@insurancetimes.co.uk.