Actuarial Technical Toolbox: Getting the Most Out of Excel - Moving Data Around

The first presentation in our Actuarial Technical Toolbox webinar series, Moving Data Around explores various methods for pulling data into Excel from external sources, as well as methods for saving data within Excel. In addition to explaining the processes with real-world examples, we will also review best practices for maintaining data fidelity and documentation for your spreadsheets.

Actuarial Technical Toolbox: Getting the Most Out of Excel - Preventing and Fixing Errors

The second presentation in our Actuarial Technical Toolbox webinar series, Preventing and Fixing Errors reviews and explores Microsoft Excel’s built-in tools for tracing errors in Microsoft Excel and the Microsoft Excel Visual Basic (VBA) Editor. Comprehension of these tools are sure to make your spreadsheets bulletproof!

Actuarial Technical Toolbox: Getting the Most Out of Excel - Add It Up with Data Aggregation

The third presentation in our Actuarial Technical Toolbox webinar series, Add It Up with Data Aggregation takes a look at the different approaches for aggregating and slicing data in Microsoft Excel. You will leave with a comprehension of the various data tools available in Excel that will help you tease out patterns in your data. In addition to exploring their practical application, you will also understand the pros and cons of each tool/function so you can choose the best data aggregation approach based on your needs.

Actuarial Techniques: Best Practices for Dealing With Data in Excel

This webinar explores various methods for dealing with data in Excel [importing, exporting, and other interfaces]. In addition to explaining the processes with real-world examples, we will also review best practices for maintaining data fidelity and documentation for your spreadsheets, and see how actuarial standards apply.

Advanced Techniques for Data Visualization in Excel

This presentation will build upon the lessons learned in "Data Visualization Practices and Principles in Excel" which is also available for purchase. However, this information is accessible to those with a base skill level. Live examples will be given, using Excel 2016 to work with financial and actuarial data, with Excel spreadsheet files that will be shared with participants.

Automating with VBA in Excel

Do you find yourself having to calculate things repeatedly in Excel, find yourself clicking the same cells over & over, and having to copy and paste values time and again? Do you have multiple steps you have to do to update a monthly or weekly report, with what you think is too much effort on your part? Learn how to automate with Excel VBA and save yourself time and effort.

Best Practices in Actuarial Spreadsheet Design

This session will cover high-level principles of spreadsheet design with a special focus on actuarial needs and issues, as well as specific practical implementation tips. There will be a demo of specific behaviors/techniques using an actuarial example, and there will be references to the ASOPs.

Best Practices for Auditing Actuarial Spreadsheets

Inherited somebody else's spreadsheets? Looking to untangle a monster? One of the most challenging tasks for actuaries is to take a spreadsheet already in production and try to do something useful with it - especially if this is a standard spreadsheet that has accumulated years of changes from multiple authors. And especially if one small change appears to break everything. This session will cover auditing, testing, and fixing extant spreadsheets with a special focus on actuarial needs and issues, as well as specific practical implementation tips.

Data Visualization Best Practices for Actuaries

Data visualization is a powerful tool for communicating results; however, we actuaries rarely get training in it. When we do get training, it’s generally to avoid being misleading in our visualizations, but not necessarily how to be effective. This session will explore key principles for data visualization, in making more effective communications for results. The examples given will be in Excel – though the principles extend to any major system.

Data Visualization Practices and Principles in Excel

Actuaries do a great job of analyzing data and models, but often fall short in effectively communicating results. This can be especially true in the area of data visualization. This session will explore how to create the most effective visualizations for different types of data regularly used by actuaries, providing examples in Excel, the spreadsheet regularly used by actuaries. Join us to build your skills with the tool you already use.

Error Checking and Review of Actuarial Spreadsheets

This ACTEX eLearning webinar will look at principles and practical processes to achieve better spreadsheets. In this webinar we will review and explore Microsoft Excel’s built-in tools for tracing errors in Microsoft Excel and the Microsoft Excel Visual Basic (VBA) Editor, as well as consider structured processes in order to verify one’s calculations. There will be a demo of specific behaviors/techniques using an actuarial example, and there will be references to the ASOPs.

Excel VBA for Beginners, Part 1 - Getting Started with VBA

For the complete beginner in VBA, this session looks at the basics of how to use VBA in Microsoft Excel. For those with some VBA experience, this session will give you the comprehensive overview needed to fully understand what VBA can do for you. Instructor Mary Pat Campbell will provide an overview of VBA's features so you can take the knowledge and apply it to your workflow.

Excel VBA for Beginners, Part 2 - Getting Started with Automation in VBA

For the complete beginner in VBA, this session looks at the basics of how to use VBA and automation Microsoft Excel. For those with some VBA experience, this session will give you the comprehensive overview needed to fully understand what VBA can do for you. Instructor Mary Pat Campbell will provide an overview of VBA's features so you can take the knowledge and apply it to your workflow.

Excel VBA to Document and Create Reports

VBA can be used for a variety of purposes within Excel, but one that may not be used enough is to document one’s work, as well as control the flow of data into (and out of) your spreadsheets. Why not automatically generate reports from your work? This webinar will show you how to create Word documents from Excel spreadsheets, how to automatically import and export data, and more!

Introduction to Predictive Analytics Using Excel

Predictive Analytics is all the rage in the actuarial (and larger) world – but what are they? Learn about the core models and concepts of Predictive Analytics and Modeling in this webcast, using a very familiar tool.

Principles for Actuarial Spreadsheet Design

Spreadsheets are one of the largest workhorses in actuarial work and business work in general, but few of us have serious, rigorous training in their use and design. Various bodies have developed lists of best practices for spreadsheets, but these best practices lists are often developed for accountants and financial analysts, and do not necessarily fit with actuarial needs. This session will cover high-level principles of spreadsheet design with a special focus on actuarial needs and issues, as well as specific practical implementation tips.

Introduction to Healthcare Risk Adjustment

This Webinar covers the basics of risk adjustment. In recent years, risk adjustment has become a fundamental component of healthcare reimbursement. In this Webinar, we will cover the principles of risk adjustment model construction and their use in financial reimbursement. Topics covered will include some of the available models, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as other applications in provider reimbursement, quality measurement and outcomes research.

Introduction to Predictive Analytics in Healthcare

This webinar covers the basics of predictive analytics in healthcare, with examples from traditional and new applications. We will look at examples of applications in time-series, high-risk patient identification, modeling of patient transitions between health states and predicting terminations of workers’ compensation claimants. You will not need to be an experienced practitioner or predictive modeler to follow the examples.

Data Science for Actuarial Managers

Everyone wants to say that their company has embraced "data science", but what does that actually mean? If you're an actuary, you may well ask, "If I've not been using data science all these years, what exactly have I been doing?" And if you manage a team of actuaries, are you managing a data science team? What should you be telling them to do? Are they doing it well? This webinar is designed to help you answer those questions. Moreover, it will give you a leg up on understanding and evaluating the array of new technologies that folks on your team, or in your company are talking about.

Actuarial Leadership: The Change Agent

Whether you’re leading others in an organization, selling your ideas to senior management or selling your services as a consultant, it’s essential to know how to motivate others to embrace change and take action. This webinar will strengthen your ability to influence and lead, which is key to your success and impact.

Actuarial Leadership: The Decision-Maker

This webinar will introduce you to a process of how to make the highest quality decisions in the shortest amount of time possible. Even better, you will also be able to use the process to facilitate problem-solving meetings with clients or colleagues – meetings that are focused and stay on track.

Actuarial Leadership: High-Impact Actuarial Communication

One of the main criticisms of actuaries is that they don't know how to effectively communicate technical information to non-technical people. Presentations are rich with data, but lacking the meaningful interpretation that management needs to make strategic decisions. This webinar will help you to bridge the gap between information and conversation, to make your communications as effective as possible.

Actuarial Leadership: Influential Actuarial Communication

There are two primary skills actuaries must master if they are to be effective with others: Deep Listening and Asking Effective Questions. This may seem obvious, but most of us are woefully lacking in our listening and inquiry skills. We often resort to making statements and opinions in an effort to prove our expertise. There’s a better way!

Actuarial Leadership: The Risk-Taker

Success requires taking risks and moving out of your comfort zone. To do this, you need to develop a mental toughness like you've never had before. The #1 reason people don't succeed is that they get in their own way. Past surveys have shown that employers and executives perceive a need for actuaries to improve both their leadership and communications skills. To fill this need, ACTEX is partnering with Dave Miller, a communications and leadership expert who is also an actuary himself, with this series of webinars.

Actuarial Management - Thinking Like a P&L Leader

Whether you are early in your career and still figuring out your path, or you are further along and know you want to head into upper management or a broader role, this webinar can help. For those earlier in their careers, one important mental shift is moving from purely tactical to strategic thinking, regardless of your current role. For those further along in your career, you must begin to understand what areas P&L leaders need to concentrate on to properly run a business line within an insurance company.

The Actuarial Manager's Toolkit

Beyond technical skills, actuaries who are interested in playing critical roles within their organizations and advancing their careers to higher levels must master the art of managing others. An actuarial manager must quickly pivot from being a technical expert to taking on a leadership role — someone others can rely on to guide, motivate, decide, and deliver results. Managing a team is not only about being the “go to” technical expert, but about producing superior results by leveraging the work of a team. This 90-minute webinar is intended to educate actuarial professionals on key management skills that will be beneficial in the near-term, and throughout your career.

Introduction to Predictive Analytics for Actuaries

Predictive Analytics is all the rage in the actuarial (and larger) world – but what is it? And how can actuaries use it and implement it? In this webcast, viewers will be introduced to predictive analytics as applicable to actuarial work, and the world of insurance more generally. There will be no formulas! The focus will be on what different techniques can do, as opposed to the mathematical underpinnings of the approaches. Some pros and cons of each technique will be explored.

Ethical Leadership for Professionals

Self-awareness is paramount to better understand ourselves. The more self-aware we are, the more empowered we are to make changes, build on our strengths and identify areas we seek to improve. This course will help you improve your self-awareness by helping you to understand what it means to be human. Knowing yourself in the context of being human means better seeing the heights to which you can soar and better understanding the depths to which you can fall. Knowing yourself better will help you to thrive and help you avoid traps both at work and life in general. By aligning perceptions with reality, this course will help you see both the perceptions that help you the most and those that may be hampering your progress.

Ethical & Professional Implications of Character

This webinar will provide a practical guide to both assessing your own character and the characters of others in your organization. Failing to adequately assess character and to take appropriate action can result in unnecessary stress, confusion and disruption in your life as a professional. The webinar will also look at some practical examples of how you can use character to create better ethical outcomes for you as a professional and for your employer or your clients.

Everyday Ethics for Actuaries

In this ACTEX Webinar, we’ll examine ethical decision-making and factors that can influence our choices. Along the way, we’ll touch base with relevant moral philosophers and ethical thinkers to see what additional support they can provide. To bring all of this together we will engage in a practical application that will feature an in-depth discussion of a real-world case study. Finally, we’ll leave you with some actionable suggestions on how to thoughtfully implement what we have learned in your daily professional practice and provide you with some “occupational hygiene” tips to help safeguard you from ethical peril.

Everyday Ethics for Actuaries 2

In this ACTEX Webinar, we'll examine ethical decision-making in light of organizational and interpersonal factors that can affect our ability to make wise choices. Along the way, we’ll touch base with Albert Hirschman, the Golden Rule and even the Pirates Code to see what support they can provide. To help maintain our practical orientation, the webinar will once again feature an in-depth discussion of a real-world case study.

Mastering Conflict

Each of us reacts to conflict in a unique way. We have our own goals, our own fears, and our own ways to get what we need. This webinar helps participants understand their reactions to conflict and how these reactions affect those around them. It also helps them discover more constructive ways to deal with conflict.The most successful actuaries understand themselves and how their behavior affects others. They understand their reactions to other people and are masterful at working harmoniously with others, even when tensions rise!

The Power of Ethics for Professionals

Ethics and professionalism have a number of common elements. They are also quite distinct. To become a professional, you need to pass exams and adhere to minimum professional standards and requirements. Do so and you are given a “driving license” to practice as a professional. By contrast, using the same analogy, ethics is about learning how to race a Formula One car, learning how to win races, and if the professional wants to, become a world champion.

Professionalism and Ethics: The Actuarial Case

Many years ago, the Society of Actuaries was considered by many to be a trade association of the insurance industry. Over time, the actuarial membership organizations have evolved, and we, as actuaries, think of ourselves as professionals and members of a Profession. This webinar takes stock of where we are as a Profession.

Data Visualization Design Concepts in R

Expression of data through visual means empowers our audience to take in large volumes of information quickly. Moreover, it facilitates an understanding of complex mathematical models for people who may not be accustomed to them. This, however, comes with great responsibility. A poorly designed visualization muddles your message, and in extreme cases, decision makers can reach a conclusion which simply isn't supported by the data. This webinar is intended for practicing actuaries and data scientists at all levels who wish to improve their data visualization skills.

Data Visualization in R for Actuaries

Among the many reasons why actuaries have moved to R is the promise of enhanced visualizations of their data. The "ggplot2" package has emerged as one of the most popular R libraries which can generate compelling images. But what's so special about ggplot2? What does "gg" even mean? Fear not. I'll answer that and a whole lot more. I've been using R and ggplot2 for years and find that it allows me to very quickly get a feel for what's happening with my data. Moreover, it lets me generate publication quality graphics with a minimum of fuss.

Machine Learning in R for Actuaries

The world of machine learning is a dazzling, complicated place filled with great promise. A vast array of names, complicated techniques and strange, new software packages can make it feel overwhelming. The rise of so many diverse machine learning algorithms means that new tools have emerged to place them in a consistent framework. One such tool is the "caret" package for R. This package provides a common interface for over 200 different models. We'll walk through that package and a few others. Along the way, we will try to sift through the jargon and present tangible, practical examples that are pertinent to actuaries.

6 Things Actuarial Students Should Be Doing

For most actuarial students today, their first actuarial job is the hardest one to get. The number of students applying for entry-level actuarial job openings in the US and Canada is at or near an all-time high. In today’s entry-level job market, actuarial students must take a number of very important steps to get hired. Bill Marella, CEO of ACTEX Learning, reviews these steps and explains why each is critically important from the employer perspective.