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There are good conferences and bad conferences.  Having spent seventeen professional years attending various GRC, risk, compliance, and security conferences - most are categorized in my poor to bad category with only a handful making the good.

There are a few conferences that I deeply respect - some put on by vendors others by media or professional associations.  However, there is one conference that is my must attend event every year - Compliance Week.  In my opinion this is the leading GRC conference available.  It attracts the best audience with the most interesting sessions derived from practical experience.  While vendors attend there is no opportunity for free reign vendor fluff during the sessions.  Every year I have attended I come back inspired and ready to march forward a fresh with new GRC thoughts, perspectives, and new relationships that impact my research.

I highly recommend that you attend Compliance Week’s 5th Annual Conference which will be held May 24-26, 2010 at the Mayflower in Washington D.C.

I also recommend Matt Kelly's blog on the conference if you want to learn more what will be featured this year.

GRC Achievement Awards at Compliance Week:

This year brings something new to the Compliance Week conference - the 2010 OCEG GRC Achievement Awards.  Nominations are due shortly, and I highly recommend that you consider submitting a nomination for a leading GRC program that you are aware of.  If you need advice or help drafting a nomination - please let me know.

The Awards recognize the great strides that many companies, government agencies and other organizations have made in improving and integrating their approaches to governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) to achieve Principled Performance®.

Nominations are being accepted through March 21, 2010. The Awards will be presented at Compliance Week’s 5th Annual Conference, May 26, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

Awards will be presented to organizations that demonstrate achievements in any (or several) areas including:

• Structure: Establishing a strong GRC organizational structure to ensure adequate oversight and coordination of efforts;

• Information: Improving management, use and transparency of GRC relevant information;

• Effectiveness: Gaining greater confidence in the effectiveness of compliance controls;

• Processes: Coordinating risk assessment processes to develop a clearer enterprise view of risk;

• Performance: Streamlining aspects of GRC capability to reduce cost and improve performance.

Here are some examples of achievements you may want to nominate:

• Culture & Context: Achievement in better understanding or changing organizational culture, including ethical culture, risk culture, workforce culture and governance culture.

• Organize & Oversee: Success in establishing a clear mission and vision for the organization's GRC efforts, or in integrating GRC management and oversight across and throughout the enterprise.

• Assess & Align: Successes in streamlining, coordinating, or strengthening risk assessments; or improvements in risk identification and monitoring

• Prevent & Promote: Achievements might address improvements in effectiveness and performance in any of the core elements of an effective compliance program: Code of Conduct, Policies, Awareness & Education, Human Capital Incentives and more.

• Detect & Discern: Successes in hotline/helpline design and operation, workforce survey or other information gathering techniques, or effective use of detective controls.

• Respond & Resolve: Achievements might address how an organization manages investigations, implements corrective controls, or integrates GRC efforts with crisis management and business continuity efforts.

• Monitor & Measure: Achievements in various aspects of monitoring, measuring and improving program performance, including providing assurance to the Board or oversight committees.

• Inform & Integrate: Achievements might address any aspect of information management, technology improvement, or usage for GRC efforts, including systems for enhancing communication internally or to external stakeholders about GRC expectations and outcomes.

To apply simply send a Microsoft Word document entitled GRC Achievement Award Nomination to awards@oceg.org. The nomination should include the following sections:

1. Name of Project/Achievement
2. Name of Organization
3. Primary Contact Name/email/phone number
4. Brief Description of Project (50-150 words per section below); should include:
   
   1. Challenge addressed
   2. Desired outcome(s)
   3. Process undertaken and roles involved
   4. Outcome(s) achieved, which may be operational, financial and/or other
   5. Optional – planned next steps

Nominations must be submitted by March 21, 2010, for consideration.

Award winners will be notified by April 10th and will be asked to submit a more detailed description (instructions to be provided), a number of which will be selected for review by participants at Compliance Week’s 5th Annual Conference at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., May 24-26, 2010. Voting at the conference will determine the winners of the Peer Choice Prize for GRC Accomplishment, an additional award highlighting the “best of the best” as selected by the diverse group of GRC professionals who attend the Compliance Week conference.

The Achievement Awards will be announced at the conference and the Peer Choice Prize will be presented in a ceremony on the closing day of the conference, May 26th. OCEG and Compliance Week also will feature award recipients in future articles and webcasts.

Contact: For more information please contact OCEG at awards@oceg.org.