The champagne lounge has ejected the last befuddled reinsurance broker. The Russian oligarchs have all gone back to their yachts. Your drinking buddies have taken advantage of the proximity of the French Riviera to treat the missus to a week of later summer sun (even though she'd rather go to Capri).
In short, the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous is over and the business of talking about reinsurance business is at an end - it's time to actually start making some of those deals work.
However, while the party may be over, some of the issues discussed at The Insurance Insider Reinsurance Roundtable during the Rendez-Vous are ongoing.
The debate about the traditional reinsurance sector's continuing "relevance" is not going away, given the abundance - some might say overabundance - of capacity in the market.
But a more proactive approach to stimulating demand for reinsurance products could be to focus on the bifurcation referenced by more than one participant in the roundtable.
Ranged against the increasing commodification of reinsurance is cedants' ability to use reinsurance strategically. The question then remains of how brokers and carriers can best meet their clients' demand for strategic reinsurance use.
While the criticism of annual beanfeasts like the Rendez-Vous is that they are always the same faces saying the same things ad nauseam, Monte Carlo has a reputation for being the launchpad for bold initiatives from the brokers - and rallying cries from reinsurers.
This year, the gloomy predictions for rates and continued references to the "alternative" threat were tempered by the identification of potential growth areas such as cyber risks.
However, it wouldn't be Monte without a plea for change. And it's clear that to keep moving forward the reinsurance industry genuinely needs to innovate - not only to meet emerging perils like cyber and growing threats like terrorism, but also in addressing intangible risks like brand erosion and the very real threat from changing patterns of reinsurance buying.
Like that booze-addled reinsurance broker stumbling home at dawn to face his rapidly encroaching hangover, the reinsurance sector shouldn't waste any time wallowing in self-recrimination - why didn't we start diversifying five years ago, why don't we have a cyber product for global programmes etc etc.
As one participant said, the industry has to stop beating itself up. Drunk on capacity, it needs to sober up, get a clear head and get on with the business in hand - after all, it's what you're good at.
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Mark Geoghegan
Editor
The Insurance Insider