The formula with most business conferences is to start big and keep growing bigger. In the insurance area, RIMS is the biggest annual meeting there could be.

More than 10,000 people attend, although this year?s siting of the conference in Hawaii looks certain to cut attendance.

Monte Carlo draws the reinsurance crowd. Most other conferences tend to be either jurisdiction- or line-related, but always and ever seek larger crowds and greater accompanying hoop-la.

The World Insurance Forum, a not-for-profit Bermudian tradition run by the local industry, is notable as much for its refusal to follow the norms of insurance conferences as it is for the quality of its speakers.

The 2006 Forum, the seventh, to be held at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel tomorrow through Thursday, has been stripped down to a two-day gathering of the world?s most senior insurance people. No trade show; no formal education programmes; few cocktail parties; no golf.

The Forum will be the insurance equivalent of an espresso coffee: all the taste, as many industry leaders as will fit on the stage, and a series of themed discussions that will address all the current industry issues.

The first WIF in 1993 followed Hurricane Andrew. The 2002 Forum similarly followed the events of September 11, 2001. Now the 2006 Forum comes after the costliest two years for natural disasters in history.

The organisers of the Forum went as far as to invite New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to attend. So important is the Forum that, initially, he thought he might come.

He changed his mind, however, after declaring his candidacy for the Governorship of New York State.

Lists are often dull to read. Try reading this one.

The first panel, on Wednesday, is on leadership.

AIG?s president and CEO Martin Sullivan will join Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd?s, Dr. Nikolaus Von Bomhard, CEO of Munich Re and Brian Storms, chairman and CEO of Marsh. That?s the biggest broker, the biggest financial services company in the world, one of the giant European companies, and the leader of the largest market in the world outside New York and Bermuda. Michael Butt, whose silver tongue will have had a role to play in assembling a crowd of that stature, will moderate.

The luncheon speaker this year will be Samuel DiPiazza, global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Last time, it was Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City.

That afternoon, the regulators will have their turn. Jeremy Cox, Bermuda?s Supervisor of Insurance, will discuss and answer questions on his view of things, alongside top regulators from London?s Financial Services Authority, the New York State Insurance Department, Australia and Switzerland, together with Steven Dreyer, managing director and practice leader, North American Insurance Ratings at Standard and Poor?s. Brad Kading, the Bermuda insurance industry?s new man in Washington, D.C, will moderate that panel.

The second discussion that afternoon will include John Berger, president of Harbor Point Re, the first and largest post-Katrina start-up; Samuel A. DiPazza, from the global board of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Grahame Chilton, CEO of Benfield; and Hemant Shah, CEO of modelling agency RMS. Bermuda?s Stephen Catlin, CEO of the Catlin Group, Scott Carmilani, CEO of Allied World Assurance Company and Bob Cooney, CEO of Max Re will be on board, and XL Capital?s Brian O?Hara will moderate.

On the Thursday morning, a panel still in formation will look at things from the investor?s perspective. Chuck Davis, CEO of Stone Point Capital, which used to be Marsh?s private equity arm Trident and which is a lead investor in Harbor Point Re, will moderate. On the panel will be VJ Dowling, managing partner, Dowling and Partners Securities LLC, Mike Millette, managing director at Goldman, Sachs, and Weston Hicks, President and CEO of Alleghany Corporation.

A final panel of the great and the good will provide thought leadership on the future of the industry.

David Brown, CEO of post-Katrina start-up Flagstone Reinsurance, will moderate, accompanied by Karen Clark, president and CEO, AIR Worldwide; Don Kramer, chairman and CEO of Ariel Re; George Reeth, president and deputy chairman of Validus Re; Neill Currie, CEO of RenaissanceRe Holdings; Richard Clinton, president of EQECAT, Inc. and Douglas King, chairman and CEO of Investors Guaranty Companies.

?The Forum is more focused this year, because our participants are busy people who want content, content, content,? explained chairman of the operating committee, Robin Spencer-Arscott. ?It?s going to be business, business, business.?

?This is a leadership forum, and we want people to speak out on subjects on which, of late, insurers have been fairly reticent,? said Suzie Pewter of The Whitfield Group, which pulls the WIF together. ?Every session will have a question-and-answer segment, to allow people to find out exactly what the top people are thinking.?

As Ms Pewter points out, issues that are local to Bermuda are also global, given the Island?s central role in the reinsurance market.

?The strength of the Forum is evidenced by the fact that almost everyone we?ve asked to attend and speak said yes, without hesitation,? said Mr. Spencer-Arscott.

The Forum?s operating committee is composed of Barry Brewer of XL Capital, Nigel Clark of Carvill, Caroline Foulger of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ms Pewter, Brian Secrett of PartnerRe, and Mr. Spencer-Arscott. Proceeds are used to fund education in the Bermuda market.

Directions for registration can be found at www.worldinsuranceforum.bm