The inaugural Bermuda Captive Conference drew 30 percent more delegates than anticipated with a total of 300 in attendance and some 190 of those attending from overseas.

Roger Gillett, chairman of the Insurance Development Council and the conference, told yesterday that he was delighted with the numbers especially since some 150 of the delegates were either captive owners or prospective captive owners.

?That is key for us as we managed to attract the audience we are looking for,? Mr. Gillett said.

The organisers also used a luncheon yesterday to encourage captive owners to launch their own Bermuda club. About 50 owners turned up for the meeting and reacted positively to the idea.

?As soon as we got into a discussion of what it is we had in mind there was considerable buy in and excitement from their part. They see it as a great new way to interact with one another and receive good information,? Mr. Gillett said.

Benchmarking using surveys to find out how captive owners in the aggregate approach certain things and then filtering that information back to each owner so that they could make use of it in their organisation is one are where the club could benefit owners. Members would also help generate future agendas for the second annual Bermuda Captive Conference which is already slated for the week of September 18, 2006.

Mr. Gillett said that while organisers will tweak the next conference after they receive feedback on the first one, however their decision to offer panel discussions in the inaugural year was extremely well received with most sessions well-attended.

?The panel format makes it easier to sit through a series of presentations. By the end of day it is very difficult to keep up but if you have in interactive format it makes it more interesting for people and they actually get to participate if they choose to as well. That keeps it alive and I do think we selected out subjects pretty well although we will take further guidance on that,? he said.

Premier Alex Scott and Minister of Finance also addressed delegates which Mr. Gillett said displayed to delegates their interest in the business.

?There are not many countries in world where the Premier and Minister of Finance would be quite as attached to the business as they displayed themselves and that says a lot to captive owners relying on a stable environment,? he said.