RIMS is the biggest gathering of insurance people in North America. Sue Stuart explores the conference where people talk insurance morning, noon and night.

Everyone had said that RIMS is big. It's not big -- it is absolutely enormous.

Around 8,000 registered delegates and a further 4,000 attendees milling around the vast Georgia World Congress Centre, the nearby hotels and the streets all making, or trying to make, connections. And they're all labelled with their white RIMS badges hanging on tapes around their necks or clipped to pockets or lapels.

The labelled people come in all shapes, colours and sizes and speak a variety of languages. They walk around the exhibition hall talking insurance with exhibitors, sit in huddles in restaurants, bars and cafes talking insurance, smoke their cigarettes outside on the concourse talking insurance, walk down the road in small groups talking insurance and at the end of the day they go to one of the many parties and talk insurance.

The Georgia World Congress Centre is an impressively large and sprawling building, with a warren of rooms where the conference sessions are held. From Monday to the end of Thursday there are 215 sessions, so most people are very selective about which they attend. If the number of people milling around is anything to go by it is surprising that any of them are attended.

But they cover the full spectrum of insurance related issues ranging from "How to Settle Long-Tail Claims'' to "The Corporate Special Event and Other Public Issues''.

Undoubtedly the most visited area is the exhibition hall. It houses 400 exhibitors all set up on very impressively designed stands. Again people are selective about which stands they visit because it would take hours to visit each one and find out about their products. But there are some people who do a quick run round just picking up the freebies offered on each stand, though quite what they do with all those mouse mats, pens and bags is hard to imagine.

The Bermuda stand is among the most impressive, with its City Hall replica facade and ease of access. The people manning the stand full time are all colour coordinated with navy blazers and red Bermuda shorts or skirts and are welcoming and efficient with visitors. There is also a continuous flow of Bermuda industry and government people helping out on the stand, who are generally not involved with the colour scheme but who are able to give valuable factual information and advice to visitors.

The stand has a screened off small meeting room where more serious discussions can take place and a pair of stocks, that work, where visitors can have their photo taken. There are smart Bermuda bags on offer and the new tiny CD which contains a wealth of information about the Island's insurance industry. There is also a new style brochure which gives at-a-glance information. Visitors to the stand get their badges swiped on a machine which provides a list of people for David Fox and others to follow up with more information when the conference is over.

Robin Spencer-Arscott, who is chairman of the Island's RIMS committee and plays a major role in organising Bermuda's presence at RIMS, is on the stand looking very dapper in his blazer and shorts. He feels RIMS is a great networking opportunity for Bermuda's insurance people.

"We have always had an attractive and welcoming booth at RIMS,'' he said. "A lot of people come to it because they already have some kind of a presence in Bermuda, maybe a captive or some reinsurance, and others come because they want more information about Bermuda.

"This year we developed the CD-rom because we know it has a 90 percent chance of making it back to their offices, rather than ending up in a bin in Atlanta which is what happens to most of the paper people collect here. This is very high profile for Bermuda because the government has a big involvement.'' This year Jeremy Cox, Registrar of Companies, is on the stand and available to talk to people about regulation and requirements for setting up Bermuda companies. He said: "This is an ideal opportunity for the Bermuda message to be heard directly. When I do attend something it is more from an educational than a marketing perspective.

"A number of people who come to the booth want a company in Bermuda so having the regulator here is a great help in giving them information.

At RIMS, everything is big "Sometimes there will be meetings when the companies want to chat with the regulator. Bermuda is a world insurance laboratory, a place for innovation. We wouldn't have the success we have if we weren't doing something right. We have been having success in a soft market so we are well poised for even more success as the market hardens.'' But it is not only on the stand where contacts are made and business seeds sown. Paul Scope, chief executive of H&H Park International in Hamilton, has attended RIMS conferences for years and finds they generate a lot of business.

"RIMS is a fantastic week for our company. We bring four people every year and maybe 30 or 40 of our clients come to the conference. We can save ourselves about six trips a year by meeting with them here.

"I used to attend sessions but now we tend to use RIMS as a meeting place, having meetings outside the conference premises. There is a lot of making contacts and networking that you can follow up later. A lot of our business comes from word of mouth.

"Some people complain about RIMS being too big and a bit of a zoo. But if you are organised and don't overcommit yourself it is good. The key is to organise it like a campaign and we begin our preparations months ahead. We will book our hotel for next year soon after leaving Atlanta, choosing one that is close to the convention centre and has good meeting facilities. Then around January we will sort out who is going to go and how to divide up the work there and cover the bases.

"We go to several others that are more industry-focused but none are as good for us as RIMS. And Bermuda has done a tremendous job at marketing the island, particularly with the booth. All year we are competing with each other at work in Bermuda, but there is a real team spirit among everyone from the island at RIMS. I cannot praise them enough for what they have done over the years at RIMS.'' Opposite the Bermuda stand is a Bank of Butterfield stand and the staff there feel it is very important for them to be there. The bank provides a lot of services to the insurance industry and a spokesman said: "We are here to help our clients and to support the bank and Bermuda. This is our ninth year here and it definitely generates new business for us, though it takes a while to come through. Our global clients come to see us and new people intending to set up Bermuda captives.'' Different people get different things out of RIMS, but there is an undoubted belief that being there is essential. It is the networking potential that comes across as the strongest reason for going to RIMS and it must work because it draws many thousands of people each year.

And of course there are the parties. The conference began with a big party on Sunday night in one of the large hotels. Lots of food, southern style, drink and music to dance by provided by the Marsh Blues Brokers, one of the leading members of which is the Atlanta Marsh general manager. So very many people attended this event that it was initially rather awe inspiring. But before too long a group of Bermuda people found each other and it began to feel more comfortable.

There are parties every night, for those with the stamina and the energy left after a hard day of talking insurance. Bermuda's party is on Wednesday and is known to be one of the most popular. Cayman threw a great party on Monday, with wonderful seafood and an excellent band producing island music that ranged from calypso to reggae. It will be hard to beat that. But late Tuesday night is the Irish party which will probably be the best. It is held in Atlanta's largest Irish bar and anyone who has ever partied with the Irish will know it's going to be good.

Meeting of the minds: Finance Minister with BIBA chairman Raymond Medeiros in Atlanta.

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