This city is always in a rush even if you insert a conference on electronic commerce and some two hundred and fifty people in a hurry to get some place very fast. The conference for the offshore world opened yesterday at the grandiosely named Millennium Conference Centre, serving as a first marketing effort for many islands vying for a piece of the pie.

To discuss legal and infrastructural and tax advantages in the heartland of capitalism is probably an audacious move, given that onshore authorities have the offshore world firmly in their crosshairs.

Bermuda dominates the conference programme, both in the number of speakers and in the booth area. The Bermuda Stock Exchange, the Bermuda International Association, and First Atlantic Commerce Ltd. all have booths at the conference in the Millennium Hotel.

Jersey is the only jurisdiction with a booth. Other islands like Turks & Caicos have also sent down delegations to check out their competitors.

Potential customers were in short supply, although there were a few in the audience who asked questions, keen to determine what the offshore world had to offer.

Stephen Izatt, managing director of consultancy S-Corp, however sent a reality check to offshore delegates, saying that most businesses don't look at offshore centres because of poor marketing of jurisdictions. Mr. Izatt is the former chief operating officer of James Martin & Co. Europe, a company formed by Bermuda resident James Martin.

"You need to simplify the process of going offshore, Mr. Izatt said.

Bermuda dominates offshore e-conference "It's very very complex for most businesses.'' The benefits of going offshore lie in tax planning, a distributed operations for 24-hour support and the expertise in some centres. He also said immigration policies and the cost of living in places like Bermuda and Jersey serve as a barrier to going offshore. Some businesses just don't want the hassle.

Electronic commerce is simply traditional business done over the Internet, which creates special demands and strategies.

Offshore centres are going to have to relax immigration policies for e-commerce businesses which need to bring staff in and out.

"The perception right now is that it's not easy to move people around,'' he said.

Businesses on the Internet use the computer network to reach more customers globally and drive down business costs. Mr. Izatt gave the example of bluefly.com, a clothing retailer that took in $32 million in revenues over the Internet with only nine staff. Dell Computer is getting $6 million in revenue a day over the Internet. British Airways has committed itself to managing fully, half its business on the Internet by 2003, around the time Web based commerce is predicted to generate $1 trillion in revenue.

"E-commerce is an evolution,'' he said. "We are speaking about the future of commerce. It's no longer a niche for the lunatic fringe. It's now mainstream.'' However the risks of doing business on the Internet can be seen in a study done by Boston Consulting Group this year. The firm found that two out of three Internet shopping baskets are abandoned before payment is made, and that shoppers are only willing to wait eight seconds for a order to process before jumping to another site. Patience for Internet shoppers is in short supply and sites must cater to the short attention span and ease with which visitors jump to competitors.

Marketing is all important. It's not enough to put up a site then wait for shoppers to come and browse.

"The traditional business virtues are just as important on the Internet,'' he said.

He believes that those offshore jurisdictions that succeed in marketing themselves as e-commerce centres will become niche players -- specialising in certain areas of the business. He also believes the great boom offshore in electronic commerce will come from the financial services industry.

Today the Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA) begins the day with a round-table breakfast discussion at which Finance Minister Eugene Cox and Minister of Telecommunications and E-Commerce Renee Webb will attend.

BIBA will also make a media presentation in the morning. Johann Wong, founder and president of Bermuda-based HedgeWorld Ltd., will give a presentation afterwards. BIBA will then host a dinner in the evening.

BUSINESS BUC