A recently set up e-commerce conference -- eCC Bermuda -- hopes this year to attract an unprecedented number of locals and overseas delegates, according to event organisers.

The high-powered conference, which will be held from September 18 to 20 at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel, is trying to bring both potential clients and business partners to the Island. Last year was the first time the two-day event was put on and attracted about 160 delegates, many of them locals.

This year the focus will be on delegates from outside attending and will be offering valuable information for companies that would like to set up in Bermuda.

The conference, which takes thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours to organise, has attracted Nick Jones, a senior analyst at Jupiter, as a key-note speaker.

Barbara Gaudette, eCC conference chairman, said: " Mr. Jones' areas of expertise include financial services and content strategies for European publisher and portal sites.'' Another keynote speaker is Patty Seybold, a computer consultant and author of Customers.com -- a book on how to set up a successful e-business.

Ms Gaudette added: "Drawing on company case studies, Ms Seybold's presentation will outline five steps any organisation must achieve to successfully do e-commerce.'' The speakers at the conference will focus on financial services, end-to-end commerce and business risk.

Of great interest to businesses looking to set up on the Island will be the case studies of offshore dot com companies doing business to business trading.

Ms Gaudette said: "This is what potential international attendees told us they want to hear about, as well as a solid track on technology, marketing and back end and fulfilment issues.'' Other topics to be covered include non-stop computing, business to business exchanges, payment methods for international transactions, storage and offshore financial services.

Local registration for eCC Bermuda will begin in June. Information on the conference and on other speakers can be found on www.eccbermuda.com.

BUSINESS BUC