The 16th Annual Cayman Captive Forum was held 2-4 December, 2008 at The Ritz-Carlton. Conference organisers, the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman, were extremely pleased with the outcome of the event.

The agenda provided diverse, entertaining and educational sessions. Key note speakers Mr. James Bradley (author of “Flags or Our Fathers” a bestseller and a 2007 motion picture directed by Clint Eastwood, and son of John Bradley, one of the six boys who raised the American Flag on Iwo Jima in one of the most reproduced photographs in history) and Mr. Robert Stutman (former special agent with the US Drug Enforcement Administration) provided entertaining and thought-provoking presentations. Mr. James Bradley was a last minute change when Mr. Charlie Wilson was unable to attend due to medical reasons. In addition to the presentation Mr. Stutman provided at the conference, he also provided presentations to students at various schools (Cayman Prep, George Hicks High School, John Gray High School and St. Ignatius), parents of various schools, and met with representatives of various associations (NDC, CASA, DARE and PTA’s).

The conference agenda also included three extraordinary evening networking opportunities at Boatswain Beach, The Ritz-Carlton ballroom and The Ritz-Carlton beach.

IMAC expressed its gratitude to KPMG as the Key Sponsor of the event, as well as the numerous event sponsors, supporting sponsors and exhibitors. IMAC Chairman Ron Sulisz noted that KPMG has been the Key Sponsor for this event for many years now and is pleased to continue to perceive the value of its sponsorship in this event. Mr. Sulisz noted that many other event sponsors have also been committed to the conference for a number of years and as conference organisers try to get them involved early on in the process so that all can mutually benefit from conference experience.

One of the challenges that the annual conference may face in the future is that with its growth, it may out-grow the largest conference facilities in the Cayman Islands – The Ritz-Carlton. The conference organisers have noted that they could easily have sold many more exhibitor booths and many more rooms at The Ritz-Carlton. The rooms at the conference discounted rate sold out within hours of becoming available. It was phenomenal. By 10 of the morning they went on sale it was sold out noted one of the conference organisers. This high demand for exhibitor booths and rooms at The Ritz-Carlton has caused the organisers to create allocation policies to try to be as equitable as possible.

A lot of organisation goes into the conference each year, and once those fireworks go off at the last evenings networking function signifying the end of the organisers’ responsibilities, you will likely see them having a much deserved celebratory toast.