VCIA Special Section

VCIA Conference preview

By Michael J. Moody, MBA, ARM

Each year, more and more captive-specific educational conferences are held. The majority are sponsored by captive domiciles, both offshore and onshore, in order to highlight the unique selling points of the domicile. And while the number of conferences has grown, due in large part to the growing list of domiciles, there is little doubt as to the largest and most successful conference. That is the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) annual event that is set to present its 23rd annual event on August 12-14, 2008. The VCIA has chosen to name this year’s conference “Solving the Risk Management Puzzle.”

The conference routinely draws 1,300 to 1,400 participants to Burlington, Vermont, each year to catch up on the latest in the captive world. According to VCIA President Molly Lambert, the success of the VCIA annual conference is not left to chance. She says the success is due in large part to “the process that is used to develop the individual sessions.”

Planning ahead

Lambert points out that much of the credit for the success of the educational aspects of the conference goes to the participation of the 25 to 30 people on the conference committee. She says, “The committee is charged with putting together a pool of potential captive-related topics.” But, it doesn’t stop there; the Committee is helped out in this important phase of planning by the VCIA board, as well as “a growing list of captive owners.” It’s the input from all of these sources that is responsible for developing a list of relevant topics, Lambert notes. As a result of this process, she says, “we then end up with the most important captive-related topics.”

From here, the committee works to develop specific sessions for each topic. But, Lambert says, it’s not as easy as it sounds “when you select the topics six to eight months in advance of the conference. No one knows just how important they will be at the time of the conference.” While some potential sessions can be very topical shortly after the prior year’s conference, “they may not be as important later on.” By and large, despite the changing nature of the captive insurance market, the committee has done “an excellent job of providing relevant session topics,” according to Lambert.

Only half the battle

Certainly identifying relevant topics is an important aspect of providing successful sessions; however, it is not the only determining factor. As Lambert points out, “It’s the presentations themselves that make the biggest impressions.” And here she says, “VCIA goes the extra mile. There are many people that oversee both the content and the presentation of each session.” Among the more important roles in this process are the conference coordinator and the design coordinator who is charged with the responsibility for the visual aspects of the presentation as well as making certain that all of the presentation slides look the same from one session to another.

Then there is the content coordinator who is responsible for making certain that each session has “relevant information that is presented in an appealing manner.” Additionally, Lambert points out, “there is also a captive owner’s advisory team” that helps oversee this entire process. At the end of the day, Lambert says, “we all want to make certain that each session has good content and is well prepared in advance of the conference.”

Other aspects

“One of the things we continue to work on is providing an event for attendees at all levels of experience,” notes Lambert. And one way that VCIA has chosen to do this is to provide a Captive 101 session on the opening day. The session, which was introduced several years ago, has received high marks from participants for the past few years. The session is designed to make certain that each attendee has a good grasp of basic captive insurance operations. And by providing this introductory session on the first day, Lambert points out, “the remaining educational session can then be designed for intermediate level or above.”

This year’s conference, the 23rd annual event, has a wide array of sessions that touch on many important issues to the captive insurance community. These include:

• The View from Vermont’s Regulators—This was a very popular session last year, so the committee decided to schedule it again this year. Little did they realize the changes that would occur within the captive division. This session will provide a great opportunity to meet the “new” team of captive regulators.

• ERM Solutions—This session will help attendees gain an understanding of the history, development, and future of enterprise risk management as it relates to captives.

• Innovative Captive Uses—Many captive owners are trying to maximize the use of their captives. This session will discuss some of the less traditional uses for captive insurance companies. In today’s soft insurance, owners will want to explore innovative uses for their captives.

• Cracking the Tax Code: An IRS Update—There has been much activity within the tax area over the past couple of years. This session will provide attendees with an excellent overview of the current status of various IRS proposals, and there will be a discussion of upcoming concerns.

In total, the conference will have 18 timely sessions that cover the majority of critical issues facing captive owners during this soft insurance market. Attendees can come away from the event with a number of practical solutions to puzzling risk management issues.

All work and no play, no way

“One of the hallmarks of the VCIA conference,” says Lambert, “is the networking opportunities.” And this year will be no exception, she says. Opening day activities include the 18th annual Vermont Captive Open Golf Tournament that will be held at the Vermont National Country Club. But, Lambert notes that this year also will feature several new events that are scheduled during the first day. For example, there will be two one-hour golf clinics held during the day for those who wish to brush up on their golf skills.

An additional new feature scheduled for the first day will be the “Art Studio Tour and Luncheon” with Burlington City Arts. Lambert indicates that, as is the custom, the first day will conclude with the opening reception, which is again scheduled at Shelburne Farms.

The second day will be highlighted by the VCIA annual “members only” meeting followed by the Opening General Session. The Opening Session will feature the Industry Awards Presentation and comments from both Governor Jim Douglas and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch. The keynote speaker at the Opening Session will be The New York Times and NPR’s Puzzle Master, Will Shortz. He will lead an interactive, informative, brain-stimulation session. Several sessions are scheduled for the afternoon, including popular roundtable discussion groups. Golf awards will be made at the end of the day’s sessions. This will be followed with a reception with the exhibitors.

Educational sessions dominate the final day of the conference. A number of informative sessions will be included in the morning sessions, with additional sessions and the health care roundtable discussion during the afternoon. This year’s closing reception is being held at the ECHO Lake Aquarium.

Conclusion

With the many issues that are going on within the captive insurance marketplace, as well as the changes that have taken place within the Vermont Captive Insurance Division, this may be a great year to attend the conference. The conference promises to provide an excellent venue to learn state-of-the-art risk management and captive management solutions to many of the industry’s pressing issues. The VCIA Annual Conference is the largest gathering of captive industry leaders, and the reason for its success will become apparent to those attending. *