Bermuda made quite a scene yesterday at the world’s largest insurance conference in Philadelphia, complete with media paparazzi and an entourage.Premier Paula Cox completed her annual walkabout through the exhibit hall flanked by Roger Gillett, chairman of the IDC’s RIMS committee and Jeremy Cox, CEO of the BMA, stopping by booths of important insurance rivals like Lloyd’s and local companies, including Axis, Ace and XL.Bermuda is the only country that has its political leader attending the conference and the tradition of Bermuda’s annual ‘walkabout’ is the only one of its kind. The tradition goes back so far that no one can put on a finger on when it really started.The first stop was at the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) conference booth to speak with the president of the risk management organisation, Deborah Luthi.“For our RIMS members, the resources and the access in Bermuda are what our members need and that really drives us to keep that relationship and partnership strong,” said Ms Luthi, who will be in Bermuda in June for the upcoming Insurance Day conference.“It has been a long-term relationship and we want to continue to fortify our relationship.”Ms Luthi said she keeps every one of Bermuda’s RIMS giveaway bags and displays them on her office wall. The colourful bag with Bermuda’s logo emblazoned across the front is a hot-ticket item at the conference. It’s bright purple this year and people have been steadily coming through the booth to pick up the canvas tote.The Bermuda booth, where close to 60 volunteers help to extol the benefits of the jurisdiction, has been steadily busy over the last two days. Donning red Bermuda shorts, representatives from the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Insurance Development Council and industry executives have been answering questions, meeting with existing and potential clients.While no one topic has dominated the conversation at the booth, interest in captive formations seems to be the most popular question.Mr Gillet, who has been coming to RIMS and manning the booth for close to 30 years, said that the evolution of Bermuda’s presence here has gone through several stages.“Originally we were here to get people to know us at all,” he said. “In the 90s we had to bring in the Bermuda Regiment and the Gombeys because we had slipped off the radar a bit, but today, we are like an institution here.”