Advanstar Announces Results for ICCM 2004; 2004 Event Draws International Audience and Features Extended Conference Program on Speech Technologies and Voice Over IP.

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. -- Advanstar Technology Group, a division of Advanstar Communications, Inc. today announced results of its ICCM 2004 Conference & Exposition, held August 9-10 at The Navy Pier in Chicago. More than 2900 industry professionals, 80 members of the media, and 100 exhibitors participated in this year's event, with more than 37 countries represented.

"ICCM once again lived up to its reputation as the industry's premier worldwide conference and exposition for contact center professionals seeking practical advice and insight on solutions to enhance their business performance, increase customer satisfaction and support new initiatives," said Kerry Gumas, vice president of Advanstar Technology Group. "The response to this year's event from both the attendees and exhibitors has been overwhelmingly positive."

Working with Angus Dortmans Associates, America's Network magazine, and National Seminars Group, ICCM assembled the industry's thought leaders for presentations and discussions on relevant topics ranging from workforce management to government regulations to offshoring, a subject that has even found its way into the presidential debate. In total, there were more than 60 new topics covered at ICCM this year.

"The ICCM conference in Chicago was a fun and stimulating time. The exhibitors were very informative. They indulged my many questions and even pondered some of my more curious inquiries," said Karen D. Long, MA CCC-SLP, Voice Ergonomics(TM), Inc.

This year's agenda met a wide range of needs from core foundational information to cutting-edge insights and thought-provoking ideas. The all-new IP Telephony and Voice Technology Conference at ICCM focused on the issues and challenges facing customer contact and call center managers, as well as IT professionals responsible for building and supporting their organizations' speech recognition and IP telephony infrastructures.

"ICCM Chicago was a great opportunity to showcase our products and services, gain industry knowledge and talk to pre-qualified potential customers who were looking for call center solutions," commented Brent Isenberg, director of enterprise sales for Logic Tree Corporation. "The educational seminars were very informative and clearly illustrated the main issues and challenges surrounding call centers today."

In remarks at Wednesday morning's Plenary Session, Ian Angus, chairman, Angus Dortmans Associates, Inc., told attendees that the conference was "designed to challenge your assumptions and address specific needs with information you can use."

Other Keynote addresses were given by:

Loretta LaRoche, Author, Consultant, The Human Potential
George T. Sullivan, CTO, Consulting & Integration Services, AVAYA
Kathleen Peterson, Chief Vision Officer, Powerhouse Consulting, Inc.
Crystal Collier, Vice President of Member Development
 Communications, AOL

A number of exhibitors utilized ICCM 2004 as a platform to announce new products and services, including Aspect Communications, Inova Solutions, Nice Systems, Opus Group, and Witness Systems. A successful new feature of the exhibit hall included the Outsourcing Pavilion, which included over 30 companies from Brazil, South Africa, Costa Rica, Trinidad/Tobego, Germany and Canada.

"ICCM offers us a great balance between generating sales leads, building brand recognition, and gathering competitive intelligence, all within a nicely formatted event that effectively and consistently targets the contact center market," said Christine Holley, director, Market Communications, Interactive Intelligence Inc.

ICCM sponsors a series of events throughout the year at which customer contact and call center professionals meet to discuss the challenges they face to improve productivity and performance. The next annual Chicago event, which is the largest of the ICCM Conferences and Expositions, is scheduled for August 16-18, 2005 at the Navy Pier.

ICCM also produces the ICCM Forums, a series of one-day seminars focused on specific contact center challenges and opportunities for business enhancement. The next series of events takes place September 21 in Tampa, FL; September 23 in Atlanta, GA; October 12 in Long Beach, CA; October 14 in Sacramento, CA; and November 4 in Denver, CO.

About Advanstar

Advanstar Communications Inc. (www.advanstar.com) is a worldwide business information company serving specialized markets with high quality information resources and integrated marketing solutions. Advanstar has 115 business magazines and directories, 78 tradeshows and conferences, numerous Web sites, and a wide range of print and electronic direct marketing, database and reference products and services. Advanstar serves targeted market sectors in the art, automotive, beauty, e-learning, call center, digital media, entertainment/marketing, fashion & apparel, manufacturing and processing, powersports, science, telecommunications, travel/hospitality, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. The Company now has more than 1,400 employees and currently operates from multiple offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.