New E-Commerce Conference Targeted for Small Business; UCSC Extension Helps Businesses Think E-tail Moderator Fred LaCosse-Host of Silicon Valley Business This Week .

Business Editors

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 2000

A new report indicates that 64 percent of small businesses are currently using the Internet and another 10 percent expect to be online in the next 12 months -- a dramatic 150 percent increase from only 12 months ago.

Keeping ahead of this e-commerce movement, UCSC Extension presents a timely E-Commerce Conference for Small Business to help local business leaders get the right foundation for successful e-tailing; learn winning e-commerce business strategies and solutions to help demystify the e-commerce process and be competitive within a limited budget.

The new research, based on The Kelsey Group/ConStat's Local Commerce Monitor, is a nationwide survey of U.S. business with fewer than 100 employees and has relevant information on the way the Internet is transforming the way small companies do business. Among the reasons for this explosion to the Internet are relatively inexpensive computers and Internet access, along with the fact that other small businesses are getting online.

&uot;Our goal is to help conference participants gain practical knowledge on all facets of e-commerce, answer their pressing questions, and provide a wealth of resources to help them identify opportunities to get started or keep pace,&uot; says Tim Johnson, UCSC Extension's Associate Dean.

The E-commerce for Small Business Conference is held in Silicon Valley, Friday through Sunday, March 17-19 in Santa Clara, and Sunday through Tuesday, April 2-4th in Monterey. The conference moderator is Fred LaCosse, Emmy award winner of the Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and, currently, host of Silicon Valley Business This Week which airs on KICU-TV in San Jose.

In Silicon Valley, UCSC Extension's E-commerce Conference features keynote speaker, Dr. Willy Chiu, director of High Volume Web Sites in IBM's Software Group at the IBM Java Technology Center in Cupertino.

The keynote address at the E-Commerce Conference in Monterey will be given by Roger Sanford, founder and president of P3M, one of Silicon Valley's leading interactive architect companies, and Kimb Massey, Ph.D., who leads P3M's Web Services group.

At both locations, key presenters include: NaNoshka Johnson, an information systems expert and co-founder of Nosh Productions, Inc., a web strategy firm; Karen Clothier, chief executive officer and founding partner of San Francisco-based NetQuest; Fernando Martinez-Campos, an enterprise architecture consultant at NCR Corporation; Dianne McKenzie, executive producer and senior site architect at Comet Studios Web Design &Development in San Francisco; and Dave Asprey, computer information systems expert at Exodus.

UCSC Extension's e-commerce conference is sponsored by the San Jose Mercury News and Monterey Herald.

A partial list of local organization endorsements include: San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center, Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce, Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, NOVA/Private Industry Council, CONNECT!, Monterey Peninsula Visitors and Convention Bureau, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, and Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce.

For detailed information and to register online, visit www.ucsc-extension.edu. To register by phone, call [phone]. For additional information, call [phone].

Conference fee: $425 early registration for Silicon Valley by 3/15/00; for Monterey by 4/1/00. $495 registration after 3/15/00 for Silicon Valley and after 4/1/00 for Monterey. Bonus for attending: E-Commerce Tool Kit including sample business plans and vendor contracts, online resources, bibliographies, glossary of terms, and other practical information.

About UCSC Extension

UCSC Extension is the largest provider of professional education in Silicon Valley and the Central Coast with total student enrollments of more than 50,000 annually and more than 3000 courses each year. UCSC Extension offers a wide variety of courses and programs including e-commerce, network engineering, marketing, corporate finance and business management, Web and interactive media, and intercultural business communication. UCSC Extension operates six classroom facilities--in Silicon Valley (Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and Milpitas) and in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.