Another Record Attendance at a Meeting Noted for High-Quality Professional Training

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2004

CONTACT: Jennifer Palcher - HCEA (404) 252-3663

ATLANTA - What should healthcare convention marketers know about the latest guidelines for offering continuing medical education (CME), and what are the best ways to maximize the value of healthcare exhibiting? These are among the questions on the minds of HCEA members, and at HCEA's 2004 Annual Meeting, June 12-15, in Austin, Texas, a record 732 attendees heard the latest word on CME guidelines, cost-effective ways to connect with healthcare professionals on the exhibit floor, and more.

The Austin Convention Center was the site for the HCEA Annual Meeting, which was themed "Bright Stars in the Lone Star." The headquarters hotel was the recently opened Hilton Austin. The program included 31 educational workshops focusing on such topics as ROI, housing, lead retrieval, Exhibitors Advisory Councils (EACs), continuing medical education and exhibiting best practices.

The program was filled with valuable educational workshops. For example, one session offered a valuable overview of the updated Standards for Commercial Support for CME from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Also, the session "Is Your Exhibit Delivering What Healthcare Professionals Want and Expect?" featured a live telecast with healthcare professionals, who answered questions about what they look to get out of healthcare conventions. One attendee said, "This was the best session I have attended so far."

Other workshops also struck a chord with attendees. A session on the HCEA Guidelines for U.S. Healthcare Conventions offered important direction on how priority points systems work, how a prospectus should be drawn up and more. Another session, "(Most) Physicians are People, Too: Using Audience and Crowd Dynamics to Make Exhibiting More Effective," gave participants insight into physician behavior on the healthcare convention floor.

HCEA's kick-off and keynote speakers were also big hits. Kick-off comedian Greg Schwem had the crowd in stitches with his comedy routine targeting the healthcare meetings industry. And keynote speaker Erik Wahl helped attendees expand their minds by introducing a whole new approach to creativity while creating works of art onstage.

"HCEA has always emphasized the importance of education, but this year we took it to a new level," said Eric Allen, HCEA Executive Vice President. "We listened to what our members wanted and provided an educational program designed to meet their greatest professional needs."

For the first time this year, attendees were able to take home CDs of a select number of presentations. The CDs, provided through a partnership with XtndEvent, contain content from the workshops captured via video and computer.

Another component of the HCEA Annual Meeting education was the HCEA Exhibition, which this year boasted 120 booths. Attendees took the opportunity to learn about a variety of state-of-the-art healthcare exhibiting products and services in the sold-out exhibit hall. And HCEA's ever-popular networking functions gave attendees ample opportunity to interact with colleagues.

In addition, industry veteran George Feehan, President of GWF Associates in Hamilton, N.J., was honored with the prestigious HCEA Distinguished Service Award to acknowledge his decades of service in the healthcare convention marketing industry and his dedication to HCEA. Feehan joined HCEA in 1959 when it was still known as the Medical Exhibitors Association. He has served on HCEA's Board of Directors, Annual Meeting Committee and Exhibitors Advisory Council.

HCEA's 2005 Annual Meeting will be held June 4-7, in New Orleans at the Morial Convention Center. The headquarters hotel will be the Fairmont New Orleans. For more information on the 2005 Annual Meeting, keep checking the HCEA Web site at www.hcea.org, or contact HCEA headquarters at (404) 252-3663; fax (404) 252-0774; or e-mail at hcea@kellencompany.com.

HCEA is the only association solely dedicated to improving the effectiveness of all conventions, meetings and exhibitions for the healthcare industry. HCEA represents nearly 700 member organizations involved in healthcare exhibitions and conventions.

- 30 -