FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 19, 2008

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

ATLANTA — Attendees at the 2009 Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association (HCEA) Healthcare Convention Marketing Summit will experience an interactive live panel of distinguished healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines discussing their views of healthcare exhibitions.  In addition, attendees will get a chance to learn directly from PhRMA’s Senior Assistant General Counsel about the revised PhRMA Code and recent marketing laws in jurisdictions like Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., that have the potential to impact healthcare convention marketing and exhibitions.  The HCEA Summit will be held January 22, 2009, in Boston at the Hyatt Harborside at Boston's Logan International Airport.

During the opening session, Summit participants will hear candid firsthand accounts of what healthcare professionals do and don't find effective in healthcare exhibitions, and will come away armed with new insight into how the panelists make decisions about visiting the exhibit hall.  In addition, the discussion will explore the healthcare professionals’ reactions to the PhRMA Code and marketing legislation that impacts how they can interact with exhibitors, and will give attendees the opportunity to ask questions.

Also, Marjorie E. Powell, Esq., Senior Assistant General Counsel, PhRMA, will provide attendees with an insider’s view into the updated provisions in the revised PhRMA Code, perspective on how the new marketing laws might affect the healthcare convention marketing landscape and a forum to ask questions about possible compliance scenarios.

The HCEA 2009 Summit will bring together healthcare convention marketers, healthcare convention organizers, medical meeting planners and supporting industry companies to participate in one day of powerful peer-to-peer and expert-based learning. 
Following are the featured sessions:

• Straight Talk from Physicians and Medical Professionals — Live:
  An Expert Panel Discussion on Real Views of the Healthcare Exhibition
  Panelists:
  Richard Babayan, MD, Chairman of the Department of Urology, Chief of Urology and Director of the Renal Lithotripsy Unit at Boston Medical Center, Director of the Boston University Prostate Center, member of the American Urological Association Board of Directors;
  Brian J. Pinelle, RN, MBA, NEA-BC, Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Hallmark Health System;
  Susan Volpicella-Levy, DO, President, New Jersey Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons; and
  Gregory Volturo, MD, FACEP, Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School
  Moderator: Eric Allen, Executive Vice President, HCEA
• PhRMA Code 2.0 and Marketing Laws, Too -- What You Need to Know About Their Impact on Healthcare Conventions
  Marjorie E. Powell, Esq., Senior Assistant General Counsel, PhRMA
• The Future of the Healthcare Exhibit Hall, an update from the HCEA special industry task force exploring the future of the healthcare exhibit hall as a marketing and educational medium
• The 2009 HCEA State of the Industry Report and Market Trend Watch, Frank Skinner, Director of Marketing and Information Systems, HCEA
• What’s Next for the AdvaMed Code?, Andy van Haute, Associate General Counsel, AdvaMed
• Emerging Issues in CME, Robert F. Orsetti, MA, FACME
• How Younger Generations of Healthcare Professionals View Exhibitions and Events, Randy Bauler, CEM, Corporate Relations and Exhibits Director, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
• Marketing Healthcare Products Abroad:  Understanding Your Culturally Different Customers, Gary Ferraro, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Critical Issues Discourse: Association/Industry Exchange, Moderators: Karen Kingston, CMP, Exhibits & Meetings Manager, B. Braun Medical, Inc., and Michelle Turenne, Director, Corporate Alliances and Development, American Thoracic Society

The HCEA Summit also provides attendees the opportunity to earn continuing education units that apply toward the Certified Manager of Exhibits – Healthcare (CME/H) and Certified Manager of Exhibits (CME) professional designations.  These programs are managed by the Trade Show Exhibitors Association and endorsed by HCEA