A reward for waking up early! Volunteer your website IMC's panel of branding and usability experts will show you how to attract and keep more customers through stronger branding and better usability.

KEYNOTE: The Psychology of Internet Marketing: The Hidden Origins of Consumer Frustration and Satisfaction
Robert Swick, Strategy Internet Marketing
The abandoned shopping cart is the usual example of how unpredictable the behavior of the online consumer can be. But like other artifacts of online consumer behavior, the abandoned shopping cart has many causes - some of them originating within the consumer, some within the mind and abilities of the project team (or project leader) that created the technology the person is trying to use. In this session, Rob Swick - an online marketing strategist and former university psychology instructor - will examine scientific studies of online consumer behavior, as well as the role of the psychology of leadership and teamwork in the success or failure of web-based tools and systems.

Visuals and the Power of Metaphors
Rupert Ravens, CEO of Nices.Com
Communicating your visual message, quickly and clearly, is essential to any Online Marketing Success. Rupert Ravens, CEO and Creative Director of Nices.com will outline principles which present metaphors as powerful visualization tools to assist in defining, developing, and deployment of your unique vessel in the ocean of web marketing. Ravens has designed some of the most recognizable website solutions on the internet, including; ToysRUs, Pfizer, AT&T and other Fortune 500 companies.

Rules and Precision Marketing Challenges for Building Integrated Local and Global Services
Stephan Darbell, Integrata Products
To challenge both the local and the global competition is one important key factor to all companies’ future business successes. New entrants on the global and local markets are just a matter of time in many branches and competition will always be stronger. Your old customers brand loyalty could be just one click away to leave you forever. So when you create a customer centric integrated global and local long-term strategic approach you need more to the strategic focus agenda than the just the focus of the translation to different local languages and ip lookup systems. This session will share experience from a global-local travel community TravelMate.com done in 1996 and the new strategies and technologies that could be useful today.

Turning Gamers into Winners: Using Promotional Contests to Vie for Results
Joel Parent, PMP, IC Group Inc. -- Director, Interactive Business Development
Consumers love the chance to win prizes - that's why online games, contests and sweepstakes never cease to attract consumer attention. They are widely used by national and international brand name companies to drive up sales, increase publicity and effectively get their brand messages across, stimulating interest and demand.

In this session, marketers will see how the big brands cement their consumer relationships by strategically integrating online promotional contests and games into their branding. They will learn how instant prizes and rewards are used to enhance loyalty and meet marketing objectives. And finally, they will hear new ideas to kick-start brainstorm sessions, including how to use instant win games in virtual environments.

Identifying Online Opportunities
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, Vice-President, AskMen.com
How did a Montreal-based startup grow quickly to become the hands-down most popular men's destination in the world? Bigger than MaximOnline, bigger then GQ.com, Ash is co-founder and Vice-President of Advertising and PR at AskMen.com, the largest men's destination online and also the Canadian website with the largest international audience. In this session, Ash will outline the success path, strategic partnerships, and market forces that have made AskMen.com a world leader and a profitable success.

The New Online Consumer Targeting: Think Local, Not Global
Carolyn Gardner, President, Card Communications
/Darlene Moore, President, DriveTraffic.ca
The impressive global reach of the Internet has held marketers in awe of the possibility of selling to 'the global village'. Yet targeting specific audiences with well thought out messages is the most successful strategy in Internet marketing. This session will combine examples from both paid search and email marketing to show you how to develop a high quality traffic and customer base. From PPC targeting methods and tools, to list management and Canadian privacy law, this session will provide you with clear guidelines to follow to win over your preferred clientele.

Integrity Marketing: Why Making a Difference Makes a Difference Online
Mitch Joel, Partner, TwistImage
Recently Microsoft's army of lawyers backed down to a 17-year-old youth name Mike Rowe, over his site MikeRoweSoft.com. The Internet community quickly rushed to Mike's support and Microsoft decided to leave the youth alone before too much PR damage was done. The strength of the Internet is this ability to quickly spread good - or bad - press about your company. This session will show why being a good corporate citizen is good for your company's bottom line.

Interactive Healthcare Marketing Solutions
Gay Gaddis, President and Founder, T3
With a strong healthcare/pharmaceutical marketing background, Gay Gaddis, president and founder of the largest solely woman-owned interactive agency in the United States, will provide insight into effective integrated marketing campaigns for healthcare companies and products. Gay is a frequent speaker on marketing and technology issues, as well as family-friendly workplace initiatives and has been quoted in International magazines and television including CNN.

The 360 Degree View of E-Commerce
Rick Szatkowski, Senior Vice President FindWhat.com Network/Private Label
Successful businesses know how to implement the offline customer lifecycle value proposition, online. While the premise of finding, getting and keeping customers is the same, the tactics must be adjusted to exploit the value and opportunities inherent to the Internet. Join Rick Szatkowski from FindWhat.com as he takes you through the intricacies of becoming a thriving online business: attracting the right audience to your website; turning prospects into valuable customers; and providing on-going satisfaction, increasing growth, enhancing loyalty, decreasing defections and optimizing lifetime value. If that's not enough, and it's not, the 360? view incorporates constant analysis and cost saving measures; today, business survival online is a matter of strong margins in addition to strong ideas.

Hiring Vendors / Winning the Job (Panel)
If you’re the one doing the hiring, the pressure is on you to make sure the project comes out right. As a client, you want a reliable, capable, and effective marketing vendor. Across the table, vendors want ‘good’ clients with appropriate resources and a cooperative spirit - and they want to win the job! This panel, composed of experienced professionals from both sides of the equation will give you insight into the process of hiring vendors and (for vendors) of getting hired.

Using Online Loyalty Building Tools to Achieve HealthCare Prominence
Susan Solomon, VP Marketing and Corp. Comm., Memorial Care Medical Centers
This session will outline how a local health care operation acheived regional and far-reaching prominence through online marketing methods. You will learn how one hospital system took a local product (health care) and gained regional prominence through the Internet and other loyalty-building tools. MemorialCare's program is the first of its kind for U.S. healthcare.

The Brand Called You: Learn to Look Like the Success You Already Are
Elaine Creighton, Success Coach
Whether you own a business or are working in one, you can ensure that your talents and skills are known and respected by promoting the Brand Called You. In this informative session, Elaine Creighton, a former very shy person turned success coach will show you how The Brand Called You can make the difference between staring at success and being the success you are.

Bob Luxenberg, Senior Vice-President, SiteSell
Since 1997, SiteSell.com books and software have empowered over 100,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses to outperform larger, well-financed competitors. For entrepreneurs, 'netrepreneurs', and anyone who wants to start their own online business, this is the 'CAN'T MISS' small business seminar on understanding and mastering the Internet the way it should be done:

* Learn the CTPM Pathway to Success and why it guarantees success.
* Start and grow your own highly profitable home-based business on any topic or niche imaginable...your hobby, your interest, your passion. Or...
* Use the Net to grow your existing business to the next level. ANYONE can succeed and outperform even large companies.

You will be given ALL the information you need to create a truly successful online presence...absolutely NO understanding of technology needed. You will leave the presentation with the all the knowledge necessary to build a thriving Web presence.

Special Guest: Dr. Ken Evoy, President & CEO of SiteSell (and Internet GURU) will take your questions immediately after the speaker.

Enjoy the cosmopolitan excitement and fashion frenzy along Montreal's famous Cresent street (where Dave Letterman goes!); have dinner and a drink while you celebrate the conference's close with friends old and new.