Events:
€ Content Forum: Register Before 5/9 for Pre-Registration List
May 15 - 16, the dates for SIIA's third annual Content Forum, are approaching fast. In addition to a robust curriculum, the Content Forum offers excellent networking opportunities with attendees of the co-located Software and Education Technology conferences as well as at the 21st annual Codie Awards Gala. Register before May 9th to receive your pre-registration list of attendees and begin networking.

€ Brown Bag: Turning Prospects to Customers: The Changing Pattern of Needs, 5/24, NYC & Webcast
The web has turned many millions more of us into prospects for information and related products. Many "for fee" information providers have placed an emphasis on knowing more about:

  • Motivations and behaviors
  • Product and site design
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
  • Partner and Distribution Strategies

Our panel of experts will share how they developed the tools and techniques to find, service, and satisfy their burgeoning e-commerce prospects, customers and businesses. Further detail on this session -- including registration information -- can be found here.

€ Global Information Industry Summit: Call for Speakers
A call for speakers has been issued for the SIIA’s Global Information Industry Summit. The conference will be held on September 14 - 15, 2006 at the Hilton Amsterdam in The Netherlands. If you are interested in speaking at the summit, we encourage you to visit http://www.siia.net/giis/2006/speakers_call.asp for submission guidelines. The deadline for submissions is May 18, 2006.

Sponsorships are still available, inquiries should be directed to Brian Rosenberg at 646.649.2027.

€ Regional Events: Plan, Speak, Sponsor
SIIA's Content Division staff is currently planning regional events in Boston, Chicago and Silicon Valley. If you are interested in planning these events or would like to participate as a speaker, please contact Ed Keating at 860.663.5535. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Brian Rosenberg at 646.415.9362.


News:
€ Content Division Welcomes Newly Elected Members
Elections for the Content Division Board were held April 17 - 28th. An impressive list of 28 candidates were seeking one of the 13 available seats to help guide the Content Division programming. Election results were announced in an official press release with the following individuals elected or re-elected to serve on the Board:

      • Karen Christensen, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Berkshire Publishing Group
      • Hal Espo, President, Contextual Connections
      • Steve Sieck, Managing Partner - US Operations, Electronic Publishing Service, Ltd.
      • Darrell Gunter, Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing North America, Elsevier
      • Lee Greenhouse, President, Greenhouse Associates
      • Kathleen Greenler Sexton, Chief Marketing Officer, HighBeam Research
      • Jack Abuhoff, Chief Executive Officer, Innodata Isogen
      • Rachel Spasser, Vice President - Business Development, KnowledgeStorm
      • Chuck Richard, Vice President & Lead Analyst, Outsell, Inc.
      • Stephen Casbeer, Senior Director - Product Technology, Reed Elsevier
      • Daniel Duncan, Director - Government Affairs, The McGraw-Hill Companies
      • David Brill, Counsel, Thomson Financial
      • Rob Kirchstein, Senior Director - Marketing, Thomson West

€ SIIA to Receive Content Anti-Piracy Education Fund Contribution from DeSilva & Phillips
For the first time since its inception four years ago, DeSilva & Phillips' annual Media Dealmakers Summit featured a day devoted to the Digital Media, with sessions on online advertising, lead-generation, vertical search and private equity/vc in the age of Web 2.0. As always, DeSilva & Phillips donates the surplus funds from this not-for-profit event to the educational funds of industry organizations. In honor of the first-ever Digital Media day, DeSilva & Phillips will present SIIA President Ken Wasch with a check at the 2006 Content Forum.

DeSilva & Phillips is an investment bank specializing in the media and digital media industries. For more information about DeSilva & Phillips’ Digital Media and Technology Group, which serves the entire marketplace for electronic content and delivery, please contact its Partner, Jay MacDonald, at 212-686-9700.

€ SIIA Brown Bag On Demand Webcast\Podcast Replays
SIIA and ScribeStudio are pleased to announce that podcast and webcast archives of recent Brown Bags are available for download:

      • "Building Actionable Content from Collaborative Publishing" Webcast / Podcast
      • "Wikis" Webcast / Podcast
      • "Successfully Implementing New Technology" Webcast / Podcast

Access to this On Demand feature is limited to SIIA Members only. Login using the email address this message was sent to and the password "siia".


€ Government Affairs/Public Policy
SIIA's Government Affairs program aggressively promotes and protects the interests of its member companies in legal and public policy debates by working with state, federal and international policymakers, organizing grassroots activism and participating in landmark legal decisions. SIIA is the leading voice on key issues affecting the software and digital content industry, particularly with regard to electronic commerce and the digital marketplace.

€ Updates
The following updates and commentaries have been posted in the past month:

€ SIIA Ed Tech Alert -- EETT Funding Update and Alert, STEM Education Legislation, DC Fly In Summary (April 27)
€ SIIA Privacy Update: Sarbanes-Oxley Sec. 404 Implementation for Small Companies (April 25)

€ GAC Digital Briefing Book: March 2006
The following backgrounders were prepared for the March 14th GAC Meeting:

€ China Policy
€ E-Commerce & Trade
€ E-Government and Government Information Policy
€ Education Technology and Workforce Development
€ Global Workforce Policy
€ Intellectual Property Protection
€ Privacy Policy
€ Tax, Finance & Accounting
€ Software Industry Competition


SIIA Member Press Releases:
Dialog:
• Dialog Sponsors Second Annual SLA Award for Australian and New Zealand Information Professionals

ECNext:
• ECNext releases "Search Engine Marketing for Publishers" eBook

eMeta/Macrovision:
• Macrovision Brings Digital Commerce Expertise to Upcoming Industry Events

EPS:
• DRM: Still a balancing act?

Intellext:
• Intellext Releases Latest Version of its Watson Search Tool

The Jordan, Edmiston Group:
• 1105 Media Acquires 101communications
• Q1-2006 Media and Information Industries M&A Overview

Newstex:
• Blog Content from Gawker Media and Corante Available Via Newstex Blogs On Demand
• LexisNexis Delivers Blog Content via Newstex Blogs On Demand

ProQuest Information and Learning:
• ProQuest Gains Rights to Distribute The Globe and Mail