FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2006

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

ATLANTA — The Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association (HCEA) set a new record for attendance at its Annual Meeting, June 24-27, in Fort Lauderdale. More educational workshops, a revamped exhibit hall experience and the ability to interact with the world’s leading healthcare exhibit marketers, healthcare association meeting planners and supporting industry companies is what made this year’s meeting such a success.  Held at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center and the Harbor Beach Marriott, the meeting was attended by 740 participants.

The HCEA Annual Meeting, which was themed “An Ocean of Discovery,” gave attendees plenty of training options for increasing the value for their organizations. Highlights of the educational program included sessions on groundbreaking research studies on the effectiveness of healthcare convention marketing, physician perceptions at healthcare exhibitions, results measurement, regulatory issues for both pharma and medical device companies and new technologies.

The HCEA Exhibition, sporting an open-flow layout with 115 exhibiting companies and a “passport visitation” traffic-building activity, was the place to be for learning about a variety of state-of-the-art healthcare exhibiting products and services.  And HCEA’s ever-popular networking functions gave attendees ample opportunity to interact with colleagues, Fort Lauderdale-style.
HCEA’s keynote speaker was Mike Rayburn, a Carnegie Hall entertainer, author and captivating presenter.  Rayburn helped attendees expand their minds with new approaches to managing change, creative development and team building.

Expounding on the value of HCEA and healthcare exhibiting, Eric Allen, HCEA Executive Vice President, explained.  “Marketing of drugs and devices is under more scrutiny than it’s ever been – both on the regulatory front and from an economic Return-On-Investment standpoint.  Almost assuredly the changes are not over,” explained Allen. “Yet healthcare conventions continue to thrive, just as HCEA does.  And there’s a reason for that. Exhibit marketing has always been a reasonable, defensible and productive means not only of marketing healthcare products to healthcare professionals, but also educating them.”

In addition, industry veteran Robert Gelardi, Chairman of the Kellen Company and former HCEA Executive Vice President, was honored with a special award to acknowledge his 20 years of service and dedication to HCEA.  Gelardi has been involved with HCEA since the Kellen Company assumed management of the association in 1986.

HCEA’s 2007 Annual Meeting will be held June 9-12, in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The headquarters hotel will be the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.  For more information on the 2007 Annual Meeting, keep checking the HCEA website 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.