This is where you'll find the ideas and tactics that will help you improve your business today. Offered concurrently, choose the topic that most interests you for each time slot.  

Monday, July 19
2:30 - 3:45 pm 

Award Winning Retail Success Stories
And the winners are…! Come here field-tested solutions for selling cable products at retail. Check out some of the best strategies and partnerships that have led to a strong presence in the big box stores and mom and pop shops.
Takeaways – Award winning ideas that you can implement right away.

The Conundrum of Marketing On Demand and DVRs
The technological barriers have been overcome and these services are being deployed at a rapid pace. On Demand content options are deep and the DVR makes the consumer a “programmer.” Both are life-enhancing entertainment values offered by cable. But how are we marketing these products to our customers? Are we making them understandable and easy to adopt? What's the role of content? What should we be doing differently? 
Takeaways – Answers to help you meet the OD/DVR marketing challenges.  

It's About the Customer, Stupid!
Marketers can’t do it alone. Sales, retention and new product success depend on an integrated effort focused on the customer. Marketers, customer care and community relations have to work together to ensure success in this fast moving environment.
Takeaways – Educate marketers from all industry segments on how they can work more effectively with their customer care departments to improve sales and retention.

Opening the Channels - Closing the Sales
Are you where your customers are? Find out what cable companies are doing to blaze new sales channels, improve traditional techniques and seal the deal. From direct sales to call centers to segmentation and retail, learn how to manage multiple sales channels to sell multiple products 
Takeaways – Better understanding of maximize traditional and new sales channels.

Two-Way or No-Way -  
The Competitive Advantage of Cable Set Tops
What is the vision for set-top boxes including interactive television? Panelists will address the four pieces of the video/home network, two-way interactive, the all digital platform and CableCARDS. Where is technology now, what are the devices doing, what are people doing with content, and where is the trend going? 
Takeaways – Understanding the evolution of set-top boxes and the new generation of cable ready televisions as they affect cable’s product.

Monday, July 19
4:15 - 5:30 pm

Cable Phone - The New Competitive Marketplace
What does the competitive landscape look like? Who are the “barbarians at the gate”? MSOs react to research on the competition and cable’s advantages. 
Takeaways – A better understanding of the threats and opportunities for Cable Phone.

Clear the Confusion and Seize the HD Opportunity - 
Hooking Up the Lost Five Million
About 5 million customers have HDTV sets but don’t subscribe to HD signals from cable or DBS.  Additionally, there are significant challenges in growing the market based on major consumer confusion.  All the players (CE manufacturers, MSOs, programmers, broadcasters and retailers) have a common goal – eyeballs.  But are they in-sync with their strategies to get to the consumer?  Attend this session and watch the sparks fly as the players discuss the issues and provide helpful strategies to stop the confusion and seize the HDTV opportunity.
Takeaways – Learnings on capturing market share.

iTV - Flashy Technology or Competitive Imperative?
The enabling technologies for iTV are ready to go, but is there a viable business model? Can it be a competitive tool? Or is it just another flashy technology.
Takeaways – Get a reality check on the state of iTV today and how to market iTV for usage and satisfaction.

Success in Integrated Marketing - Defined
Representatives of selected 2004 winning Mark Awards campaigns that are exemplary of integrated marketing will present their cases for dissection and discussion. We’ll see why they’ve set the bar for excellence in marketing across multiple platforms and involving multiple media including collaborative marketing.
Takeaways – Learn from integrated marketing strategies and tactics from the best. 

Take Control of Your Ad Sales Corporate Brand and Add New Value!
This session will help ad sales marketers wrestle with the dilemma of communicating a fresh corporate identity to the business community that repositions the brand to better compete for ad-sales revenue, while staying in sync with the consumer cable brand. And with iTV, on demand and other new cable technologies ready to serve as both consumer products and advertiser solutions, a unified marketing focus is key. 
Takeaways - Better understanding of the process required to unify the corporation's consumer and B2B branding messages, and learnings from two successful industry examples.

Tuesday, July 20
2:30 - 3:45 pm

More Share! Growing Your Broadband Business
What is it going to take to attract dial-up customers and newbies to cable’s high speed data services? How is today’s competitive landscape shifting? Will content offerings really start making a difference? Compare and contrast current strategy and future projections for the many flavors of Internet access including broadband cable, DSL, satellite, dial up and wireless. 
Takeaways – Better understanding of the broadband competitive landscape and content debate.

The Newlywed Game 
MSOs and Programmers Surviving the Honeymoon
The newlywed game pairing MSOs and programmers – what is the wish list on both sides. Media brands to media distributors. 
Takeaways – Helping MSOs and programmers better understand each others issues and explore opportunities for cooperation.

Voice of the Consumer
Find out how customer relationships with television are changing as new products are introduced. Hear the data implications from recent consumer research and how to apply it to your business development and marketing plans.
Takeaways – Inside view of what consumers are thinking, what they want from broadband, how they use it differently and what their changing habits are. 

What's Next in Program Distribution?
How is the programming model changing? On demand, Internet distribution, PVRs, multi-player gaming and other new technologies will all affect the programming side of our business. Join our panel of experts from all areas of program distribution for an insightful look at the next 3 – 5 years.
Takeaways – Understanding the various perspectives on the evolution of the program model as new technologies are adopted.

Who Wins? Balancing Agency and Client Perspectives
The agency/client relationship can be sensitive and volatile or as comfortable as an old shoe. How does it look when it’s working? How do you know when it’s not, and who suffers…the client, the agency, or the work?  Experts on both sides who’ve been through their share of love and heartbreak reveal the secrets to effective, break-through creative, and the pitfalls that could have you singing “Can we still be friends?” 
Takeaways – Learn the secrets to communicate successfully and reach mutual goals.