SpeechTEK West Opens Wednesday with Customers Speaking Out

Business Wire, Feb 19, 2007

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A discussion among major customers of speech technology products will kick off SpeechTEK West today at the Hilton San Francisco. Panelists will address how they selected and deployed their applications, the various challenges they faced, and major decisions that were made on the way to implementation.

The entire SpeechTEK West agenda is available at www.speechtek.com/west.

Bill Meisel, president of TMA Associates and SpeechTEK West co-chair, will moderate the opening keynote, The Customers Speak Out, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Hilton Grand Ballroom.

Panelists are David Weis, managing consultant, MasterCard Advisors; Barry Hughes, vice president, marketing and distribution, Red Lion Hotels; Joanne Beaton, vice president, operator services, TELUS Communications; and Mike Uhlenkamp, call center technology manager, DIRECTV.

Each of the customer/panelists have gone through the procurement, deployment, and implementation of speech products and are using them in real-world, large-scale business environments.

"Any organization that is considering deploying a speech application should plan to attend the opening keynote," Meisel says. "Each of the panelists has been through the process of selecting an application and seeing it through to implementation. They will be able to provide invaluable insights into all of the factors that were considered and whether or not their applications are meeting expectations."

SpeechTEK West will continue through Friday with over 155 experts and analysts participating in dozens of panel discussions and presentations covering all aspects of speech technology applications.

Organizers of SpeechTEK West point out that you do not have to have any background or experience in speech technology to benefit from the various discussions that will go on during the three-day conference. "The program is designed primarily to help corporate decision-makers understand the benefits of speech technologies and give them a nuts and bolts look at how to make speech technology work for their organizations," Meisel says.

An exhibition of the latest new products and innovative solutions in speech technology and customer service automation is open to the public on Thursday 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. and Friday 9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Participants can register on site for all SpeechTEK activities. For information, contact Sheila Willison, Sheila@infotoday.com.

About SpeechTEK

Launched in 1995, SpeechTEK Expositions and Educational Conferences (www.speechtek.com) are recognized worldwide as the industry's premier events focusing on products, services, applications, solutions and innovations using speech technologies. Held twice a year in New York and San Francisco, the trade shows and educational conferences attract a global network of speech technology providers and enterprise network customers who are developing and implementing speech solutions.

About Information Today

Information Today is the parent company of SpeechTEK and Speech Technology Magazine. Information Today, Inc. (ITI) is a leading publisher and conference organizer in the information and knowledge management industries. The company is widely known as the publisher of premier information and knowledge management titles such as Information Today, Computers in Libraries, ONLINE, MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, CRM, Searcher, KMWorld, and EContent. ITI is also the sponsor and organizer of many industry conferences, including WebSearch University, KMWorld & Intranets, Internet Librarian, Computers in Libraries, Enterprise Search Summit, and Streaming Media.