Thursday, May 18 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM Session B: Entertainment & Information Content Sites, Enhancing Site Features, Ticketing and E-Commerce The Internet is the perfect service industry. The old idea of a robot roaming from room to room helping out its master is quaint next to 24/7 Internet Appliances, servicing the every need of a consumer from buying tickets to a ballgame, movie or theatre, to making reservations at hotels and restaurants. In this session, we bring together the most experienced site developers in the country who are writing the book on the “new” service industry. They are the experts in merging content and commerce and anticipating customer needs. We are pleased to welcome them to Digital Hollywood. Adam Slutsky, COO, Moviefone Eugene Carr, founder & CEO, CultureFinder.com Toby Simkin, founder & COO, Theatre.com Howard Blumenthal, Senior Vice President Media, CDNOW Andrew Donkin, Senior Vice President Marketing, Tickets.com Marc Ruxin, Vice President, Business Development - Eveo, Inc. Don Middleberg, Chairman and CEO, Middleberg + Associates, Moderator Toby Simkin, President & COO, Theatre.com Inc.: Theatre.com Inc. President & COO, Toby Simkin has more than 18 years experience in the professional theatrical industry internationally and more than 10 years of experience developing market initiatives on the Internet. Toby has worked extensively throughout Australia, the United States, England and Canada in the entertainment industry with over 120 shows, ranging from the Broadway productions of Blood Brothers and Victor/Victoria, to the live concert spectacular of The 3 Tenors. Specializing in the management of Broadway class commercial theatrical presentations, Toby has also produced numerous industrial shows and events for companies such as the Commonwealth Games SkyDome, Volkswagen, Comdex, CBC TV and most recently Microsoft Corporation. In the last 7 years, Toby has worked extensively in the entertainment technology niche, creating multiple internet web sites, joint technology ventures and bulletin board systems. Toby regularly consults on computer industry marketing and the use of technology as a marketing and distribution medium. Toby is believed to be the first person to develop a Broadway theatrical show presence on the Internet when in April of 1989 he created Theatre.com's predecessor, ShowCall, an interactive bulletin board system of professional Broadway theatre. In 1995, Toby launched the first official Broadway show web site for Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews. Today, Theatre.com has grown substantially, and has received many awards from its peers, including the Hot Flame Award and the ABAS Cool Site Award. Howard J. Blumenthal is Vice President of Interactive Media at CDNOW, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNW), a leading online music destination that offers the most comprehensive, personalized connection to the world of music. In this key management position, Blumenthal leads the newly formed CDNOW Media, which focuses on the Company’s interactive content efforts. Under CDNOW Media, Blumenthal has overall responsibility for allstar News, artist interviews, CDNOW’s quarterly music events and the Cosmic Music Network, an innovative space for unsigned bands. CDNOW Media will expand the Company’s current content offerings in a wide variety of music genres, taking advantage of the full range of capabilities that interactivity and digital media provide. Blumenthal’s team will build a spectrum of content offerings from Web journalism to Web radio to Webcasting. His work is critical to CDNOW’s emergence as a leading online music destination. A winner of both Emmy and Peabody awards, Blumethal brings extensive TV, publishing and new media experience to CDNOW (cdnow.com). Prior to joining CDNOW, Blumenthal focused on his own programming company, Glow in the Dark Productions, Inc., where he served as President. Glow in the Dark Productions supplied cable television programming to HBO, The History Channel, The Food Network, Nickelodeon, CTW and TV Land. Blumenthal worked in product development and marketing at Logical Extension, Ltd., another company he founded and managed a diverse set of clients including MTV, IBM, Kodak, Harper Collins, Sony, Hearst New Media and the Cartoon Network. Blumethal was instrumental in developing the Emmy and Peabody award winning PBS series, "Where is the World is Carmen Sandiego." Earlier, he worked at VCA Programs, a unit of Video Corp. of America, and Qube/Warner Communications. Blumenthal is the author of 16 books about entertainment, including The CD Listener’s Guide book series, which are comprehensive guides to the best CDs in jazz, world music, blues, and classical music. For 15 years, he was a syndicated newspaper columnist covering consumer electronics, personal computing and home entertainment software for the New York Times Syndicate and the United Feature Syndicate. Andrew W. Donkin, Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer, Tickets.com: Andrew W. Donkin is the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Tickets.com, the one-stop, unbiased resource for entertainment, sports and travel event information and ticketing. In this role, Mr. Donkin oversees all consumer marketing activities including advertising, public relations, marketing intelligence and partnership and channel development. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Donkin served the company as vice president of marketing. Before joining Tickets.com, Mr. Donkin was associate marketing director of Colgate-Palmolive Company in New York, where he was responsible for developing and testing new product concepts, quantifying volume potential, developing commercial launch plans and executing new product launches. Prior to that, Mr. Donkin was senior product manager for Palmolive Dish Liquid where he was responsible for managing the $225 million Palmolive brand dish liquid, developing Anglo and Hispanic brand marketing plans, and managing brand P&L’s and staff. Eugene Carr is the founder and CEO of CultureFinder.com (http://www.culturefinder.com), the Internet's leading arts guide and ticketing service. Carr, a former cellist, can relate how he identified a promising niche - upscale performing arts - and built what's become a hugely successful e-commerce company around it. Carr's expertise encompasses a variety of online business issues: local marketing (in this case, performing arts events); content and commerce partnerships (CultureFinder.com ranks as a true category-killer, sharing its content with top sites like Ticketmaster/Citysearch, Digital City, Infoseek, and several calendaring sites); marketing to women; and, of course, online ticketing - one of the fastest-growing e-commerce areas today. Don Middleberg, Chairman and CEO, Middleberg + Associates, Moderator: An acknowledged leader in public relations and marketing, Don Middleberg has been responsible for some of this country's most successful and innovative communications programs. Middleberg is a 110-person communications agency with offices in New York, San Francisco and Boston. The firm's core competency lies in journalist relations covering print, broadcast, and online media. Most recently, Don has led the firm into the forefront of online public relations, marketing and consulting. Clients include: CBS MarketWatch, Datek Online, The Dreyfus Corporation, The Equitable, Lucent Technologies, Morgan Grenfell Group, Paine Webber, and Walt Disney World. A native New Yorker, Don started his career with one of the nation's largest agencies, Ruder Finn. While there, he served as Account Executive for such firms as Mattel Toys, Norton Simon, and Itel Industries. Don then moved to the marketing communications agency of T.C. Thomson Associates as Executive Vice President, managing such accounts as Bankers Trust, Meenan Oil, ICM Realty, and Hays-Albion Corporation. Inside PR magazine recently named Mr. Middleberg to its PR "All Star Team." He was the only representative of the "New Media" category. A noted author and lecturer on public relations, Don, together with Professor Steve Ross of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, co-authored the groundbreaking study, "The Media in Cyberspace." In June, 1998, Don was appointed to New York State Governor Pataki's Task Force on New Media and the Internet. Don is also a member of New York Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi's Economic Advisory Committee. He has appeared before many industry and educational forums -- including Public Relations Society of America seminars, The Arthur Page Society, The Financial Communications Society, The Nuclear Energy Institute, and New York and Cornell Universities. Don is regularly called upon for commentary by numerous magazines and newspapers, and has appeared on CNBC, C|Net, CNN, and National Public Radio. Don holds a B.A. degree in Economics and an M.B.A. degree in Marketing. Marc Ruxin, Vice President, Business Development - Eveo, Inc.: Marc Ruxin joins Eveo with nine years of experience in business development, venture capital, marketing and entertainment. He has held executive positions at WPP Group, Ogilvy & Mather and EMI Records. Most recently, Marc was the Director of Interactive Business Development for WPP Group. In this role he was responsible for the development, expansion and relationship creation between WPP Group's numerous operating companies and WPP's interactive investments. Marc has a BA from Hamilton College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.