A Menu of New Offerings at National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment (NCOF) 2008

New Features at 17th Annual NCOF Include

Networking, Education, and Research

New York, NY, January 16, 2008 — The menu of new offerings at the 2008 National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment (NCOF) is so rich and extensive, that attendees may find themselves going back for many extra helpings. Larger attendance means expanded activities at NCOF, the only event focused exclusively on the operations and fulfillment challenges and opportunities facing today’s catalog, online, and multichannel retailers.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Penton Media’s Multichannel Merchant magazine, the co-presenters of the event, are welcoming attendees to NCOF 2008 from April 7–10, 2008, at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, FL. The United States Postal Service (USPS) is the official sponsor of this 17th annual conference.

“Satisfying our attendees’ appetites for operations and fulfillment solutions is easy at NCOF 2008,” said Robin Altman, Penton group show director. “From our Newcomers welcoming reception, to our one-on-one consulting sessions with key topical experts, NCOF is the industry’s only face-to-face meeting place for everything O and F.”

New offerings available throughout the conference include:

· More Labor Management Educational Options: Attendees ranked labor management as their top issue and the biggest operations and fulfillment challenge they face. NCOF 2008 presents an entire specialized track, “People Management,” as well as roundtable discussions. This topic is also integrated into other sessions.

· New Topics, New Formats: “40 Ideas to Reduce Shipping Costs — Survivor-Style” is just one example of how NCOF 2008 will provide relevant information in a unique way. Audience members at the Thursday, April 10 session will have the opportunity to “eliminate” experts, so the one with the best cost-cutting ideas remains.

· Free One-on-One Consulting: Need help troubleshooting shipping issues? Experts in shipping, seasonality, distribution center layout, packaging, negotiating, and more will be on-call and ready to help, with 20-minute appointments, in the Exhibit Hall.

· Session Tracks: NCOF’s session tracks help attendees to target and focus on the areas most critical to their job function. Attendees can choose from material handling, people management, distribution management, and customer experience tracks. Special session icons identify special sessions for Smaller Operations and Executive Level attendees.

· Pre-Conference Workshops Expanded to Include More Options: In addition to full-day intensive workshops, Pre-Conference Workshop attendees, on Monday, April 7, now have the option to mix and match half-day sessions in the morning and afternoon, to expand their workshop topic opportunities.

· Trends Research: NCOF will reveal the results from up -to-the -minute survey on fulfillment, returns, contact center benchmarks, and distribution center trends. Wednesday, April 9^th, the conference session, “Exclusive O+F Research Results,” will include recommended metrics and targets for inventory, logistics, and warehouse performance.

About NCOF

The 17th Annual National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment (NCOF), the operations and fulfillment conference for catalog, online and multichannel retailers, will take place April 7–10, 2008, at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. It is the only event focused exclusively on meeting the operations and fulfillment challenges of today’s direct commerce marketplace. Professionals in various areas of operations and fulfillment come to NCOF to get the latest ideas and solutions the industry has to offer on increasing efficiency and streamlining operations. The 2007 NCOF, which was co-produced by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Multichannel Merchant magazine, attracted more than 150 exhibiting companies and approximately 1,500 attendees. For more information, or to register for NCOF 2008, visit www.ncof.com.

NCOF provides complimentary registration for editorial staff of media outlets related to the back end operations of catalog, online and multichannel retailers. To request press registration, email Tracey Peden, Marketing Manager, NCOF at tracey.peden@penton.com.

About Penton Media

Penton Media, Inc. is the largest independent business-to-business media company in the US, serving more than six million business professionals every month. The company's market-leading brands are focused on 30 industries and include 113 trade magazines, 145 websites, 150 industry trade shows and conferences, and more than 500 information data products. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and US Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and its co-investors. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.

About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents nearly 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2007, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — spent $173.2 billion on direct marketing in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $2.025 trillion in incremental sales. In 2007, direct marketing accounted for 10.2 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2007, there were 1.6 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly supported nearly 9.0 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 10.6 million US jobs.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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