The Federal Government XML Working Group and the Washington, DC Area XML Users Group (DC XMLUG) invite your participation in the second in a series of open, noncompetitive forums targeted at our members and government employees. The conference will have two parallel tracks; 1) content management strategies and tools, and 2) the challenges and current status of government regulatory and legislative publishing. The major emphasis of both tracks will be the growing use of XML for complex, interactive content management and publishing.

In this forum CMS vendors will have an opportunity to discuss and demonstrate how they support the document and content management needs of government agencies and other organizations to help organizations keep pace with the growing challenges of electronic content and e-government.

CMS and system vendors wishing to participate may request a table top display (a limited number can be accommodated)

In addition, the hotel also has a limited number of meeting rooms for vendors wishing a larger demonstration venue.

CMS vendors may also submit an abstract for a 30-minute presentation. A limited number of presentations will be accepted, with selections made by the representative members of the Government XML Users Group, DC XMLUG, and CMS Watch. Vendor presentations will be chosen to provide a comprehensive representation of the various strategies for content management including underlying repository architectures, metadata approaches and integration with other applications.

All participating vendors in the CMS track will be provided with sample content and a short list of basic functions for demonstration. This content may be used in presentations and/or tabletop demonstrations.

In the Regulatory publishing track, emphasis will be on government initiatives and agency progress in creating and providing regulatory information in electronic form. Key presenters have been arranged for this track, providing a comprehensive picture of current and projected Federal intiatives and funding programs.

Membership of the sponsoring organizations (Government XML Users Group and DC XMLUG) are free to members. There are not operating funds from these organizations. In order to ensure the ability for the largest target audience participation, costs for the conference will be borne by participating vendors. We wish to ensure that that the costs that occur to each vendor is equitable. We have based the cost per vendor on the known costs from last years event. We believe that the cost to each vendor is minimal and will ensure that the the attendees have a pleasant and informative day.

The cost to participate in this forum is $500 per vendor. This method of funding allows the conference to be offered to federal attendees at no cost. This method of funding will substantially increase attendance by federal, commercial and non-profit employees. It will also ensure that agencies view the event as non-commercial. Last year's authoring event was attended by over 220 attendees (approximately 75% were federal employees or their contractors, and substantially more are expected for this event.

All participation will be on a first-come, first-served basis so vendors are encouraged to contact the conference sponsors early to place their names on the list for tabletop display and to submit presentation abstracts. All vendor committments must be received not later than August 31 and payment for the tabletop display must accompany the commitment and abstract. Vendors selected for presentation will be notified by September 8th. Vendors taking tabletop displays but not chosen for presentations will be introduced in the conference session. The moderator will thank all vendors and read a short paragraph about each one not presenting (to be provided by the vendors.) This will encourage attendees to visit the displays at the breaks.

Organizations needing accommodations or other services, may contact Shannon Courtney at the Key Bridge Marriott sales department (703)284-1460 to make these arrangements after August 6th. A block of rooms will be reserved at a special conference rate. Please do not contact the conference coordinators about hotel rooms.

Tabletop displays will include a draped 6ft. table in the hall immediately adjacent to the conference ballroom and a 110v electrical connection. Vendors needing additional facilities may contact the Key Bridge Marriott AV department to procure additional services.

Presenters will be provided with a standard projector compatible with Windows laptops.

If you are interested in partipating in this forum please register at:

http://www.eccnet.com/xmlug/XML-forum/vendor-register-2004.html