SITUATION: International CES, the flagship event produced by the Consumers Electronic Association (CEA) and annually held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada was forming its speakers line up for January 2000.

CHALLENGE: International CES needed a high profile speaker who had experience helping the small business owner understand the power of leveraging the Internet as a branding and retailing tool. CES was looking for a speaker who could effectively communicate how properly creating an online presence could give the small business community the ability to compete with the "Big Boys".

SOLUTION: Diane Watlov-Collins, founder of Marketingweb.com was invited to address International CES 2000 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on the topic of Small Business Internet Retailing. Ms. Collins presentation drew on her experiences including her 1998-99 interview series, "The E-Commerce Race" and related Internet interviews conducted in the Marketingweb Forum, (an online Java chatroom featuring notable personalities such as Paul Graham, Producer, Yahoo Store; Karl Salnoske, General Manager - E-commerce, IBM; Lincoln Stein, respected author and renowned authority on Internet security issues; etc.); The Marketingweb Connection, an email discussion list for small businesses interested in establishing an Internet presence; Editor's Notes , Ms. Collins monthly commentary on trends in traditional and online marketing; The Marketingweb Newsletter, an email newsletter that kept the Marketingweb.com community of small business owners informed on Marketingweb.com events; and her small business consulting practice. Ms. Collins presentation at International CES 2000 was entitled, "Internet Retailing: Creating an Even Playing Field". This forward reaching presentation, still relevant to today's marketplace is available to clients. Contact us.

International CES 2000 delivered over 2,205 exhibitors, 3,759 media representatives and 126,818 trade attendees from the consumer electronics industry. Ms. Collins is one of the few to have received an honorarium for presenting at International CES.