Product Training - The pre-conference training will be an in-depth review of the entire admin area. You will go through each feature as you talk about how everything can be used and for what purpose. This is a great day to send your new employee for a crash course. But, you can also attend if you have been using CV3 for years to find those features that you had forgotten were there.

Google Tools with CV3 - Over the past few weeks I have spoken with several clients that had questions like:

   "I fell off of page one on Google but I am not sure why."

   "My homepage seems to be loading slow."

   "People are not completing the checkout, can you tell me where they are stopping?"

All of the answers to the recent conversations was a Google product. Did you know that Google offers Analytics, Webmaster Tools, and Optimizer products? If you are not using these tools, you are missing opportunities to improve your website and your revenues.

With the recent flurry of conversations, I realized that we needed to add a session to the user conference so that everyone can see the power that can be gained through these tools. So we are going to squeeze in a Google Tools session on Monday 5:15-6:30. We will talk about the main tools and how you can use them with your website.

During the session you will learn how to find problems with your load times, how to identify code improvements, where to verify that Google can crawl your entire site, and many other tips.

Opening Reception / Sponsor Showcase - Join us as we welcome everyone to town with a casual reception. Enjoy appetizers and an open bar while meeting other conference attendees. Each of our generous sponsors will have a display setup and will be available to answer any questions you might have. This is a great way to begin the conference before we jump into the hours of content.

Effective Page Design - This was a very popular session from last year. Andrew from Paragon will cover many great points as he shows you how to improve your site design. Last year people were writing as fast as they could to capture this great information. Join Andrew again to reinforce the basics and learn what is new.

Sales Tax Explained - As a provider of a web-based tax solution, Exactor will talk about how tax rules are changing and what that means to you. Are you collecting the right amount? Are you paying the right amount? How many states are you supposed to report to? Taxes are getting very complex and growing worse.

Intro To The Template Library - We have changed this session from last year. Everyone felt that the advanced session was too much. So, we are coming back this year with a kinder, gentler version of this session. If you are just starting to poke around in the templates or you are wishing you could, this is the place for you. This is a great introduction to simple site changes.

MOM User Discussion - This is a new sessions this year that was suggested by an attendee. With PCI, security, functionality, and other concerns there is a lot of confusion about when to upgrade. This session is for anyone on MOM or looking to use MOM. The attendees will share their opinions and talk about how to move forward with an OMS.

Customer Groups and Promotions - The ability to encourage past customers to purchase over and over again is the key to your businesses' success. The Customer Group area of CV3 is where most of the tools are hiding that will help you achieve this goal. Christina will once again walk you through this valuable section of CV3.

Search Engine Marketing - Basics - SEO is (and might always be) the most important part of your website that no one understands. Tom Funk from Timberline Interactive will start from the very beginning and explain what you can do to begin this journey. This is a great starting point and a valuable refresher course for all.

Aggregate CV3 Statistics - This will be a valuable new session for 2010. We are going to scour the CV3 network and build a comprehensive report using data across all stores! We will include things like: the largest store, busiest day, best conversion, most traffic, etc. This information will spark conversations for the rest of the conference!

Email Marketing - Email is a very profitable and simple way to reach out to your customers. This year we are introducing a new partner, Bronto, to the conference. Nathan had the pleasure of presenting a session with them last year and found them to be very informative. You will learn things to do as well as things NOT to do.

Client Presentations and Site Reviews - As a follow-up to the statistics, we will have a select panel of attendees talk about their websites and how they use CV3. This extended and combined session will encourage group participation. Be ready to brag about what you do well and confess your short-comings.

Marketing With Incentive Programs - In the past few years CV3 has added some interesting and mostly unknown features that we call Incentive Programs. The best known is our Affiliate tool but there are others that allow your customers to do your marketing for you! We will walk you through each feature and show you some examples.

Customer Retention and Conversion - Some of the other sessions will touch on this topic but here is where we will dig into the details. Have you ever wondered why people leave your website without buying? Do you have people that order once and never return? Tom Funk will talk about tools that can be employed to identify problems and improve the revenue on your website.

Merchant Accounts and Understanding The Fees - Are you getting charged for things you do not understand on your merchant account statement? Do you wonder if you are getting the best rate? For example, does the presence of a CVV code improve your rate? Join us as we go through the confusing world of credit cards, banks, and fees.

Search Engine Marketing - Beyond Basics - If you survived the basics and are ready for more, so is Tom. He will pickup where the first session ends and take you even deeper into SEO. You will learn about more advanced tools like PPC. These are still tools you can use on your own or you can learn enough to monitor your outside contractors.

PCI Compliance - I have attended many of these conferences and everyone is trying to understand how PCI will impact them. Last year we had a session that provided a lot of data but seemed to leave people more confused than when they started. So, we are changing our plan of attack this year and giving this another try. Nathan will be joined by a small panel of industry professionals to discuss where these regulations came from and how they impact you. It will not give you everything you need but it will get you started with a solid understanding of the goal.

Data Mining Solutions and Address Integrity - Many businesses are spending precious marketing resources focusing on customers who are not the most likely to drive sales and profits. Investing in your best customers will provide the best return on the current marketing dollars and hold the most value over the long term. Data mining and address integrity will help you identify your best customers, segment them into groups you can target with relevant content and make sure the messages get delivered. The session will explore ways to bring customer and prospect information together so you can act on it. Address integrity, both mail and email, will be included.

2010 Feature Planning - At the closing of the conference we have a must attend session. We have committed a block of time with our developers to work on features that come directly from this session. Each person in attendance will have a chance to suggest at least one feature. Once we have discussed each feature we will take a casual vote of interest. All of the features will then be ordered by interest and our developers will get to work! Be sure to have your list of "wants" and be ready to explain yourself.