While many of you spent December closing out your year and preparing for the holidays, The SIIA Previews Steering Committee, of which I am Chairman for the second year, spent time listening to  pitches and presentations for companies wishing to present at the 2008 SIIA Previews. 

This is the American Idol competition for start-up companies in the content industry looking to get in front of the SIIA Membership.  Ed Keating, Brian Rosenberg and Jennifer Hansen of SIIA did a fantastic job organizing this years SIIA Previews and helping with all the logistics and organizing the actual event.

The 2008 SIIA Previews keynote address will be delivered by Kevin Ryan, Co-Chairman & Co-Founder, Alley Corp. Ryan was a co-founder and former CEO of DoubleClick.   

SIIA Previews, an annual prequel to the popular SIIA Information Industry Summit, will be held on Tuesday, January 29, from 12:30PM - 6:30PM at the auditorium of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 300 Madison Avenue, Auditorium, New York, NY 10017. Last year’s event sold out, and participants must register in advance at the SIIA Previews http://www.siia.net/iis/2008/previews.asp

So...with a drumrolll.....I am pleased to announce the 2008 class of finalists for the 2008 SIIA Previews

• ExpoTVhas built the largest platform for authentic, user-generated videoproduct reviews. The library holds 150,000 videos uploaded by unbiasedconsumers.
• Health Monitoring Systems Inc.maintains online networks to collect real-time data from healthcareproviders, and then offers analytics of the aggregated information todetect, pinpoint and understand current and emerging health and safetyissues.
• Linkstormis an advertising technology company that is pioneering a new approachbased the premise that advertising will perform better for theadvertiser if it is more useful to the customer.
• TutorVista.com  has a content creation group producing top quality eLearning courseware, simulations, animations and paper-based curriculum.
• FeeDisclosure.comis the premier real estate disclosure company that empowers consumerswith comprehensive information to make smart real estate decisions andreduce their real estate and mortgage transaction costs.
• Vator.tvis a professional network and marketplace for ideas and businesses.People use Vator.tv to pitch their ideas, businesses, skill sets orneeds, such as capital, partner or staffing requirements.
• Lingospot, Inc.is a search and content aggregation service that enables publishers todynamically cross-link their content and increase their readers'engagement.
• ArchieMD, Inc.is a physician-led education company that has developed the mostextensive scientifically credible library of health and science imageryin the world.
• Keibi Technologiesprovides power tools for the certification and human moderation of UGC,leveraging its patent pending holistic classification engine to quicklyprocess and grade large volumes of images, text, animations, and video.
• Courtroom Connectis leveraging the "rich media" revolution by providing digital videocoverage of major trials, depositions, orals, and administrativehearings, and establishing video databanks for on demand retrieval.

2008 SIIA Previews is the pre-conference event to the 7th annualInformation Industry Summit. You can choose to attend just Previews or just theSummit, or save with a combination registration package.Get details here.

Read the SIIA Previews Press Release.