On Wednesday, TicketNetwork officially announced that they have secured the dates for both Ticket Summit conferences in 2009.

In addition to the annual Ticket Summit in Las Vegas, taking place July 15-17, 2009 at the Venetian Hotel Resort Casino, the company also will now hold a second conference this time in New York City. Scheduled for January 6-8 at the legendary Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, the new conference will be an opportunity for the East Coast secondary market community to network with hundreds of other experts from across the industry.

Exhibitors were front and center at the 2008 edition of Ticket Summit at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. From new ticket web sites to customer service and fraud protection, companies were able to network and gain information about other aspects of the ticketing industry.

"It was thrilling to have a sold-out exhibition hall at this year's Ticket Summit," Molly Martinez, Executive Director of Ticket Summit 2008, told TicketNews. "With vendors spanning across all dimensions of the ticketing and entertainment industry, attendees were able to benefit from a wide range of unique product offerings."

Ticket Summit 2008, the secondary ticket industry's largest trade show and conference, wrapped over the weekend with attendees, panelists and exhibitors praising their time at the event, held for the third consecutive year at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

Once again, attendance exceeded that of the previous year, with just over 450 brokers and ticket industry executives strolling the exhibit floor and listening to 14 discussion panels on the state of the market, and its prospects for the future.

Many companies in the ticket resale industry focus their energy on the familiar North American market where they feel safer. Europe is viewed as a market that is slowly emerging to the forefront, but is still not fully tapped into by many.

The Emerging Markets: Europe panel during the second day of Ticket Summit 2008 attempted to show that Europe is a place full of opportunity for secondary ticket companies. Andrew Blachman of GET ME IN!, made the prediction that by the same time next year Europe will no longer be considered an emerging market, but instead an important and viable market.

Over the past year, the secondary ticket market has found its way into the mainstream media with major news stories like the Hannah Montana ticketing fiasco and the major sports leagues signing reselling deals. Unfortunately, more often than not the secondary market and specifically ticket brokers are painted as the bad guys.

Creating a better relationship between the media and ticket brokers was at the forefront of the Media Relations panel during the first day of Ticket Summit 2008 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

The U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Trust division is more concerned with preserving competition within consumer markets than bailing out specific competitors, one of the division's 350 lawyers said Thursday, a fact that could help to explain one of the reasons why the recent acquisition of TicketsNow by Ticketmaster was allowed to move forward.

Avery Gardiner, counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department's Anti-Trust division and keynote speaker at Ticket Summit 2008, told an audience of ticket brokers and industry executives that among the overriding factors that play into investigations by her division is whether something stifles overall competition within a market. For privacy reasons, she said she could not speak specifically about the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow deal.

Building on the success of the annual Ticket Summit in Las Vegas, organizers of the three-year-old event Wednesday announced plans to launch a new conference for the secondary ticket market in 2009. There will now be two Ticket Summit conferences next year, the first from January 6-8 at the historic Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and the second from July 15-17 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, where the event originated.

The need for a second conference covering the burgeoning secondary ticket market was clearly evident Wednesday night at the jam-packed kick off event for this year's conference, as several hundred ticket brokers and industry executives were welcomed by the event's Executive Director Molly Martinez, and got to listen to a rousing comedy routine from legendary comedian George Wallace. Following Wallace's performance, attendees mingled at a cocktail party reception sponsored by Mondial Assistance.

Ticket Summit 2008, the leading trade show and conference for the secondary ticket industry, kicks off Wednesday at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, NV and organizers are expecting the attendance to exceed 700 ticket brokers and other ticketing executives.

This year's conference marks the third annual event and not only brings together hundreds of brokers, but also experts and leaders representing all aspects of the ticket community, offering them a chance to establish and foster relationships valuable to their business.

Veteran comedian George Wallace, known for his timely and often provocative routines, will be the special guest performer at Ticket Summit 2008, the largest trade show and convention covering the secondary ticket market, held July 23-25 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

Wallace, who has become a fixture in Las Vegas and boasts one of the more popular shows on the Strip, is an American Comedy Award winner for "Best Stand Up Comedian," and has appeared on countless television shows, including "Scrubs," "Seinfeld," "Oprah," "The Tonight Show," and the "Late Show with David Letterman."

Since its launch in 2006, Ticket Summit has grown to become the largest tradeshow on the secondary ticket market. One of the advantages that Ticket Summit provides is the chance to discover the latest improvements and most accurate information from the industry through different panel sessions that are scheduled throughout the conference. Ticket Summit 2008 will take place from July 23 through the 25 at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Experts from around the ticket industry will lend their knowledge on various topics from media relations to the emerging European market. Representatives from companies including StubHub, Live Nation, Google, RazorGator and TicketNetwork are among those who will be speaking.

For fans, a concert or sports event can be an experience that can last a lifetime. Not only do you have the chance to see your favorite artist or team in person but you get to experience it with fellow fans who share your, creating a sense of community that you can't find many other places.

TicketCommunity.com, a social shopping website for events and tickets, provides users the opportunity to share their experiences with people from around the world, as well as connect to multiple ticket sellers from around the web.

The Houston Rockets are among the elite franchises in the NBA, winning world championships in 1994 and 1995; and in 2003 the team moved into one of the premier venues in sports, the Toyota Center.

The Rockets senior director of ticket operations Josh Logan has been with franchise since 2002 and was an important part of the opening of the Toyota Center. As the ticketing landscape continueo evolve, it is his job to make sure the franchise is one step ahead. In order to do that, Logan and the Rockets look to gather as much information as possible, and one of those avenues was Ticket Summit in 2007.

Lowe's Motor Speedway, home of a 1.5 mile track that plays host to three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races each year, will be among the multiple venues that will be attending the 2008 Ticket Summit conference in Las Vegas.

This will be the first year at Ticket Summit for Lowe's Motor Speedway, and they will be represented by Dianne Eckerd from the track's corporate sales department. She will be participating in many panels at the event, something she is looking forward to.

Avery W. Gardiner, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, will be the keynote speaker at Ticket Summit 2008. The event, which is the largest gathering of ticket industry professionals, is scheduled for July 23-25 at The Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

Gardiner, who has an extensive background in antitrust issues as a trial attorney at the Antitrust Division, has handled merger and anticompetitive conduct investigations, and her expertise is primarily in the movies, ticketing, and real estate industries. Before joining the Department of Justice, she practiced antitrust law and general litigation with Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C. Gardiner was also a consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she focused on marketing and strategy issues. She holds degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

For Joe Cohen, the founder of UK-based secondary ticket company Seatwave.com, one of the fastest growing ticket brokerages in Europe, it all comes down to the fans and making their event experience a good one.

"We have more than 500,000 tickets for sale on our site, which represents the largest inventory in Europe," Cohen told TicketNews during an exclusive interview. "Our website receives more than 1.8 million unique visitors per month, and what we're always trying to do is raise the level of the fans' experience."

The UK secondary ticket market, the subject of a government inquiry, is steadily growing and recently received a spot of welcomed news with word that national officials will leave the industry alone in favor of the market policing itself.

For viagogo, the UK-based secondary ticket company founded by StubHub co-founder Eric Baker, the decision by the British government further validated what Baker always believed: that the secondary market should be allowed to thrive in the country.

Chris Tsakalakis, the influential General Manager of the combined eBay Tickets/StubHub business, has been named to the roster of speakers at Ticket Summit 2008, the largest trade show and convention dedicated to the secondary ticket industry. StubHub is the world’s most dominant secondary ticket company, according to TicketNews’ exclusive industry rankings.

Tsakalakis will be a panelist for the “Blurring the Line” discussion, which will explore the different ways the primary and secondary ticket markets are coming together and the potential shifts on the horizon. Attendees will hear about the ways the primary market is attempting to extract more revenue from consumers; how the secondary market continues to provide value; ways the two markets are already working together; and how the line between the two is expected to blur even more in the coming year. TicketNetwork, organizer of Ticket Summit and owner of TicketNews, expects the conference will attract about 1,000 brokers, experts and executives from throughout the ticket industry.

Celebrity Access, a leading provider of news and information to the live performance industry, will be the media sponsor for Ticket Summit 2008, the third annual secondary ticket industry conference scheduled for July 23-25 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. In addition, industry heavyweight Eric Baker, co-founder of StubHub and founder of viagogo.com has been added to the line up of speakers.

The collaborative marketing partnership between Ticket Summit and Celebrity Access will provide exposure of Ticket Summit 2008 in editorial coverage and banner ads in Celebrity Access' industry newsletter, Encore, in the months leading up to the conference. Through the sponsorship, Celebrity Access will be granted exposure to attendees at Ticket Summit 2008 via the event's web site, in addition to a booth presence and an opportunity to provide a presentation during the conference.

Ticket futures exchange yoonew.com has launched a new online market for baseball fans looking to score World Series tickets.

The new program allows fans to buy futures for the first four games of the World Series for any of the 30 Major League Baseball teams for virtually any seat at a fraction of what that ticket might cost at the time of the game. In addition, users can buy “fantasy match up” futures for specific teams to reach the World Series, for example the New York Mets vs. the New York Yankees. Under this scenario, both teams have to make the World Series, but currently, such a future is trading for about $120, which is considerably lower than what tickets for such an event would cost.

“This is our biggest undertaking yet, because of the number of tradable contracts,” yoonew co-founder Gerry Wilson told TicketNews of the new World Series market. “Now, users can buy futures tickets for the World Series regardless of the teams involved. No one has sold tickets to the World Series this way before Opening Day.”

With only a few months before Ticket Summit 2008, companies are snapping up the exhibitor booth spots for the annual event, but a few remain.

Ticket Summit is the secondary ticket market’s largest annual conference and will be held July 23-25 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. This year’s event is the third annual, and it has doubled in attendance the first two years.