By Justin Lee, theWHIR.com

February 24, 2006 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Attendees of the second annual HostingCon 2006 (hostingcon.com), set to take place July 17 to 19, can expect some significant changes and improvements over last year's event.

The organizers of the Web hosting industry conference have added an extra day to the two-day format, allowing for eight more conference sessions this year and bringing the total number to 32.

And, of course, the conference has moved from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois to Las Vegas' luxurious Mirage Hotel and Casino, in anticipation of an increase from last year's attendance of 600 to 1200.

George A. Roberts IV, executive director of HostingCon, cites the geographical and venue setbacks of last year's HostingCon 2005 as additional incentive for the move.

"We're based in Chicago, so we obviously love this city," says Roberts. "Unfortunately, for events our size the number of sites available in Chicago is fairly small. Also, we received a lot of feedback from attendees of HostingCon 2005 [saying] it was too difficult to get to the city because our venue was located in the suburbs about 20 miles outside of downtown Chicago."

Roberts is confident that the move will enhance this year's HostingCon experience. He praises the Mirage Hotel and Casino for its technologically-focused conference center and overall aesthetics - the venue includes an indoor oasis and outdoor volcano.

The conference's exhibit hall is roughly twice the size of last year's, allowing the organizers to accommodate a greater number of exhibitors for HostingCon 2006.

"This year there will be over 50 exhibitors at HostingCon," says Roberts. "We still have some open space in our exhibit hall for 2006, so I'm not sure what the final number will be, but we estimate 75 to 85 exhibitors."

However, the new venue, city and additional conference date are not the only changes attendees can expect from this HostingCon 2006; Roberts promises that this year's conference will offer invaluable information on both present and future issues concerning the Web hosting industry.

"This year, we're really focusing on delivering information that hosts can use to grow and expand their business," says Roberts. "We're also bringing people from outside the industry to talk to attendees about how the hosting industry fits into the IT industry as a whole."

The conference includes a lineup of daily keynote presentations. IT Leadership Academy executive director and dean Thornton May kicks off day one with his presentation "Understanding and Connecting with the Future Computational Mainstream."

On the second day, four CEOs will share their insights on the dos and don'ts of today's market in "Lessons from the Trenches - What Works NOW." The panel is comprised of FastServers president and CEO Ian Andrusyk, HostMySite CEO Lou Honick, EV1Servers CEO Robert Marsh, and Interland president and CEO Jeffrey Stibel, and will be moderated by attorney David Snead.

Tier1 Research president Andrew Schroepfer will deliver the conferences final keynote address, entitled "What the Other Analysts Won't Tell You about the Hosting Industry." Schroepfer will discuss the current transformation that is taking place in Web hosting, and outline relevant strategies for becoming an industry leader.

"The focus this year is on helping hosting companies learn what they need to do to succeed in the future," says Roberts. "We'll have topics related to business issues, shared services hosting, enterprise and data center, and application hosting."