Ticket Summit Las Vegas lands several impressive first-time speakers

Building on its prior success in attracting top-flight participants to the event, Ticket Summit Las Vegas has signed up several first-time speakers and panelists for the July 15-17 conference and trade show, including renowned ticket industry expert Dr. Marianne Jennings, an economics professor at Arizona State University (ASU).

The July event, being held for the fourth consecutive year at the popular Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, will mark Jennings' first appearance at the convention, and she is scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers who will address ticketing and the economy. Jennings and fellow ASU economics professor, Dr. Stephen Happel, have written extensively about the ticketing industry and are considered the two most knowledgeable academics studying the primary and secondary ticket markets.

Another first-time speaker joining Jennings to discuss the economy's affect on ticketing is University of Memphis professor Dr. Joris Drayer.

Ticket Summit is hosted by TicketNews's parent company TicketNetwork, and it is the nation's largest and most prestigious trade show and conference covering the secondary ticket industry, drawing in hundreds of ticket brokers and ticketing professionals each year.

Other first-time speakers this year include Dan DeMato, former ticketing executive with the New York Mets and founder of sports ticketing consultants FutureTix; and Jeff Morander of the National Hockey League.

In addition to those first-time speakers, Mitch Francis, President and CEO of Tix Corp., is making a return appearance to the show, having spoken at the inaugural Ticket Summit in 2006.

"Our roster of great speakers continues to grow each year," said Dan Pullium, Government Affairs Director for TicketNetwork and one of the organizers of the event. "We are very proud to be able to continually present a diverse and compelling group of panelists and speakers who really know the ins and outs of the ticketing industry."