As the online classifieds space heats up, one company is holding a conference on local search, its eighth conference on the subjects of local search, local online commerce and interactive local media. The Kelsey Group is holding the "Drilling Down on Local: The Online-Offline Opportunity" conference on April 18-20, 2005 in Santa Clara, California. Organizers expect more than 450 senior executives from the online advertising industry.

The 3-day agenda will focus on changing consumer behavior, as well as the platforms, products and players that are emerging and evolving to take advantage of the new online-offline reality in the local marketplace.

The program features more than 45 speakers from leading and emerging companies in the online media space, with keynote addresses by Udi Manber, CEO, A9.com, Lincoln Millstein, senior vice president, Hearst Newspapers and Paul Reddick, vice president, Business Development, Strategy and Planning, Sprint.

The session entitled, "The Future of Online Classifieds," will feature a panel of speakers that includes Craig Donato, CEO, oodle.com; Mike Hogan, CEO, ZiXXo Inc.; Peter Krasilovsky, President, Krasilovsky Consulting; Rajesh Navar, CEO, LiveDeal; and Mark Pincus, Founder & CEO, Tribe.net. Noticeably absent from the session (and the conference itself) are eBay and Craigslist.

Other sessions include Consumers and the New Multi-Channel Reality; Online Word of Mouth: Blogs, RSS and Social Networks; Maps and Local Search: How Do We Get There from Here?; and Newspapers: Sleeping Giants or Just Asleep?

Sponsors include Acxiom Corp., AgendiZe, Amacai, Aptas, CallSource, DCCI, Fast Search & Transfer, Geosign, Ingenio, Interchange, MapQuest Business Solutions, Pay Per Click Analyst, SEMPO, Telcontar, TrafficLeader, TrueLocal and YPsolutions.

http://www.kelseygroup.com/dd2005/