HORSHAM, Pa., June 22, 2005 -- Human Resource Executive magazine today announced the full and expanded program for its 8th Annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition(R). Hailed as the "best HR technology show in the industry" by HR.com, this year's event will be held October 19 - 21, 2005 at Chicago's McCormick Place.

This year, the conference has added sessions focused on two unique groups - mid-market companies looking to invest in HR technology and PeopleSoft customers who are seeking guidance about their future after the Oracle acquisition.

According to recently released IDC studies, worldwide HR software and services spending will experience a compound annual growth rate of 9.4% through 2009 to reach $120 billion, as compared to $76.7 billion in 2004. The 2005 HR Technology Conference & Exposition(R) has been designed to provide HR executives and practitioners with an exclusive view of the latest advances in technology, delivered to them by their colleagues who are using these solutions. The keynotes and breakout sessions will help attendees cut through the "hype" associated with new technology to develop an understanding of the business benefits to be gained from it.

HR thought-leader and academic Dave Ulrich will open the conference with his first speech in three years detailing his latest thoughts on how technology can help HR deliver both traditional transactional value and newer transformational value to organizations. Named by Business Week as the number one management educator and guru in 2001, Ulrich's 12th book, "The HR Value Proposition," was just released this summer by Harvard Business School Publishing.

The first two-company shootout in the conference's history will take place between the last two standing giants of the HR technology industry: Oracle and SAP. It features a 30-minute demonstration by each company based on a scripted scenario of various applications written by conference co-chairman Bill Kutik. The shootout will provide conference attendees with the rare opportunity to view and compare each company's offerings doing the same thing at the same time. In addition, the industry's first "Integrated Performance & Compensation Management Shootout," is scheduled between Authoria, Recruitmax and other leading vendors who will also be demonstrating their products through a separate scripted scenario.

"We are the only HR conference that presents shootouts with live software demonstrations," said Kutik, also the technology columnist for Human Resource Executive(R). "Attendees love them because it is their only opportunity to compare solutions apples-to-apples and save months of research in a couple of hours."

As it did last year, the conference will again feature a full track on the growing trend of HR Outsourcing, including case studies from Levi Strauss, Textron and Corning, plus presentations by the leading consultant and the lawyer working for buyers.

According to analyst firm Datamonitor, workforce optimization is a market that will generate global revenues of $1.5 billion by 2007. To address this vastly growing market, the closing keynote will be delivered by Dr. Jac Fitz- enz, founder of Human Capital Source and a pioneer of HR benchmarking and metrics. In his speech, Fitz-enz will detail specific applications that align, stabilize and engage the workforce, thereby helping to retain customers and grow top-line revenue. Fitz-enz will describe how this breakthrough in human capital management can combine with financial and marketing benchmarks to raise HR to a predictive science.

Conference Chairman David Shadovitz, also editor and publisher of Human Resource Executive(R), stated, "If it's important in HR technology, our conference is sure to cover it. For the past seven years, the HR Technology Conference & Expo(R) has been the premier event in this field, and this year will be no exception with industry-firsts and sessions that will provide a return on investment at the individual and organizational level."

The complete conference program is available at http://www.HRTechnologyConference.com. Conference attendees registering prior to July 29, 2005 receive a special reduced rate. Multiple registration discounts are also available.

Note to editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.