What Conference Will Replace eBayLive? Where Will You Go?
Now that eBayLive is a thing of the past, (yeah I know, 2010 if you believe in fairytales) where will eBay marketers, and for that matter all ecommerce merchants go to get the latest information and strategies? Where will you go to learn about the latest software and services available to your online business?
I know that there are a plethura of seminars and conferences, but the question is which one will step to the forefront for those that market on sites like Onlineauction, eBay, Amazon, eCrater or any other venue? Will there be an event that steps up and tries to fill the eBayLive void? I don’t believe we will see a company conference the likes of eBayLive in the near future. With it’s vast income, eBay could afford this type of an event. The eBayLive confernece was certainly not a profitable event and never was intended to be self sustaining.
Where Will You Go
While researching this post, I contacted PESA/ECMTA and was given the following information. The will be holding a 2 day event September 10-11 in Melbounre Australia, September 18-20 2008 ECMTA will be at the Inc 500/5000 Conference in Washington DC and finally ECMTA will conduct a 1 day event in San Francisco October 1, 2008. In addition, ECMTA advised me that they are planning on small regional events and larger Summits for 2009 but no dates or locations are available at this time.
Channeladvisor advised me that they are planning another Catalyst event for possibly April or May of 2009 but details are also not yet available.
AsWas’ RocketPlace event is scheduled for September 10-12, 2008 in Las Vegas. This event is focused on eBay marketing but also includes information ecommerce merchants can gain from no matter what venue they sell from. The keynote speaker will be Marsha Collier author of the eBay For Dummies series of books, and other presenters include Jay Berkowitz author of The Ten Golden Rules for Internet Marketing and John Lawson CEO of 3rd Power Outlet plus many other notables.
With the economy in recession, these events vying for your conference dollars are rethinking their positions. I believe there will be much smaller regional events planned for 2009 by the various providers but can’t help but wonder which conferences our readers and listeners will attend in 2009.
If you are planning on attending an event in 2009, let us know which one.
Listen in each week to ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business live every Saturday from 10 AM to Noon ET to hear the latest in ecommerce marketing news and strategies.
June 28th 2008 ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business
June 28th, 2008 ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business
This weeks show features news from eBay Live, interviews with Ted Murphy CEO of IZEA.com, Jay Berkowitz author of The Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing and Scott Pooler from iBusinesslogic.com
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Saying Good-Bye To An Old Friend-eBayLive 2008
It was a very long drive back home to Western New York. With over 8 hours on the road, I have had a chance to reflect on the friends with which I reconnected, the new friends I met, and the one friend I fear is gone forever, eBayLive. I have had the pleasure of attending 6 of the 7 previous eBayLive events, and since it has already been announced that there will be no such event in 2009, I fear that the announced 2010 eBayLive in Orlando will not happen, or if it does, it certainly will not be the event as I knew it, much like eBayLive 2008 was certainly not anything like the 6 previous conferences.It was defintely sad to see the dramatic change in the atmosphere in this year’s event. One eBay employee that I spoke with said that there were 7000 registrations prior to the start of the event, yet I and many of the vendors and attendees that I spoke with felt the number of actual attendees was significantly lower. One indication of this I saw was at the Gala on Saturday evening when over 25 large boxes of eBayLive 2008 shoulder bags, the bags given out when attendees picked up their badges, were placed out on the Gala floor for the taking. In addition, we noticed that all of the tables at the Gala had several extra bags on the chairs.
Another sign that all was not good at the event was the very noticeable presence of a large security force. Now there has always been security, but not in the numbers and not as visible as at this years event.
The most obvious indication of the concern of eBay members was the mood. From the opening of the exhibit floor on Thursday, the mood of the attendees was in my humble opinion, depressed. The large number of eBay booths on the exhibit floor with large numbers of eBay employees staffing them, were often nearly empty. I witnessed the employees huddled together talking because there were no customers crowding around their booths as in years past. The attendees were subdued, and the exhibit floor was quiet.
Also notable was the obvious decrease in vendors and exhibitors. The exhibit floor was occupied by a large number of eBay booths, but it was very obvious that there were probably 30-40% fewer exhibitors over previous years.
When talking with vendors and exhibitors, they all mentioned the change in the demographics of the attendees. In previous years, there was a healthy mix of new users and experienced PowerSellers. This year there appeared to be far fewer newer users and the general feeling is that the vast majority of attendees were more experienced users looking for information on multi-channel marketing. This indicates to me that sellers are looking to move away from eBay to other venues.
The one thing that really glares to many experienced eBayLive attendees is that eBay usually makes at least one major announcement during the event. This year, with the exception of the PayPal changes, and the opening of the eBay API to third party developers, there was no BIG announcement. Many attendees are worried that the usual major announcements will be made in the days or weeks to come via the eBay Announcements Board and email because eBay did not want to risk a major confrontation with the users at the event.
Well, that is just a brief synopsis of my reflections of the event. I certainly will post more as I digest and review my notes and the 10+ hours of podcasts that we recorded and will be available later today on our website www.basicstobusiness.com. Just click on the Archived Programs tab on the navigation bar. Be sure to listen in on Saturday from 10 AM to Noon ET to our weekly live internet streaming radio show ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business as we recap the eBayLive 2008 event and remember to register for our contest and win an autographed copy of Jay Berkowitz’s new book The Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing!
June 21, 2008 ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business from eBayLive
Live from the exhibit floor at eBayLive 2008 in Chicago.
Our guests during this segment include:
David Hardin from PESA/ECMTA, John Gilmore from MyAuctionSource, Chris Dawson from Tamebay, Vendio, AGenius.com, Infopia, winner of the ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business eBay Live regsitration contest Jennifer Aseltine, eBabes and eMales founder Stephanie Inge, Jay Berkowitz author of The Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing, eBay PowerSeller Peggi Justesen, eBay UK PowerSeller Simon Balch and finally IMN.com
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eBayLive 2008 Keynote Address Starting Soon!
I am going to try and keep up with this while the keynote is being conducted so stay tuned!
As we begin this event one thing I have noticed is that there seems to be a dramatic decline in attendance at eBayLive 2008.
There are certainly fewer vendors on the exhibit floor.
John Donahoe is opening the event with a time honored tradition of checking the feedback totals with over 20,000,000 feedbacks.
John is now introducing his family as he is originally from the Chicago area.
No major announcements from John Donahoe, as he gets ready to let Lorrie Norrington take the stage.
eBay To Challenge ACCC PayPal Ruling
eBay has posted a response to the ACCC draft noice denying eBay the ability to require PayPal as the only payment option (with very few exceptions) on the eBay.com.au site.
The draft notice by the ACCC was posted yesterday, and according to an article on the Austrailian newspaper The Sydney Morning Hearld, though this is a draft ruling that must still be formally adopted, the ACCC rarely retracts a draft decision.
eBay contends it will fight the decision, and has rolled back the planned June 17th 2008 implementation of the PayPal only requirement until July 15th.
eBay has lost several judicial battles recently, and there is some feeling that eBay, known in some circles as the 800 pound gorilla, may be facing a battle such as the likes of King Kong. (Randy Smythe’s MyBlogUtopia) Previously thought to be invincible, little by little eBay is taking hits. In and of themselves these hits may not have much effect, but when these hits continue and build, the resulting cumulative effects may begin to weaken the gorilla allowing competition to build a formidable attack.
eBayLive 2008 is just 6 days away, and I look forward to hearing the sentiments of those eBay.com.au users that will be in attendance. We will search these members out and bring you live reports from the event live next week from our microphones of the ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business radio program.
Live Broadcast From PESA/ECMTA Pavilion @ eBayLive 2008
ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business in cooperation with our friends and fellow members of PESA/ECMTA is pleased to announce that our regular Saturday program on June 21st will be broadcast live from the PESA/ECMTA Pavilion at eBayLive 2008 in Chicago.
If you can’t attend this eBayLive event (the last until 2010) you can hear the latest and greatest information from our scheduled 12 hours of live internet streaming broadcasts. We will be talking with attendees, exhibitors, and eBay staffers live from the convention all three days!
As always, our listeners can call in on our toll free number or join us on our live chat board during the broadcasts to have your questions answered.
To view our broadcast schedule and list of scheduled guests go to www.internetauctionnewsradio.com. Remember you can always send your questions for our guests to dave@internetauctionnewsradio.com via email.
If you are attending eBayLive 2008 be sure and check out the PESA/ECMTA Pavilion and don’t forget to RSVP for the PESA/ECMTA 5th Anniversay After Party Gala which is open to all eBayLive attendees but again you must RSVP via the link.
It’s working….
Hey guys it’s awhile since I last had a Post seems to get busy here. Well the equipment is back from the maker and working. hurray, wow hooo….Thanks to or freind Paul for keeping us up and running… It’s been busy getting ready for eBaylive, scheduling new guests for you to listen to live from Chigco. Hey ….did we tell you we’re going to do 2 -2hour shows from ebayLive, one in the morning and one in the afternoon I’ll be posting a list of the guests so you can mark your calenders soon…..
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