Now that the speculation is over concerning the demise of eBayLive 2009, the question arises what or who will take it's place? Lorrie Norrington states in her posting on the eBay Announcement Board the following: "In 2009 we are focusing our energy on smaller venues to facilitate more face-to-face interactions with our customers and community." ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business had some advance "unofficial" word of the impending announcement several weeks ago. While the large event may be on hiatus for at least one year, (it must be mentioned that there is some chatter that Orlando 2010 is in question) eBay may conduct several smaller events in 2009, probably worldwide to allow more community members the chance to meet eBay management in a smaller setting. 

Does the cancellation of eBayLive 2009 really matter? Should a company or organization take up the torch and create their own event? Will members of the eBay community miss the event in 2009? If there is some sort of restructuring of the event for '09' into smaller regional events the answer is probably not. The truth of the matter is there are more than enough quality conferences that focus on ecommerce and internet marketing. eBay exhibits at many of these events as does PayPal. No, I am not suggesting that eBayLive is not a quality conference! The opportunity to talk with eBay management, staffers, and vendors face to face is great and the NETWORKING is phenominal. The educational sessions are conducted by experts that really have done what they teach!

It does however remind me of an Amway Rally! This is not necessarily a bad thing, pumping up the troops does help! This is just my observation.

As I mentioned above, there are several conferences that can help those selling on eBay. A few that come to mind are the PESA/ECMTA Summits, Debbie Levitt's AsWas RocketPlace conference, and ChannelAdvisor's Catalyst event.  

What do you think? Will you attend other conferences now that eBayLive 2009 is not happening? We want your input! We also want to talk with you! Join us for live broadcasts at eBayLive 2008! If you are attending, look for us! We will be the radio program not on WSRadio! Listen to ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business every Saturday at www.basicstobusiness.com 10 AM to Noon ET! 

Click on our forum on the website and let us know if you will be attending other conferences now that 2009 is open.