WOW!
Okay, that's an understatement for my eBay Live
experience... I've just returned home after a 3000
mile round-trip drive, but I wanted to make a few
notes about my weekend...
My
days in New Orleans & at eBay Live...
We arrived in New Orleans about 5 pm on Wednesday, the
evening before eBay Live opened. We met with my
fellow SAPro-er (heck, my SAPro mentor!), Cindy
Stone (tom*cindy*stone - at right), and her husband,
Tom for dinner. What a delight to meet someone from
the eBay community who has helped me sooooo much
in learning SAPro!
Thursday
morning, Kyle and I, along with 10,000 of our fellow
eBayers and several hundred eBay employees arrived
at the convention center for the festivities. We
hooked up with my other SAPro mentor, Bob Sachs
(rosachs - that's him in the center below with eBay/SAPro's
John Slocum and SAPro-er Marie Valvo/shibamarie)
and his wife, Kathy, prior to the orientations.
The
welcoming address was presented by eBay CEO, Meg
Whitman and VP of something or other, Jeff Jordan.
Meg is an accomplished speaker. Jeff, unfortunately,
could use some Toastmasters
training so it won't be so obvious he's reading,
rather than speaking to each person in the audience.
What really was cool about this session was the
stage setting - see below for a photo (See more
photos here). Shadows of gymnasts
behind the stage background brought the theme of
"Leap to New Heights" alive!
The
general orientation and the Power Seller orientation
lacked much in the way of interest for us - first
of all, even sitting on the floor was way overcrowded.
The woman who was the overall eBay Live coordinator
was a poor speaker at the general orientation, as
was the Power Seller orientation presenter. (I admit
- I was in Toastmasters for years and am really
critical of speakers.) Kyle was nearly ready to
turn around and head back home. Thankfully, he changed
his mind not long after that!
On
Thursday afternoon and all day Friday, I attended
a few advanced classes and round-tables and visited
many of the exhibitor's booths. I certainly also
met many of my fellow eBay sellers. From getting
a sneak preview of SAPro 3.0 from John Slocum to
learning how others operate their eBay businesses
to getting info from vendors who have services and
products which support eBay sellers, I soaked up
a TON of great information! And for fun, I collected
most of the trading cards and all but one pin distributed
on the exhibition floor. (See photos of the pins
I got on this page.) (Hey -
if you have an extra books pin...)
This
is the tiara I made ahead of time to wear at eBay
Live...I admit to liking to be noticed and this
helped:
Saturday
morning was an early one - the SAPro breakfast at
7:30 am. See the photos here for that activity.
I was honored to be one of four SAPro-ers who received
a Seller's Assistant User Group award for my contributions
on the SAPro community board and my involvement
as a beta tester. SAUG award - so Kyle calls my
award my "SAUGie"!
The
only class I attended on Saturday was the advanced
SAPro class. As everyone else did, I also learned
a couple things. When someone asked if there was
an SAPro Users Guide, John Slocum pointed to me
and mentioned my SAPro Quick Start Guide which I
sell in an eBay auction and in my eBay store. Immediately
I was innundated with requests for my business card.
(Did I cost myself a few sales by not having any
available on eBay until I returned home? Most likely
- and I'll remember that for whatever I have going
on during next year's eBay Live!)
Most
of my time during the day on Saturday was spent
visiting the exhibitions, gathering info, trading
cards and pins.
Then
- the Gala! Incredible! The doors opened at 6 pm.
As we entered through a cloud-like tunnel, several
hundred eBay employees lined each side and applauded
us as we entered, thanking us for our eBay involvement
and for attending eBay Live. I was moved and applauded
right back - they sure help me in my biz!
We
made our way to the buffet tables, found a seat,
met a few more of our fellow eBayers, then walked
around the thousands of people trying to find those
few we wished to say goodbye to. (I never did find
Meg to get her autograph on the t-shirt I had Griff
and John Slocum sign...I hear Meg appeared in the
last half hour, which I skipped.)
The
whole setting for the Gala was phenomenal! My photos just don't do
it justice, but may give you an idea of the grandeur
of the decor and entertainment. My text does not
really give you more than a glimpse of the weekend
- if you'd like more info, visit the eBay Live discussion
board
to read more.
Aside
from all the activities, I found the most valuable
thing was meeting with and discussing business with
my fellow sellers. I provided SAPro and TA info
to many and received MUCH back in return! (A special
thank you to Travis - tannermans_trading_co - for
your information and advice!)
Although
eBay Live was a wonderful event, there are some
things I'd like to see in the future:
Pre-eBay
Live - A chart of class, round-table and all other
events should be printed on the eBay Live website
so we can more easily plan our hours before arriving.
I would also have liked to be able to look up user
IDs of those who were registered to attend eBay
Live before leaving so I could make arrangements
for meeting them. (This could be an optional registry
for those who'd like to let others know they would
be attending. Granted, some mentioned they'd be
attending on the boards, but if I could look up
if A, B & C would be at eBay Live, being able
to look in one place would be easier.)
eBay
Live Facilities - The convention center should have
a Wi-Fi area in which all those who use cell phones,
PDAs and Laptops to connect to the internet via
wireless service can easily hook-up. Also, I'd like
to see more food options on the premises - the cafeteria
in the convention center in N.O. had horrible food
at prices higher than any airport I've been in!
Special
Activities - Let's get to the root of online auctions
- a real live auction! I've not thought out what
may be auctioned off, but I can imagine bidding
on lunch with Meg, Pierre or Griff would be a hot
item, as would a deluxe package for the next year's
eBay Live (travel, hotel, meals, convention ticket).
Exhibitions
- How about setting aside 10 mini-booths for eBay
members to purchase at a reduced rate - or receive
for free for one hour ? I would have loved to present
info to others about using SAPro, being a Trading
Assistant, creating graphics or all of these. I
would love to know I could find so-and-so at X o'clock
to meet and talk with him. Perhaps those interested
in having a booth for an hour could submit a detailed
plan a few months prior to eBay Live and would be
accepted based on objective criteria? (I know I
was sought out by many and others were even more
sought out than I for info we have to share...I
like to make presentations and if it was known ahead
of time I was going to be at Booth Z at such-and-such
a time, I could have disseminated even more info.)
Networking
- As a former PowerSeller of the Month (September,
2003, when my ID was SoAzAuctions), I would have
liked to be able to find any other PSOTMs in attendance.
I also would have liked to find some other specific
members. If there was a "networking central" location
where I could have left messages easily and checked
for such, I think I could have found those I was
seeking. An online directory of attendees may work
- I would have put "PSOTM, SAPro, Trading Assistant,
Platinum PS (my AZSC ID), SoAzAuctions, Tucson,
graphic designer" in my search profile and would
look up the keyword PSOTM, for example, in my search
for others. Being able to easily search for others
and retrieve info from those who were seeking me
would have added to my eBay Live experience. Again,
this is another idea I've not really thought out,
but perhaps someone else can offer a way this can
be handled.
Super-Advanced
Classes - As a 5 year+ seller and active boards
contributor, even the advanced class offerings at
eBay Live were pretty much too basic for me. I want
to know how another TA opened his drop-off store
on a shoestring, for example. I may want to discover
options for accepting credit cards through a merchant
account. I may want a CPA to tell me how I should
set up my bookkeeping. I may want to know how to
use data to drive and grow my biz. And so on. So
many powersellers were at eBay Live - I'm certain
others have advanced knowledge and would love to
attend super-advanced classes and round-tables as
well.
Seller
Tracks Classes - Along the same line as the above,
perhaps more specialized classes could be offered
for TAs - those interested in beginning info and
those who want to increase their current TA biz.
A seller may want to discover ideas for finding
wholesale lots or get ideas for products under-represented
on eBay. One vendor, SmartCollector, has a service
which will compete with Andale.com. If he had offered
a class on how to find historical eBay sales info
using his product, I would have attended.
