Ebay Live 2007 Day 2: Google talk, booth babes and other fun
EBay’s decision to cancel all advertising on Google remained a major talking point at eBay Live in Boston, in spite of eBay staffers gamely insisting that the decision is nothing out of the ordinary, merely a routine test of the “incrementality” of the effectiveness of so-called paid search on Google, and not at all retaliation for Google’s hastily abandoned plan to throw a party in Boston during eBay Live to win support among eBay sellers for Google’s checkout product. Could there have a less dramatic way to test said incrementality? “This is how we do it,” was the terse reply from an eBay manager.
My wife pointed out that last time eBay was this much up in arms was right before it acquired PayPal, which had basically slaughtered eBay’s own online payment service.
Maybe it’s just because I’m a big-time homer, but the Live in Boston is the best of the three eBay Live!s I have been to. It has been easy to get face-time with eBay staffers, easy to find places to sit and talk, or just sit, and one can move around without having to battle hordes of people, as one had to at the ridiculously overcrowded in Las Vegas last year. Somebody made the claim that last year’s event had “more energy,” and it did, only much of that energy was spent on sprinting from one session to another so one could get a seat.
It also doesn’t hurt that Boston’s convention center is a very good one. As a taxpayer, I can’t say I care too much for the convention center, but as I convention-goer I have almost nothing but praise. Bear in mind that I have been to a few shows at BCEC before this Live, so I’m not just taken by the novelty of it all. It is a good convention center.
There were quite a few interesting seminars today. An interesting difference between the seminars at eBay Live and the seminars at the eBay Developer Conference, which took place Monday through Wednesday this week, is that while devcon encouraged its attendants to photograph and blog seminars, Live expressly prohibits doing so.
Pictures from eBay Live today, mostly from the Solutions Center:
Scot Wingo, who I linked to in yesterday’s post. I really need to come up with a five-second pitch that sounds better than “I’m a freak with a camera. Do you mind if I take your picture?”
Popular financial planner Suze Orman was at hand to sign books. A lot of people waited patiently for her.
EBay Radio. That lady has a terrific radio voice, according to my wife.
Exhibitors do what they can to catch the attention of visitors, some times successfully. Here’s a photograph of a group of visitors checking out a product demonstration.
When you think of Boston, you think of Trust & Safety
Booth babes. What else is there to say? Notice how I didn’t crop the name of the exhibitor from the picture? It’s my way of saying “thank you.”
Here’s what the Solutions Center looks like after hours:
Tomorrow night eBay Live closes out with the Closing Gala.
