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Later this month, more than 10,000 entrepreneurs and other businesspeople will convene at McCormick Place West in Chicago. They will be in attendance for the seventh annual eBay Live Show, which runs June 19-21.

"The majority of the attendees will be professional sellers on eBay," said Todd Lutwak, Sr. Director of Seller Development, eBay Inc., San Jose, CA. "People who completely make their business selling on eBay will be there. Casual sellers will be there. People who supplement their eretail sites' revenues at eBay will be there. There will also be people there that want to break into the business, as well as software companies, email providers and B2B vendors, etc., who will be offering services."

So what is the big reason all these people attend this show? There is no better source for marketers to learn about revenue driving tactics and best practices on eBay than from eBay itself, and all for a reasonable $120 per ticket to attend eBay Live 2008.

What's more, the show will be about real, hands on education. All told, there will be 180 classes, taught by eBay staff and community members, about the optimal ways to profitably use the medium. There will be beginners, intermediate and advanced tracks at the show. One of the hot button classes will be taught by Lutwak, and will be about Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs), which is the rating system that buyers use to rate sellers. In short, class attendees (sellers) will learn how to get better ratings.

Lutwak said that his company's event is interactive in the educational sense on other levels as well. For instance, outside the classes, networking opportunities abound at the conference, including coffee breaks, lunches, dinners and cocktail hours.

"An extra benefit about eBay Live is the attendees learning from each other," Lutwak explained. "It is also worth mentioning that a lot of the magic happens at the end of the classes. Every single class has a question and answer session that immediately follows. People share what they are seeing. And as we say at eBay, 'The best ideas come from the community.' We learn from them, too."

Here are three good reasons to consider making the trip to Chicago:

1) The education does not stop with the classes, the Q&As and the networking events. There will be opportunities where experts will be available to tell you what you are doing right or wrong with your eBay selling.

They will sit down with you, look at your web pages and offer advice. The forum is called, "Seven Steps to Scalability." Lutwak added, "The goal is to identify actionable next steps that the person can take from the show and engage into his or her business."

2) eBay CEO, John Donahoe, will deliver the show's keynote address on Friday morning, June 20. The leader of the world's premiere online auction place will certainly have some relevant news that will significantly matter to your business.

3) The closing gala will feature dining, dancing and celebrating what everyone learned at the event. Picking others' brains at this juncture, taking mental or written notes and grabbing business cards can be the icing on the cake in terms of getting the biggest educational and actionable bang for your buck.

In the end, the event will be fun, and attendees will have access to folks like Donahoe and Lutwak that can only help their individual businesses thrive. In addition, it can help make eBay a more profitable place for the overall community. "We want to know what is in the hearts and minds of our users," Lutwak explained. "That way, we can bring that information back to San Jose and improve the experience of buyers and sellers on eBay."

Furthermore, Lutwak, who is based in Chicago, recommends booking a room at one of the many hotels as soon as possible, near the McCormick Place West facility. To improve your ROI on the trip, he advises that budget constrained businesses check discount airlines like Southwest that hub into Midway, as potential alternatives to other flights coming into O'Hare.

For more info, contact:

eBay Live! 2008
McCormick Place West
2301 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60616
Website: http://pages.ebay.com/ebaylive/

Article ID: 643