eBay developers have half a day left to attend sessions like "Building Scalable & Robust Applications using eBay Web Services," and "Delivering Immersive Shopping Experiences to Buyers." The DevCon wraps up at 12:20 today in Chicago, with the big news all about eBay's decision to open its platform with Project Echo.

Some developers are skipping the morning sessions and are heading downtown to attend eBay's Affiliate program conference.

This year's DevCon was well received by attendees, who reported they felt eBay had found focus and approved of its strategy to help developers help merchants. The right balance was struck, with none of the theatrics from the extravagant Las Vegas conference from a few years ago, but no skimping either. A trivia contest at lunch kept attendees busy Googling their laptops and Blackberries for the answers (much less painful than the awkward Cheers-inspired entertainment from last year's event in Boston), and buckets of bottles of beer (root beer, that is), were plentiful throughout the event.

With only 700 attendees at eBay's developer conference, it was hard not to notice the uniformed security guards positioned throughout the conference center in Chicago. Security is tight as eBay gears up for a much larger conference - the seventh eBay Live conference kicks off at the same venue tomorrow. Up to 10,000 attendees are expected, though reports have surfaced that attendance will be down from last year's event.

In talking to vendors and eBay executives, it seems clear announcements are expected in the coming days. Whether eBay President and CEO John Donahoe will get as positive a reaction from the eBay Live crowd as he did from the DevCon crowd may hinge on those announcements.