Some people come for the classes, some people come for the networking opportunities, and a few make the trip solely in the hope they can find a solution to a particular problem. About 10,000 people are expected to come to eBay's sixth annual user conference in Boston on June 14th (fewer than the 15,000 who attended last year's event in Las Vegas), and for the 6th straight year, AuctionBytes will be covering the event.

The AuctionBytes news team will publish firsthand accounts throughout the 3-day event in the form of articles and audio and video interviews. Look for breaking news, product announcements and photos along with an insider's perspective published on the AuctionBytes blog. This year, we're scheduled to interview eBay CEO Meg Whitman for the first time.
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2007

eBay Developers' Conference
Coverage begins with the eBay Developers Conference June 11-13, 2007, where developers come to take classes and hear sessions on topics such as the ones scheduled this year on PayPal Mobile, digital content delivery, and best practices for eBay application development.
http://pages.ebay.com/devcon

"Mad Hatter" Meet & Greet
The seller-organized Meet & Greet event will take place on Wednesday, June 13, at 7 pm at Ned Devine's Paris Hall in Faneuil Hall (aka Quincy Marketplace). All eBayers are welcome, according to Carolyn (100percenttoys) who organized the event. The theme is a Mad Hatter Tea Party, and the person with the best hat wins a prize. Our photographer will there to snag some fun photos.
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000372722

eBay Annual Shareholder's Meeting
The Annual Meeting of Stockholders of eBay Inc. will be held on Thursday, June 14, 2007, at 8:00 am Eastern at the Back Bay Events Center, Back Bay Grand Room, 180 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts. AuctionBytes will report on financial news coming out of the meeting.
http://tinyurl.com/2brhqf

Video Coverage
AuctionBytes will again broadcast video coverage of eBay Live on AuctionBytes.TV. A guide to last year's coverage, which included interviews with attendees, exhibitors and online marketplaces, along with a video recording of eBay CEO's keynote address, is available online:
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/tvguide_ebaylive2006

Exhibit Hall Coverage
In addition to booths from eBay, PayPal, Skype, ProStores, eBay Stores and Shopping.com, third-party vendors will also display their wares in the exhibit hall. Look for photos of vendors and attendees along with product announcements in AuctionBytes' coverage.
http://pages.ebay.com/ebaylive/exhibitors.html

Documentary Pre-Screening
Traders' Dreams is a new documentary about eBay by two German filmmakers. The theatrical release will be June 28 in Germany, but there will be a pre-screening of the film at the MFA in Boston on June 15 at 5 pm coinciding with eBay Live. The film will show in film festivals, cinemas and TV stations around the world. This is your opportunity to see the film before anyone else, and the directors from Germany will be available after the screening for discussion. Regular tickets may be purchased in advance through the Museum of Fine Arts (www.mfa.org) starting June 5th at the price of $9.
http://tinyurl.com/3de46q

Special Offer for AuctionBytes Readers: You may order tickets in advance for a discounted price of $5 by sending an email to bostontickets@filmquadrat.de. Just write your full name and the number of tickets you need (offer limited to 2 discounted tickets per person) and you will be put on the discounted ticket list. You may then purchase your ticket at the discounted rate up to 15 minutes before the show at the box office at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Film directors Marcus Vetter and Stefan Tolz have kindly offered free tickets to the first 10 people who email me. Each of the first ten people to email me with their request will receive 2 free tickets (you will give your name to the MFA ticket booth upon arriving at the theatre) and 1 movie poster signed by the directors, which you will receive after the screening. Send an email to ina@auctionbytes.com for a chance to get two free tickets and a poster.

You can view the film trailer at:
http://tinyurl.com/yrucdf

eBay Live 2008
For those of you really planning ahead, AuctionBytes has confirmed that eBay Live will be held in Chicago next year.
http://tinyurl.com/ytfucb

Good Eats near the BCEC
In the last issue we published the "Phantom Gourmet's" guide to great dining within walking distance of the Boston Convention & Expo Center. You can find the article and a Google Map at http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y207/m05/abu0191/s04

Note from the Editor
A special thank you to the sponsors who make this coverage possible so we can bring you all the news and information at no charge to readers. This year's sponsors are:

Alibaba.com
http://www.alibaba.com

Auction Sellers Resource
http://www.auction-sellers-resource.com

DSI Insurance
http://www.dsiinsurance.com

Endicia
http://www.endicia.com

MarketWorks
http://www.marketworks.com

OnlineAuction.com
http://www.onlineauction.com

Terapeak
http://www.terapeak.com

Thanks also to our hardworking crew, including Julia Wilkinson, Phil Davies, Jim Whittaker and Tom Shaughnessy.

You can meet Julia Wilkinson in person at eBay Live at the HammerTap booth (#933) on Friday at 2:30 where she will be signing her books.

AuctionBytes Coverage of eBay Live 2002 - 2007

eBay Live 2002 (Anaheim, CA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/ebaylive

eBay Live 2003 (Orlando, FL)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/ebaylive2003

eBay Live 2004 (New Orleans, LA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/ebaylive2004

eBay Live 2005 (San Jose, CA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2005

eBay Live 2006 (Las Vegas, NV)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2006

eBay Live 2007 (Boston, MA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2007