Today, I had a chance to stop by the fun-filled festivities held at eBay's Park Campus in San Jose for eBay employees and their families to start the night off right. I had heard there were many activities planned, so I thought I'd check them out and brought my trusty camera in case I saw anything frightening.
Along the way, I ran into a set of Spidey twins. They told me they think they're going to be busy tonight fighting with the Green Goblin, but they have confidence in their abilities. Thanks, Spideys and good luck!
Not long after I was assured that no goblins were going to bother me, the future captain of the Black Pearl himself, mini-Captain Jack Sparrow was nice enough to let me capture his photo. I must have over stayed my welcome with Captain Jack, because he was threatening to make me walk the plank.
I wasn't about to mess with him so I hustled on out of there. As I was headed down the hallway, I heard a beautiful melody. When I turned the corner I was in the very presence of an amazingly stunning Green Fairy Princess doing her famous Halloween dance to scare away the evil spirits.
After I joined the Green Fairy Princess I ran into eBay employee-by-day/ Super-Woman-by-night, Leslie and Super Mom, Kathie, another eBay employee, and her Little Bumble Bee in the parking lot. I thought that was pretty strange that they were just standing around eBay's parking lot, so I asked them what they were doing. Their story is that they were in search of any dropped candy by early Trick-O-Treaters. I'm not sure if anyone believes them but that's their story and they said they were sticking to it. They're both super nice ladies and they're always always helpful to me when I need their help so I wished them good luck on their candy search and headed back to our main building. Can you believe that I was harassed by these two? That's right, it's our very own bloggers, Ninad and Jeff. (Actually, Jeff's costume is pretty clever, even if it is one that makes you moan when you hear what he is.)
Finally, I know I'll probably get someone wondering what I was dressed as, so here I am. Not sure exactly what I am. I was going with masquerading reveller, but then again a slimmed down Henry VIII was mentioned. I'll let you decide.
No matter what you decide to dress as tonight, remember to have fun, be safe, and look both ways before crossing the street while Trick-o-Treating.
During the month of October, eBay Giving Works turned its spotlight on Breast Cancer Awareness and fundraising. In true eBay fashion, there are thousands of items up for sale, all with at least a portion of selling price going toward a breast cancer non-profit organization. With such a wide variety of items up for bid, you're bound to find something that captures your imagination...and benefits a good cause!
Now you may be asking yourself - what does a duck have to do with this? Well, Project Pink has teamed up with Munchkin again to offer celebrity-decorated pink rubber ducks up for auction, with proceeds to benefit Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure. These adorable ducks serve as a reminder - "Don't Duck a Breast Exam." eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman decorated one of the pink ducks and added her personal autograph, so be sure to check out her duck auction which ended on October 29th. But Meg isn't the only celebrity to offer support - you can also bid on ducks decorated by Matthew McConaughey,Dear Abby, and NASCAR star Tony Stewart, among others. If you'd rather add your own bling, bid on your very own pink duck! Remember, 100% of the proceeds from the duck auctions will go to Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure, so don't dawdle.
Some of the ducks themselves are here to give you their message -- check them out in this video. (Disclaimer -- the strings and shadows you see in this cheesy animation aren't imaginary, but should be!)
...Mary C, from Tennessee! That's right, Mary C. was the first of three lucky people to win $50,000 in the eBay Sweepstakes!! Congratulations! We caught up with Mary to find out a little more about her and what it's like to WIN!
Tell us a little about yourself: I am a divorced mom of three great girls! I work full time in an office at a local university. My hometown is a great place to live and we are adjacent to an Army base. We support our troops and veterans! My children keep me very busy. My two younger girls play soccer and softball. When I am not at work we are off to practice or games. There is always so much going on I don't really have time for me. My daughter told me I should use a little of the money to spend at a day spa. She is so sweet.
How long have you been an eBay member? I have been an eBay member since April 2002. I just love eBay!
How did you discover the eBay Shop Victoriously game? I was looking on eBay for a cell phone, and I saw the "Shop Victoriously" Instant Win Game. I thought I would give it a try. I only entered the game once.
Have you seen the new "Shop Victoriously" TV ads? What do you think of them? I have seen a couple and thought they were funny. I like the one where the guy wins at the carnival and says he will take the red one and it turns out to be a sports car.
What was your reaction when you won? I really didn't believe it at first, then I started jumping and laughing. I thanked God and then prayed it was all real. I told my mom yesterday and she still doesn't believe me.
Who was the first person you told? My oldest daughter - her wedding is next summer. There were so many things I couldn't do for her wedding but now I can. As a single working mom, I had no idea how I was going to be able to afford to pay for this wedding. What a blessing, thank you eBay!!
How do you plan to spend your Grand Prize? Definitely providing my daughter with the wedding of her dreams! She is also in college and needs a new computer. My family is going to have a great Christmas this year! My brothers will be excited when they open up their gift and it isn't another sweater. They are such good brothers and it will be wonderful to give them something nice. There are bills (doesn't everyone have these?) and car and home repairs that are soooooo overdue and taking care of some of these will be a big relief. Oh, and a new cell phone.
What was your greatest "win" when shopping on eBay? Last year, my two younger daughters each wanted an acoustic guitar. I went to the local store and once I saw the price, knew I wouldn't be able to get two of them. I went home and looked on eBay and found two great guitars. I got them both (with shipping) for less than the price of the one in the store. They arrived in perfect condition and the kids love them.
Is there anything else you'd like to share wtih us and the eBay Community? I just love eBay! You can find anything on eBay.
If you missed listening to last Friday's Town Hall with Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, you can still hear a recording of the event or read a transcript on the Town Hall Archives page in a few days. Meanwhile, take a look at some pictures from the event.
For Friday's Town Hall, we had live participation not only from people who called in on the phones and sent in their questions via email, but also from the newest members of the Voices of the Community program, who were in San Jose last week. You can see some of them in the foreground in this picture:
Senior Vice President of Trust & Safety, Rob Chesnut has made many friends in the Community over his eight years. That's because he's always kept the Community front-and-center in his work. Ironically, some of the decisions he's made in the interest of the Community's safety have also been the most controversial (like Safeguarding Member IDs). But, Rob's not only been a policy-maker, he's been a communicator, and this passionate interest in helping the Community understand is a big part of what has endeared him to so many people over the years. He was a faithful presence at eBay Live!, Town Halls, in email correspondence, and even as a Pink on the forums. Rob knew that helping people see a broader perspective goes a long way to building credibility and respect. Even if people don't agree with you at the end of the day, they respect you.
But Rob's kept an unusually low profile lately. So low that regulars on our Trust & Safety forum were recently speculating about his whereabouts.
Many people have been aware that Rob has been away on sabbatical. As time went on, we began to wonder if he'd be returning to his post. Recently, an internal email announced that Matt Halprin – another very familiar face and voice – is stepping up to lead the global Trust & Safety organization. So what about Rob?
In a personal email, he let the Chatter team know that he'll be helping our legal team on some special projects. As to a long-term position? Rob said that there are no definite plans. While it's sad to think of an eBay marketplace without Rob, the Chatter team wishes him the best. And we're all grateful for his contributions – both towards marketplace safety and to all that he did to help build a relationship built on trust and respect with our Community.
As for Matt, he's no stranger to the Community either. His team has been responsible for launching many initiatives, including Feedback 2.0 (Detailed Seller Ratings), Buyer Requirements, our anti-counterfeiting initiatives, and our recent efforts to raise seller standards to ensure great buying experiences. Congratulations, Matt!
Last week the Community Fantasy Football Team was dealt a setback, getting crushed by Rebuilding Year (who benefited from the fireworks show Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and the rest of the Patriots put on against the Dolphins last week to score 173 points, which is insanely high in fantasy football). We also had quite a bit of bad luck - the Blog team scored 102, which would've been good enough to beat anyone but Rebuilding Year. Oh well, such is the fickle nature of fantasy football.
The Blog team will be starting WR TJ Houshmandzadeh, RB Brandon Jacobs, TE Donald Lee, K Robbie Gould, and Denver's D for sure, but we need YOUR help to figure out who should play at QB and our other RB and WR spots. To vote, just visit our polls on the Chatter discussion board on the far right. To get to all the questions, just click on More Polls.
Every year, eBay's Government Relations team brings our sellers face-to-face with legislators in the United States Congress. Named "United States of eBay," the event is a great opportunity for our Community to let Senators and Representatives know how they and their eBay businesses might be affected by legislation being considered by Congress.
During this year's United States of eBay, the fifth of its kind, sellers from 21 states met with over 50 congressional offices, and also heard remarks from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL).
We asked one of the participants, eBay member golfingaddict, to share her experiences about the event and also explain why it's important that legislators understand the viewpoints of sellers like her, on issues like the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal (also known as SSTP or Remote Sales Tax).
Here, in her own words, is what golfingaddict has to say.
Did you know that there are over 7600 state and local sales tax jurisdictions in the United States? If some special interest groups have their way, eBay sellers, large and small alike, would be responsible for filing sales tax in each and every one of those jurisdictions if they sell to a buyer residing in one of those locations! That means 45 different states (excluding some that don't have sales tax), 45 different filing procedures and the potential for 45 different audits each year!
When I first heard those numbers, I found them to be very scary and quite frankly, a nearly impossible task for me, a small eBay seller and business owner.
Going to United States of eBay
On September 26-28th, I was one of approximately 25 eBay sellers from across the country that took part in the United States of eBay Washington D.C. Fly In. We visited key legislators with our message:
The Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal (to force you to collect and remit sales taxes in thousands of different taxing jurisdictions) is too complex and would place unfair costs and burdens on small business owners like you and me!
The US of eBay Fly In was the fifth annual event held about this issue. We represented sellers from our states and regions and spoke directly with legislators that can make a difference. We met directly with members of Congress, including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) on Capitol Hill and spoke about the impact this issue would have on our businesses. The eBay sellers were accompanied by members of eBay's Government Relations team that helped us with the process. Our message was very clear: this proposal would be very harmful to small business owners on eBay. We oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax project unless it provides for an exemption for small business owners.
SSTP would be a huge burden to small sellers Currently, the law requires sellers to collect sales tax if we sell to someone that resides in our own state. I collect sales tax from Washington State residents and submit that tax to the state each quarter. The Streamlined Sales tax proposal would require sellers to collect sales tax from all buyers in every different state that have sales taxes and submit that tax to the correct state or jurisdiction. This would be a huge burden to small sellers.
Can you imagine the paperwork required to file 45 different states? Even more complex is the local jurisdiction issues. There are over 7600 different jurisdictions across the states, all with different tax amounts. What this means is that sellers would likely have to collect a different sales tax amount depending on which of those 7600 jurisdictions the buyer resides in. I think this process would put a lot of sellers out of business simply because the burden would be too much to ask of someone without the means and ability to hire a team of accountants to deal with the issue. I know that I would not be able to handle all this paperwork on my own and would have to reconsider the burden of selling online if this sales tax collection process was imposed on me.
I encourage everyone to sign up to be an eBay Main Street Member. When you sign up you will get updates on the legislative issues that affect you as an eBay member. I also encourage everyone to contact their local legislators and voice your opinion on this sales tax initiative. I urge you to oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal unless it includes an exemption for small businesses.
October! It can mean so many things to so many people. Some think of World Series baseball, others may dream of football games on a crisp fall day. And of course, what would October be without one of my favorite holidays -- Halloween? If you haven't decided on a costume yet, you still have time to find the perfect one on eBay. If you've ever dreamed of dressing your baby up like a pumpkin, you're sure to find the right costume here. Of course there are plenty of costumes and accessories for boys, girls and even us grown-up kids.
To turn your house into the scariest one on the block, don't forget to look for everything you need to stand out on your street. You can find Halloween crafts and props creeping and crawling all over the eBay site!
Are you frightened by the thought your item won't arrive in time? You can search for items by sellers offering the Get it Fast option, which ensures your item is available with expedited shipping options.
Scare us with your Halloween photos! Do you have a funny, cute or scary picture of your child or pet dressed up in a Halloween costume purchased on eBay? Have you dressed your dog as Yoda or a princess? Perhaps your baby made an adorable Spiderman? Maybe you've been even more creative with your eBay costume purchases. If so, we'd love to see it. Send a photo to chatterblog@ebay.com and maybe your photo will be highlighted here in the Chatter on Halloween day.
I'm here to warn you to be on the lookout for a traveling lab coat.
You know, those sterile, white jackets doctors or scientists wear in
their laboratory. But this ain't your ordinary lab coat. It's a very
special lab coat because it's "Traveling on for Charity" and listed through eBay's Giving Works tool.
Since I'm a native of Salt Lake City, I wanted to blog about this fantastic, grass roots, idea to raise money for the Primary Children's Medical Center, located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A big pat on the back should be given to eBay Community member danna who
started the lab coat on its adventures. She's even written about the
lab coat on her own blog. Please be sure to read her story, The Traveling eBay Lab Coat
to learn how her idea came to fruition. In a nutshell: Lab coats like
this one were worn only by a few eBay employees during eBay Live!
earlier this year. When the event ended, the employee who had worn this
lab coat listed it, donating the proceeds to charity. danna won
that auction, and then had a brilliant idea -- why not "pay it forward"
by listing the lab coat again, and donating the proceeds from the
second auction to her own favorite charity? Whoever won the second
auction could re-list it yet again for their own favorite charity, and keep "paying it forward."
And so the lab coat's travels began...
danna says, "the
goal is to keep the Lab Coat Traveling around eBay and for each owner
to sign it and re-list it back on eBay as a 100% Charity auction! A
company logo can be added, an autograph, a patch, pin... the ideas are
endless!"
We couldn't agree more, so we're going to try to keep track of the
traveling lab coat here on the Chatter Blog, and give you updates about
its progress and the money that it is raising for various charities.
Fast forwarding a few weeks after danna listed the lab coat, here we are again to discuss the latest version of the eBay Live! Traveling Lab Coat. The “pay it forward” torch has passed on to the winner of danna's auction, kompolt.
The
Kompolt team created a clever About Me page for the coat as it narrates
its short life span within the eBay Community. You can read more about
it here traveling_lab_coat.
For the non-profit organization that will benefit from this auction, kompolt has chosen the Challenged Athletes Foundation, in memory of the late Bob Hebeler, an eBay employee. Bob passed away suddenly last year and the Challenged Athletes Foundation
was set up as a way for those of us who knew him or others that want to
support this cause as a way to honor Bob and his love of outdoor sports
and athletics. 100% of the proceeds from the eBay Live! Traveling Lab Coat auction will go to supporting and encouraging challenged athletes to achieve their goals.
There
are still 7 days remaining so bid now, or maybe wait until the auction
is drawing to a close and try to win with your best sniping finger. Who
knows, maybe I'll be blogging about you and your favorite non-profit as
you join in on the fun of "paying it forward" with the eBay Live Traveling Lab Coat!
Ever since Renee's post, I've had the theme from Mister Rogers stuck in my head. I've also joined the popular Coffee neighborhood, and learned amazing things -- like the fact some eBay members drink coffee to help them go to sleep.
Me? I drink many large mugfuls every morning for the opposite reason.
And just in case you were wishing for a complete list of Neighborhoods, look no further. A resourceful member has developed eBay Reviews that showcase all of 'em. Find them on this Neighborhoods Discussion thread.
The Community Fantasy Football Team came up with a big victory last week, 83-52 over the Nihilators. Not only did that even out our record at 3-3, it put us right in the thick of the playoff race (in fantasy football, it's never too early to start thinking playoffs). This week we're matched up against a Patriots-heavy Rebuilding Year squad. Don't let the pessimistic name fool you - they've been quite the juggernaut, thanks to New England deciding they want to win every game by 21+ points. They'll likely be starting a lineup of QB Tom Brady, WR Randy Moss, WR Wes Welker, WR Santana Moss, RB Reggie Bush, RB Marshawn Lynch, TE Dallas Clark, K Lawrence Tynes, and Seattle's D.
We need YOUR help to fend off this rampaging beast, especially while our stud Running Back Steven Jackson is still on the mend. Due to bye weeks our WRs are set (consisting of TJ Houshmandzadeh, Roddy White, and Shaun McDonald), and we'll be starting RB Brandon Jacobs, TE Jason Witten, K Robbie Gould, and the Dallas defense for sure. But you can help us figure out who to start at QB and at the other RB spot. Just look for the polls on the right-hand side of our Chatter discussion board - click on "More Polls" to see them both.
Rush Limbaugh, no stranger to controversy, recently found himself in the middle of another one recently regarding a comment he made on his radio show about "phony soldiers." Calling it an attack on soldiers speaking out against the Iraq war, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fired off a letter to ClearChannel (which broadcasts Limbaugh's show) asking them to make Rush apologize. The letter was signed by 40 other Democratic senators such as John Kerry, and included presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd.
Regardless of what you think of Rush's politics, at least he's putting the letter to good use. It's being auctioned off through eBay Giving Works, and all the proceeds will go to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation, which provides scholarship assistance to the children of fallen Marines and Federal law enforcement personnel. He's even mastered one of our new cool features, showcasing the auction on his homepage through the eBay To Go widget. As you can see, it's gotten a lot of attention so far - check it out!
In early October Trisha Okubo, Choon Chong and Sunny Li from eBay's Platform & Innovation team attended Community Next, a Silicon Valley event about social network platforms. It turned out to be a hands-on lesson in how to create a viral community application. The eBay team's participation was important because it helped us improve our understanding of developing successful applications for the emerging world of social networking sites - a world that some of our buyers and sellers have already started exploring (for example, see my earlier Chatter Blog post about the eBay Marketplace for Facebook application).
Choon entered the conference's Iron Coder competition, where he was tasked to build a Facebook application and recruit as many users as possible — all within 24 hours. Read on as Trisha and Sunny re-cap their learnings from the event and top tips for building a truly viral app (Gesundheit!)
So, does Choon have the stuff to win the $5000 IronCoder contest? Take a look at his entry and decide for yourself. Aptly named ForeignPoke, it allows you to do stuff to your friends on Facebook in the language of your choice. So — you can smack your friends in German, kiss them in French, or bite them in Italian.
At the 24 hour mark, ForeignPoke, was far from first place (with 25 users to the winner's 147)—and the $5,000 prize. (It seems that the friends we contacted to add the application don't check e-mail on Friday night.) But now, less than two weeks later, ForeignPoke has grown on its own to over 2,000 users, and an ardent fan even volunteered to translate the actions into his native Swedish!
What can we learn from ForeignPoke about how to create a viral application? Three simple rules:
(1)Start with share-worthy content. The foundation of a viral application is content, and if it's content that people don't want to share, you're out of the game before you even started playing. At the heart of ForeignPoke is the messages, which allow you to poke your friends in languages as diverse as Chinese, Hebrew, and even "Yoda." Poke you I must, as he would say.
(2)Make it easy for people to share. Aim to eliminate roadblocks—and any friction that makes it harder for people to share information with one another. ForeignPoke makes it super simple to poke friends—all you have to do is choose a message, select a language, and decide which friend(s) to poke. Automatically generated "news feed" announcements that describe the poking taking place (e.g. "Choon just poked Trisha in Pirate!") further simplify the information sharing process.
(3)Create incentives for people to share. Incentives can take many forms—and don't need to be monetary. Points can represent rewards, and people will collect them for bragging rights—or to move to higher levels within the application. As ForeignPoke was built literally overnight, it's currently limited to the core poking functionality (if you're wondering what I'm talking about, read the Wikipedia entry on poking on Facebook). But the most natural extension of the application is the introduction of points and levels. The more you poke others, the more points you collect. And while collecting points could be an end in and of itself, we could reward the most active users by, for example, unlocking new languages or actions.
Remember that ForeignPoke was built in a few short hours as part of an exercise during the CommunityNext event. But we'll use the lessons we learned to build applications that help our own Community succeed on social networking sites.
If you'd like to air your concerns about the environment, there's no better day than today! Bloggers around the world are uniting today by blogging about the environment. As the website for Blog Action Day puts it, "What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day? One issue. One day. Thousands of voices."
On a day when taking action to protect the environment is at the top of so many people's minds, I felt I could do no better than give a shout-out to our very own eBay Community. Our members have been using environmentally-friendly ideas long before it became fashionable to "think green."
I'm reprising one of my Chatter Blog posts from a few months ago -- "Going Green... what our members are doing." Read it to see how our members are making sure that they minimize damage to the environment during the course of their eBay activities. You'll see how our Community is adopting a range of green solutions, including recycling boxes and envelopes for sending packages, using shredded junk mail for packing material, and -- my favorite -- selling green product lines on eBay (such as "tree-free" cards are made from kenaf, a plant grown in the southern United States).
If you're using a green-friendly idea in your eBay activity, do tell us about it at chatterblog@ebay.com. And remember to spread the word about today's Blog Action Day!
Remember when Tiger Woods got his first Green Jacket? That was something. I joked a while back about Nathan Sacco looking good in a red sweater. But after seeing all the great press that eBay Neighborhoods is getting, I seriously think Nathan should proudly claim his first Red Sweater.
Neighborhoods are a natural extension of the eBay Community. They are groups of people centered around a shared passion for particular products or activities. Red Sox or Rockies, anyone? I tell you, that Coffee Lovers neighborhood is percolating!
Check out eBay Neighborhoods for yourself, and check out what others have said:
The Chatter Blog Community Fantasy Football Team (or CBCFFT for easy pronunciation) is at an important point of the season. We're 2-3 so far, placing us 9th in a league of 12. Fortunately, the top 8 make the playoffs so we're well in this thing - but we need to pick up a few wins, and soon, to start feeling a little more comfortable. We need YOUR help with Week 6 - help us pick our starting lineup as we face off against Normant's Nihilators (run by my personal fantasy sports nemesis Mike Normant). We'll be starting WR TJ Houshmandzadeh for sure, as well as RB Brandon Jacobs, TE Jason Witten, K Robbie Gould, and Jacksonville's D, but the QB, and other RB and WR spots are wide open. To vote, visit the Chatter discussion board and look for the poll on the right. Once you've put in your QB vote, click on More Polls to see the rest.
By now you've probably all seen the new ad campaign from eBay - Shop Victoriously! What you may not have seen is the newest phase of the campaign, where you can be entertained, play a game, dream big, and maybe even win big!
Check out shopvictoriously.ebay.com, and be prepared to enter a whole new world. First of all, a promotion just kicked off where three lucky winners will walk away with $50,000 each during the promotional period. That's right - $50,000! In addition to that we're giving away lots of "Win-Stant" prizes every day, so it's not to be missed.
Have you ever dreamed about what you'd get if you had $50,000 to spend on eBay? Would you buy a lake? Perhaps your very own ice cream truck? Just visit the promotion page and play the daily win game for your chance to make those dreams come true. And use your wildest imagination and post your best ideas here and inspire others to dream big!
If you're looking for laughter, take a look at the Winner's Guide to Winning, with Andy Richter and Paul F. Tompkins. Andy and Paul hit the road as the "Winnervators" to tape some hilarious segments about winning. A new episode will be released every few days, so check back often for the latest amusing segment. The commercials you've been seeing on TV are also posted on shopvictoriously.ebay.com, so don't forget to check those out as well. As you can see, shopvictoriously.ebay.com already has a lot to see and do, and more fun and features which will be added often. Check back regularly for your dose of Windorphins.
Rolf Skyberg, Disruptive Innovator here at eBay, recently returned from a whirlwind trip to France and the Netherlands. Back from his travels, he gives his take on Paris, Rotterdam, high-speed trains, humor that doesn't always translate, as well as the exotic (and to some, inexplicable) appeal of mayonnaise below. Enjoy!
-Delyn
Rendezvous'ing with Max Mancini, the director of Platform and Disruptive Innovation in Paris, we first met with our French team to discussion innovation, web trends and how business gets done. We learned quite a lot from them including how they manage their projects and all the exciting things they are developing. Again it reminded us how truly a global company eBay is.
Taking the high-speed "Thalys" train from Paris to Rotterdam in a short three hours brought us within walking distance to the primary reason for our trip, Emerce e.day. Billing itself as the "premier event of 2007 where inspiring speakers and innovative companies shed light on the latest technologies and trends," I had been invited to speak after my presentation at the Web 2.0 EXPO in San Francisco. After enjoying a speaker's dinner hosted by Rotterdam's city council, I returned to my hotel room and really set about revising my presentation for a European audience.
When I'd presented my Web 2.0 presentation earlier to our Paris office, some of my slides were unintentionally hilarious while other jokes fell flat on their face. Apparently some things don't translate well across languages. My new presentation for e.day included references to windmills (a Dutch favorite), a little bit of American history, and a new message overall: "Web 2.0 is an era, not a thing." The morning of my presentation, my message carried well as I presented to the packed audience in a renovated Dutch Koffie factory. Whipping through 477 slides in only 35 minutes, I drank the three bottles of water that had been placed on my podium while the group of international business people quizzed me about community, Web 3.0, and what to think of the internet in general. Max explored the conference floor visiting our Marktplaats team and attending other sessions while I talked to some small groups throughout the day. We left the conference inspired by the enthusiasm of everyone in attendance.
I think the biggest message that I took from the e.day conference and meeting with our worldwide teams was that we all have the same basic needs. Languages and cultures may be different, but deep down we all want and fear the same things. Business is important, but the connections we make with our loved-ones is stronger. Everyone wants a place to call their own, but to be invited to share in someone else's space. We fear that change will bring turmoil, but it's too exciting to turn back now. The world is a big place, and friends help lead the way when the path gets dark. I know that by embracing these learnings and accepting them as simple truths, success will surely follow.
PS: I also learned that around the world, everybody likes fried potatoes, and the Dutch like theirs with mayonnaise.
Live help
Happy Halloween to all eBay Members!
Along the way, I ran into a set of Spidey twins. They told me they think they're going to be busy tonight fighting with the Green Goblin, but they have confidence in their abilities. Thanks, Spideys and good luck!
Pearl himself, mini-Captain Jack Sparrow was nice enough to let me capture his photo. I must have over stayed my welcome with Captain Jack, because he was threatening to make me walk the plank. 
I wasn't about to mess with him so I hustled on out of there. As I was headed down the hallway, I heard a beautiful melody. When I turned the corner I was in the very presence of an amazingly stunning Green Fairy Princess doing her famous Halloween dance to scare away the evil spirits. 
and Super Mom, Kathie, another eBay employee, and her Little Bumble Bee in the parking lot. I thought that was pretty strange that they were just standing around eBay's parking lot, so I asked them what they were doing. Their story is that they were in search of any dropped candy by early Trick-O-Treaters. I'm not sure if anyone believes them but that's their story and they said they were sticking to it. They're both super nice ladies and they're always always helpful to me when I need their help so I wished them good luck on their candy search and headed back to our main building. Can you believe that I was harassed by these two? 
That's right, it's our very own bloggers, Ninad and Jeff. (Actually, Jeff's costume is pretty clever, even if it is one that makes you moan when you hear what he is.) 
Rush Limbaugh
