RIP ETel. Conceived in the wake of Skype's multibillion liquidation event, O'Reilly Media's Emerging Telephony conference drew more than 1000 attendees but not enough paying, not enough sponsorship.

Let's blame the decision on raised expectations and changed focus instead of money. How do you nurture smaller events like ETel after the amazing success of the Web 2.0 summit, Web 2.0 expo, the heat around facebook and social network interoperability?  O'Reilly's managers are into other things these days.

If I were to rebrand or refocus the community, I would point it to the rise of the Live Social Network, the point where live communication (IM, VoIM, Mobiles) become more social while the asynchronous (social networks, blogosphere, applications) become more real time.

ETel was growing into a trusted thought leadership property to rival the exclusive and expensive foocamp, TED, and PopTech. The trillion dollar communications business has no other event that routinely brings out revolutionaries, stimulates debate, elevates thought leadership, reveals stealthy blockbusters, and give great hallway. All without vendors buying stage time.

How can we continue the ETel community and spirit? Stay tuned for news about a new event. If you'd like to speak, sponsor or host, email editor at SkypeJournal dot com or Skype me.

[UPDATE]

See also:

• Dan York 
• Luca Filigheddu - was going, now won't
• Bruce Stewart - winding down the Emerging Telephony blog
• Alec Saunders - follow up on facebook
• David Isenberg - "Thus ends one of the best meetings in the field"
• Erik Lagerway - virtual conference?
• Lee Dryuburgh - history and next steps