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serve
as moderator of the day's first panel discussion which
centered on what the next evolutionary phase of the domain
industry will look like. We will have more details on all
of the seminar sessions in our comprehensive conference
review article that will be published at the end of next
week.
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The
highly anticipated main event, Wozniak's keynote
talk, got underway a little before noon. With
Kupietzky conducting a delightfully informal
interview on stage, Wozniak detailed how he and Steve
Jobs created Apple and made it one of the great
business success stories of all time.
One
of the many fascinating tidbits that came out of the
talk was Wozniak recalling his days as a dedicated Hewlett
Packard employee. He said he pitched his idea
for a small personal computer to HP five times
and was turned down every time! It was, of course, a
blessing in disguise as he and Jobs, forced
to do it themselves, rolled out a world changing
product that has made them iconic figures in
business history. |
Apple
Co-Founder Steve Wozniak
during his keynote appearance Wednesday |
After
lunch a pair of panel discussions devoted to building out
domain names provided invaluable tips and information for
those ready to get serious about developing their domains.
We will cover those in depth in our show review article
next week. The business day closed with one of the many
new twists Oversee introduced at this show - a structured
networking session in the Exhibit Hall. In this format,
industry experts from four different fields were
dispatched to the four corners of the hall. They donned
white lab coats to make it easy for attendees to spot them
so they could get answers to their questions and feedback
on their ideas.
Structured
Networking session Wednesday afternoon
I'll
be taking part in another round of structured networking
that will tackle four more topics this afternoon from
5-6:30pm (local time). Our group, including Moniker's
Monte Cahn and Victor Pitts and Anthos
Chrysanthou (Lease Domains) will be answering questions
about buying and selling domains.
As
night fell it was time to have a party and Oversee, as
they always do, threw a great one at Universal Studios.
They arranged to have a whole section of the world famous
attraction reserved for a DOMAINfest special event.
Attendees were bussed to Universal where they received a
red carpet welcome to the studio lot (see photo below).
DOMAINfest
attendees stroll a red carpet entrance laid out for them
at Universal Studios
Attendees
were able to enjoy two of the park's most popular rides, The
Mummy and Jurassic Park, as often as they
wanted with zero wait time. The famous Universal Studios
tram tour was also open throughout the night, as were game
rooms, restaurants and open bars (all free of charge to
DOMAINfest guests).
The
conference closes with another jam-packed day and night
ahead. The Thursday schedule begins at 9:30am (Pacific
time) with the first of two morning panel discussions. The
second of those at 11am will feature Google's Hal
Bailey and Matt Parry. Questions about Google's
recent decision to provide direct parking services are
sure to come up in that session as domainers try to get a
handle on the company's long term plans for that sector.
The
afternoon will be devoted to Moniker's big live domain
auction while the night will be dominated by the
social highlight of the conference - a DOMAINfest party at
the Playboy Mansion. I'll have all of the Thursday
highlights for you in this column tomorrow morning.
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