|
when it comes
to welcoming visitors from around the world and making
sure their guests have a great stay in the Big Easy, New
Orleanians have come back bigger and better than ever
since Hurricane Katrina devastated wide swaths of
the city in 2005. If you haven't been back to New
Orleans since then, now is the time. The historic city
on the banks of the Mississippi River is one of
the most picturesque places on earth and it is most
definitely open for business again.
The Domainer
Mardi Gras organizers from Modern Domainer
Magazine and Parked.com are all natives
of New Orleans and they showed their conference guests
many of the things that make their city so special. One
of those was a leisurely two-and-a-half-hour out-of this
world brunch at the world famous Court of the Two
Sisters restaurant Saturday morning in the French
Quarter.
With a live
jazz trio playing in their
|
Jackson
Square in New Orleans Saturday morning
after brunch at the Court of the Two Sisters |
|
midst, attendees,
in the photo below, enjoyed the atmosphere, impeccable
service and outstanding food served by a restaurant that
opened in 1832.
Knowing
that many attendees would stay out very late the night
before taking advantage of Parked.com's
Mardi Gras balcony party on Bourbon Street,
conference organizers wisely scheduled the start of
Saturday's business sessions at 12 noon.
Seminars
on Diversification and Domain Investing
served as informative preludes to Aftermarket.com's
live domain auction that got underway a little after
3pm. Though there were just 51 names in the carefully
chosen catalog, the final sales tally came in at over $439,000.
Voodoo.com accounted for a huge chunk of that
total after going for $300,000. Suntanning.com
added $22,500 and TextLinks.com kicked in $22,000
as two-thirds of the listed names found buyers, a
healthy 67% sales conversion rate.
Scene
from Aftermarket.com's live domain auction Saturday
afternoon.
After
the auction, the last order of business was a closing
awards ceremony with a humorous theme, followed by a
second night on Parked.com's Bourbon Street balcony.
Diana and I had to leave midway through the auction to
travel to central Ohio where family members
gathered to celebrate my mother's 90th birthday
on Sunday.
|
I know everyone
thinks their mother is special, but I think I can
objectively say that mine is the most remarkable
person I have ever known. I have never (and
I mean that literally) heard her say a bad word
about another person. She has an incredible sense
of humor and infinite patience (something that
served her well in the course or raising four boys
who undoubtedly caused her a few headaches along
the way).
She is as close to
being a saint as anyone I've ever met and God has
rewarded her with a long and healthy life (she may
have scored a few extra points with him by
co-founding a local church in the early 1950s that
is still going strong today). Though I've done
nothing to deserve it, I've been rewarded even
more by having had the good fortune to have her as
my mother. There is nothing in this world I would
trade that for. |
Vangie
Jackson
on her 90th birthday Sunday |
|
We
will be heading back to Florida tomorrow evening.
As you may have heard, news of a major domain
industry acquisition is expected to be
released tomorrow morning. During Domainer Mardi
Gras, representatives of the acquiring company
privately gave industry reporters a heads up that
the deal was coming - though we will not told who
they have acquired until tomorrow morning (they
also told me there was a slight chance the announcement
would be pushed back to Wednesday). I'll post the
information in this column as soon after the
company releases it as possible.
Soon
after I get back to our home office, I will start
work on our comprehensive Domainer Mardi Gras
review article with a wealth of photos and show
information you haven't seen yet. Look for that on
our home page next Monday (March 2).
(Posted Feb.
23, 2009) |
|
