The 2009 GeoDomain Expo  completed an impressive run at the Catamaran Resort in San Diego Saturday. The annual event is staged by Associated Cities, an organization that boasts many of the world's top .com city domain owners among its members (Chicago.com, LosAngeles.com, Atlanta.com, and Nashiville.com are just a few examples of sites run by 

Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell
speaking Saturday at the GeoDomain Expo

AC members). Though AC has a specific focus, the GeoDomain Expo is open to everyone and, because of its emphasis on how to develop profitable locally oriented websites it has built up a loyal among people who own domains in a variety of categories and extensions. 

The busy closing day scheduled opened Saturday morning with a thought provoking keynote address from Dr. David Brin, a well-known futurist and science fiction author who is based in San Diego. 

A seminar on how to earn money with travel affiliate services followed, then in another highlight of the day, Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell delivered an uplifting talk at the noon luncheon. Borrell is an expert on local ad spending and he assured the geodomain owners

in attendance that they are perfectly positioned for the massive transition of ad spending from traditional media outlets to the web.

In an especially lively and informative session after lunch, the topic was the future of geodomains and ICANN's plans to roll out an unlimited number of new global TLDs starting early next year. The panel (seen in the photo below) included, left to right, Internet Commerce Association Legal Counsel Phil Corwin, Jothan Frakes of Minds+Machines, David Castello and Michael Castello of Castello Cities Internet Network. I'll have details on this session (as well as all of the others from the Expo) in our comprehensive conference review article that will be published within the next week.

In a new twist on the traditional live domain auction format, Aftermarket.com and DomainConsultant.com moved their sale outdoors so bidders could enjoy the gorgeous San Diego day. In the photo below spotter Sevan Derderian explains the auction procedure as attendees began taking their seats.

The auction wound up producing just over $100,000 in sales, led by SierraMadre.com at $15,000, followed by TowerOfLondon.com at $10,000 and  BrooklynJobs.com at $8,000. The curtain came down on the 2009 Expo with a series of small group dinners at the San Diego's best restaurants. Attendees could sign up for any of ten top restaurants for to celebrate their last night in town.

This show was a success despite being pulled together in a very short period of time. A lot of people share the credit for that with Associated Cities Executive Director Patrick Carleton and Mark Burgess, the owner of SanDiego.com, deserving special mention for the work they put in to make it happen. Our daily Lowdown posts from the show just skimmed the surface. We'll have many more photos and much more detail in our upcoming show review article.

Patrick Carleton and Mark Burgess