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Photos
and Highlights from the First Full Day (and Night) at the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York Conference Tuesday
was a busy day
at
the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York conference. The first
full day of business in the event being held at the Brooklyn
Bridge Marriott got underway at 10am and didn't end
until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The day began
with welcoming comments from T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu, folllowed by a new
feature for the pioneering domain conference called T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Test Track. In this take off on the ABC-TV
program Shark Tank, people seeking
funding for their development projects were given a
chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of potential
investors. 
Scene
from the debut of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Test Track
Tuesday in New York. A panel of seven potential
investors that included (left to right on the dais
above) Michael Berkens, Rick Latona, Jon
Waterman, Rick Schwartz, Michael Castello,
David Castello and Dr. Chris Hartman
listed to pitches from three different developers who
stepped up to the microphone in front of moderator Howard
Neu (standing at the podium at far right). The
developers making presentations were Kevin Woods
(ByOwner.com), Mark Michael (DevHub.com) and Poland's
Daniel Dryzek who has plans for a multi-service ccTLD
conglomerate in Europe. The three were chosen
from more than 20 applicants seeking the same
opportunity. Though none won funding on the spot,
all impressed panelists with their presentations
and some of the investors expressed an interest in
learning more about the ventures before making a final
judgment. I found the concept to be a fresh and
interesting conference idea with tremendous potential
- one that I hope will remain a part of the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. program in future shows. I'll have more
details on the presentations and the benefits the
audience gets from witnessing the interplay between
developers and investors in a full conference review
article that will follow the show. At
lunch attendees were treated to an informative an
entertaining keynote address from CNN anchorman Rick
Sanchez. Sanchez has been a pioneer in melding
traditional TV journalism with live interaction from the
audience via social media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter and MySpace. Sanchez gave the
audience a close look at the future of media and how
their Internet development ventures can tap into the
vast revenues that will be generated in the migration of
media from traditional platforms to the web. 
CNN
anchorman Rick Sanchez delivering a lively
and
well-received keynote address at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York
Tuesday. Sanchez's
talk was followed by a speed networking session that is
perenially one of the most popular events at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. The format was changed this year to a
more effective one (first used at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Amsterdam in June). Attendees sit facing
each other in chairs arranged in two giant circles.
Those in the outer circle rotated over one seat every
two minutes allowing each particpant to meet and
exchange business cards with dozens of new contacts
before the hour was over. 
Scene
from Tuesday's Speed Networking session The
business day closed with the RickLatona.com
live domain auction that reminded me a bit of the glory
days of such events. A big crowd was in the room, with
dozens standing along the back wall behind those you see
seated in the photo below. Better yet, they were
breaking open their wallets to make big purchases like Rio.com
($450,000), Whiskey.com ($185,000) and SchoolLoans.com
($137,500), the latter being a fully developed site
with a nice revenue stream. While the final total of
approximately $1.2 million was a long way from
the record breaking days we saw a couple of years ago,
the overall vibe throughout the energetic event produced
a feeling that the aftermarket is on its way back. 
Scene
from the Rick Latona live domain auction Tuesday
at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York. After
dark it was time to play, and Skenzo allowed
attendees do that in style at their jam-packed casino
night party in Manhattan. Guests were taken to
the soiree at the Touch night club in a huge
fleet of limousines. Those who won at the gaming tables
received tickets to drawings for more than a dozen high
tech gifts including Amazon Kindles, Sony cameras and a
Blue Ray video system. The party drew well deserved rave
reviews from everyone I spoke too. 
Above:
Scene from Skenzo's official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. party
at the Touch night club in Manhattan. Below:
Faces in the crowd (left to right): Dr. Chris
Hartnett (Reinvent.com), Divyank Turakhia
(Skenzo.com), Michael Berkens (TheDomains.com), Rob
Grant (domain investor) and Ray Neu
(RickLatona.com). Hartnett, Turakhia, Berkens and Grant
have all been featured in DN Journal Cover Stories and
fast rising relative newcomer Neu may one day end up in
one as well (his father Howard was profiled in
our April 2009 Cover Story). 
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