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Opening
business seminar - Local Media vs. The
Nationals -
Thursday morning at the GeoDomain Expo.
Next
up the Castello
Brothers, Michael and David
(Castello Cities Internet Network) talked about Maximizing
Geo Brand Traffic Revenue. We will
have details on their session (and all of the
other seminars) in a comprehensive conference
review article we will be publishing next week.
Michael
Castello (left) and David Castello
conduct their Thursday morning session.
At
the Thursday luncheon I gave a media person's view
of the prospects for the geodomain industry. I
reiterated something I have said a number of times
in the past - that I think .com geodomain owners
are perfectly positioned to reap huge
benefits from the migration of advertising money
from traditional media to the web. After
lunch there were seminars on Creative Local
Branding (featuring Fred Mercaldo
of Scottsdale.com and Cathy Maddox of
NewOrleans.com), Hotel Marketing
(with Chad Montgomery of Expedia.com, Bill
Marbach of GetARoom.com and Rob Kazmierski
of Advanced Reservations Systems) and Social
Media & Geodomains (featuring left
to right in the photo below Patrick Ruddell
(ChefPatrick.com), Courtney LeClair (ZCO
Corp.), Josh Metnick Chicago.com), Jim
Smith (Sobiz10) and Marian Mariathason
(Sobiz10). 
After
a final afternoon session on how to Mobilize
Your Site (hosted by Don Jones of
NewOrleans.com and Davis Asplund of ZCO
Corporation) it was time for the big evening
social event - a night out at the famous New
Orleans concert venue Tipitina's. The
evening got off to a rousing and unique start when
a New Orleans jazz band led a procession of Expo
attendees on their short walk from the hotel to
Tipitina's.
Led
by their own jazz band, GeoDomain Expo attendees
arrive
at Tipitina's night club in New Orleans Thursday
night.
Inside
attendees were treated to a buffet of traditional
New Orleans dishes including jambalaya, red beans
and rice, gumbo and po boy sandwiches. There was
also a free open bar at the party sponsored by Universal
Business Listings.
Above:
Kelly Benish (Universal Business Listings),
the band leader from the
jazz group that led a geodomainers march from the Roosevelt
Hotel to Tipitina's
and Associated Cities Executive Director Patrick
Carleton. Below:
Kevin Daste (Crawfish.com) and Steven
Kaziyev (Palermo.com)
enjoy the party at Tipitina's.
After
the party in an upstairs room at Tipitina's,
attendees were offered free tickets to any of
three concerts that got underway at 10pm in the
multiple showrooms on the ground foor at
Tipitina's.
Bob
Olea (Oceanside.com), Christy Roberts
(Missouri.me Network)
and Bruce Marler (Missouri.me Network) at
Tipitina's.
As I
write this early Friday afternoon, the closing day
of the GeoDomain Expo is underway (I am currently
listening to the keynote address from GetARoom.com
co-founder David Litman). Tomorrow I'll
have photos and highlights from all of today's
activity for you in this column.
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