|
The
DOMAINfest
Global Conference
continued
with day 2 (Wednesday, Feb. 2) of the
fifth annual event being held at the Fairmont
Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, California.
In my last post yesterday, the opening
day was winding down with Moniker's
Low and No Reserve Live Domain Auction still
underway. The event wound up generating 37 sales
led by Camera.net at $35,000.
Prices dropped off quickly after that with AJY.com
the next highest sale at $4,000. The
event was a warm-up for Moniker's
Premium Live Auction coming up tomorrow
(Thursday, Feb. 3) at 4:30 pm Pacific
time. Day
one ended Tuesday night with a Polynesian
Paradise theme party held in the gardens and
pool area at the Fairmont Miramar.
Scene
from Tuesday's night's Polynesian Paradise
Party at DOMAINfest Global.
After
the official conference party (sponsored by the .CO
Registry) closed at 9pm, many attendees
moved on to a pair of private parties nearby,
one held at the Huntley Hotel by Demand
Media and the other on the rooftop
of an oceanfront condo a block away hosted by Washington
VC founder Michael
Mann who is spending the winter
there. I stopped by both and very much enjoyed
the company of the other guests and the gracious
hospitality extended by the hosts. Day
2 of DOMAINfest Global opened at 9:30am
today with a terrific presentation from Jay
Berkowitz (TenGoldenRules.com)
who detailed his Ten Steps to Building a
Winning Website. Jay, who also operates the InternetMarketingClub.com
networking site, is a leading author and
podcaster who really knows his stuff. He also
has a special ability to present valuable
information is a concise, easily digestible
manner that has helped thousands of people jump
start their online endeavours.
Jay
Berokowitz (TenGoldenRules.com) giving
attendees his Top Ten Steps to
Building a Winning Website Wednesday morning
at DOMAINfest Global.
The
second morning session was a panel discussion
about Acquiring and Monetizing Traffic Using
Local, Mobile, Social and Video. Moderator Scott
Morrow, Oversee.net's new Senior VP/GM,
Vertical Markets Division, directed a very
informative session featuring experts Andy Atkins-Kruger
(WebCertain.com), David White (Technorati
Media) and Branden
Claisse (Mojiva Inc.)
(L
to R): Andy Atkins-Kruger
(WebCertain.com), David White (Technorati
Media), Branden
Claisse (Mojiva Inc.) and moderator Scott
Morrow (Oversee.net) provide advice on Aquiring
and Monetization Traffic Using Local, Mobile,
Social and Video Wednesday morning (Feb. 2).
After
a courtyard luncheon, once again held outdoors
on a glorious Southern California day,
guests returned to the hotel's Starlight
Ballroom for DOMAINfest Global's Pitchfest
Contest. The event gave eight finalists a
chance to pitch their new online business ideas
to a distinguished panel of venture capital
executives who served as judges (they were John
Morris, Scott Jarus, Andries de
Villiers and Jeff Cohn). The audience
also got to pick a winner of their own
and, as was the case last year, the judges and
the audience had different opinions.
The
judges named local deal site Smartvark.com
as their winner, allowing the company's
presenter, Stefan Wrobel, to take home
the coveted prize and gain some attention that
could lead to a sizeable investment in his
company.
The
Judges picked Stefan Wrobel of Smartvark.com
(L) as winner of the DOMAINfest Global
Pitchfest Contest. He received the award
from Oversee.net Sr. VP Peter Celeste.
In
instant balloting conducted by cellphone text
messaging, the audience came to another
decision, naming ePayments.com
their winner, earning presenter David
Clements a return trip to the podium to pick
up his crystal trophy from Peter Celeste.
The
audience came to a different decision and voted David
Clements (left)
of ePayments.com winner of the Pitchfest
People's Choice Award.
The
day's final business session featured a panel
discussion of Opportunities in ccTLDs, IDNs
and gTLDs. Oversee.net
VP Mason Cole (at far left in the photo
below), served as moderator for this discussion.
He had six experts on hand for this wide ranging
discussion including (left to right after Mr.
Cole), Ken Hansen (Neustar), Joerg
Schweiger (DENIC), Daniel Eisnhut
(InternetX), Andrew Snow (Globabel
Holdings), Adrian Kinderis (AusRegistry
International) and Daniel Dryzek
(ddfund.eu).
|
