Back to the Future - Two Geodomain Veterans Return to the Spotlight With Plans for a New Conference

First of all let me apologize for the "typo" in the headline. It probably should have said Back to the Futr - as in GEO.FUTR LLC, the name of a new St. Louis, Missouri based company that plans to develop media products and services for the Geodomain and GeoTLD industry (GeoTLDs being proposed new gTLDs representing geographic location, such as .paris, .london and .boston). 

The new firm was co-founded by two veterans from the geodomain space, Former Associated Cities Executive Director Patrick Carleton and Chicago.com Chairman Josh Metnick. The first big project the duo has on the board is  the first annual GEO.FUTR Geodomain & GeoTLD Investors and Operators Conference, an event to be staged in the fall of 2013 at a location that has yet to be announced.   

Carleton and Metnick both have extensive experience in the geodomain conference arena. During Carelton's tenure at Associated Cities the organization  staged several Geodomain Expos, the last being held in New Orleans in April 2010. Metnick has also been involved in show planning and had an especially high profile at the July 2008 Geodomain Expo held in his hometown of Chicago. 

The new GEO.FUTR conference they have planned will cover both traditional geodomains with locations to the left of the .dot (like Chicago.com and Denver.com) and proposed new gTLDs with the locale to the right of the dot like .nyc and .miami. They said "attendees will learn strategies, techniques and best practices for maximizing the value of GeoTLDs and Geographic domain names. Conference participants will benefit from the select networking opportunities made available only to conference participants."

The announcement of their conference plans comes on the heels of two .NXT new gTLD conferences that were cancelled at the last minute this year due to lack of support. Much of

Patrick Carleton
GEO.FUTR LLC Co-Founder & President

Josh Metnick
GEO.FUTR LLC Co-Founder 

that could be attributed to delays in the launch of ICANN's controversial new gTLD program. Carleton and Metnick believe the timing will be far better a year from now when they plan to run.  They said the conference will cater to registries, Geodomain and GeoTLD operators and investors, hotel, travel and tourism entities, municipalities and governments, brands and advertisers with local reach as well as digital professionals and service providers. 

The GEO.FUTR conference team has issued a call for proposals for presentations. To submit a topic for presentation or speaker proposal, visit http://geofutr.com/speakers to complete their form. The submission deadline is October 1st, 2012.  For sponsorship opportunities, contact Alexis Evelyn, VP of Business Development at [email protected] or Patrick Carleton, President, at [email protected].

(Posted Sept. 18, 2012)