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The
2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Las Vegas conference
officially got underway Wednesday (May 29) at
the dazzling Bellagio Hotel. The day
began at mid-morning with multiple events at the
show's poolside cabanas. Elliot Sllver
(at left in the photo below) and Lonnie Borck
were among the first on the scene on a day
blessed once again with perfect weather. Elliot
and I will be among seven industry reporters
featured in a Blog Roll panel discussion this
afternoon at 12:45 (Las Vegas time).
At the
same time T.R.A.F.F.I.C. staffers were welcoming
guests at a couple of cabanas, Tessa Holcomb
and her teammates from newly christened Igloo.com
(formerly DomainAdvisors.com) were in an
adjacent cabana hosting a coming out party to
celebrate the company's cool new name (a scene
from that event is in the photo below).
Throughout
the day guests drifted from cabana to cabana,
thoroughly enjoying the chance to catch up with
old friends and make new ones. Four of those on
hand (left to right in the photo below) were Ron
Wells, Diana Jackson, Oscar Correa
and his wife Crystal (who, by the way,
Oscar first met at a domain conference)!
I
mentioned that T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is a great place
to make new industry friends and with many first
time T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendees at this week's
show there were ample opportunities to do that.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. makes newcomers feel at home with
a special orientation session that is
offered before the show's Opening Night Cocktail
Party. In the photo below conference co-founder Howard
Neu is at the podium providing advice on how
new attendees can get the most out of their week
at the big show.
At
5:30pm it was time for the traditional T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Opening Night Cocktail Party, held in one of
the Bellagio's spectacular ballrooms. This is
always an electrifying event in a room filled
with tremendous energy, great food and drink and
some of the brightest and most creative people
you will ever come across. They filled every
corner of the ballroom as you can see in the
photo below.
The
cocktail party was scheduled to run for two
hours (which seemed to go by in two minutes) but
people hung around for more than half an hour
after the slated closing time because they
didn't want the conversations to end. Attendees
came from every corner of the globe. In the
photo below Domain Hall of Fame member Dr.
Chris Hartnett (at right) enjoyed meeting India's
Anshul Goyal (from Email.biz)
who was attending his first T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference.
One
thing you can always count on seeing at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is Barbara Neu (below)
taking photos - LOTS of photos - that
have helped preserve the history of a conference
that will be 9 years (and 25 shows) old in
October when the next event will be held at the
Ritz Carlton on Florida's Fort Lauderdale
Beach.
Among
those contributing to the invigorating global
flavor of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s opening event
were Mr. and Mrs. Truc Tran (below) who
came from Norway. Truc (who, as a child,
was a Vietnamese refugee that wound up in Norway
after his family was picked up at sea by a
freighter from that country) has become a
conference regular and one of the most popular
attendees. His positive energy and zest
for life is contagious, making him someone
that is always a joy to be around.
In the
headline I mentioned Cabanas, Cocktails and Canadians.
So, where are the Canadians? Well, I saved four
of my favorites for last (left to right in the
photo below are industry veterans Marty
Kaulins, his sister Ilze Kaulins, Nancy
Haroutunian and her husband Wayne
Haroutunian.
After
a great opening day of social activity,
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. gets down to business
today with four panel sessions and the live
domain auction that starts at 2pm (local
time). Coming up tonight at 9 is the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Water Night Vegas Charity Party sponsored by
NameCheap.
That event, benefiting the Water
School, will be held just across the
street from the Bellagio at the PBR Rock Bar.
I'll have the photos and highlights from today
(and tonight's) activity for you in my next post
from Las Vegas tomorrow morning.
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