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The 2013
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las
Vegas
conference
closed with a busy day and night of
activity Friday (May 31) at the
beautiful
Bellagio Hotel. The final
business day began with a breakfast
sponsored by
Email.biz where company
founder Anshul Goyal
(in the photo at right) provided guests with
information about
the innovative email service
we wrote about in December.
I also spoke
during the breakfast session, filling in
attendees on the latest trends in the
domain aftermarket. I broke down
results from the 1st quarter
of this year and also provided an update
on how things have been going in the
current 2nd quarter where the weekly
sales volume level has been almost
identical to 1Q-2013.
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After breakfast it was time for The Adam
Dicker Show - an entertaining and
informative session in which
DNForum.com owner and
TheArtOfTheName.com blogger
Adam Dicker shared many of the secrets
that have made him one of the most successful
entrepreneurs in the domain space. After Dicker
was a huge hit in a similar session at
last fall's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference
at Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida,
show organizers asked him to come to Las Vegas
with an even bigger presentation and Dicker (at
right in the photo below) delivered,
deftly fielding questions from
DomainSherpa.com's Michael Cyger
during a fast moving 90-minute session that
seemed more like 9.
Australia's Michael Gilmour of
ParkLogic.com (at right in the
photo below with interviewer Braden
Pollock (at left) and T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder/Show Moderator Howard Neu)
closed out the morning session with another
round of valuable information. Gilmour,
one of the industry's nicest and most
universally respected leaders, shared
his expertise in domain monetization in a
discussion labeled "The Truth About Your
Traffic."
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During the lunch hour
that followed veteran domain investor
Richard Lau, who also
serves as Executive Director of
The Water School, provided
an update on the big Water Night
fund raising party held
Thursday night
at Planet Hollywood's PBR Rock
Club. Lau said donations from
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ($50 for each show
attendee who went to Water Night) and
additional donations made by domain
investors at the party ran the total
raised to over $25,000.
Lau raised even more
during the lunch hour. He tried to give
away a Ipad mini
(donated by
DomainHoldings) but
Adam Dicker yelled out from the audience
that he should auction it for the Water
School instead. So Lau did so and picked up
another $550 from the
winning bidder - Dicker! (who paid
almost twice the retail value of the
tablet).
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Also during lunch SEO guru Jason
Hennessy from
EversparkInteractive.com (at left in the photo
below) shared some great search engine
optimization tips with Braden Pollock (at right)
again ably serving in the interviewer's role, drawing a string of valuable tips from Hennessy
that would be of special benefit to domain
investors.
The final business session of
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas was the traditional
Meeting of the Chiefs, an always
popular 90-minute panel discussion featuring
eight industry
leaders who covered a broad range of territory
prompted by moderator Howard Neu. The
panelists (left to right in the photo below)
were Michael Gilmour
(ParkLogic.com), Dwayne Walker
(Oversee.net), Adam Dicker
(ArtOfTheName.com), Donny Simonton
(Voodoo.com) followed - on the right side of the
podium - by Ammar Kubba
(ThoughtConvergence.com), John Smrekar
(InternetTraffic.com), Dr. Chris
Hartnett (Global Media) and Joe
Styler (GoDaddy.com).
With business out of the way it was time for
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s Closing Night Party and
Celebration at the Bellagio. There was
something extra to celebrate
this year. Friday night was Vishal
Manjalani's birthday. Vijal (standing
at center in the black jacket below) is a
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. regular who represents
Directi's
Skenzo unit. His warm personality
and professionalism have won him many friends
and admirers. In another example of the "we are
family" nature of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. the show's
organizers surprised Vishal with one of the most
elaborate and beautiful birthday cakes
I've ever seen (and it tasted as good as it
looks)!
The closing night party was scheduled to run
until 10pm, but ran past 11pm
when hotel staffers who wanted to go home
finally shooed everyone out - and even then a
couple of dozen stood in the hall and continued
chatting for almost another hour!
There will be one last chance for those still in
town to get together this morning when
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. hosts a Farewell
Breakfast at the Bellagio. We will be
on our way back to Florida immediately after
that but I'll have a few shots from that last
get together for you in Monday's Lowdown post.
I've shared as much of the show experience as
possible while on the run this week but will
have a more detailed final account including
many unseen photos in a new Cover Story
review that will be out next week.
This was yet another well-run and
productive T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference (the 25th
in the show's 9-year history) staged by
co-founders Rick Schwartz and
Howard Neu with the
indispensable help of their wives Alina
Schwartz and Barbara Neu,
Barbara & Howard's son Ray Dillman Neu
and Kimberly Howard.
Thanks to all of your for your tireless
efforts to assure your guests had a
rewarding and enjoyable experience they won't
forget. Next stop
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Fort Lauderdale Beach
beginning on October 20, 2013! |
