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The
final countdown
to the 2014 DomainFest
conference in underway with the show set to
kick off Monday morning (March 31) in
Hollywood, California at the Loews
Hollywood Hotel. As
you know, things are always changing
in the domain business and the conference
field is no exception. While this will be
the 9th run for DomainFest, the show
organizers from Oversee.net
(and their DomainSponsor
monetization unit) are switching things up
this year with
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changes
in dates and the show's name,
location and format (multi-track
for 2014). To get the Lowdown on why the
changes were made and what's in store for
attendees I connected with Oversee.net CEO
Debra Domeyer and Senior VP Dwayne
Walker for the special pre-show
interview below. |
DN
Journal: Debra and Dwayne,
with DomainFest just days a way, first let me
thank you for taking time out of your busy
schedules to give us this pre-show update.
Before we jump into what you have planned for
2014 DomainFest, let's catch up on the changes
that have been made since last
year's show. The 2013 event, titled Webfest
Global for the first time, was held in early
February, in what had become the traditional DomainFest
time frame (late January/early February). This
year you have gone back to the original DomainFest
name, moved the dates to early spring and
switched the location from Santa Monica back to
Hollywood where the show ran for several years
before moving across town to the
oceanfront Fairmont Miramar where it has been
held since 2010.
What led to the name, date and location changes
for this year's conference?
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Debra
Domeyer (CEO, Oversee.net):
When you run a conference for 9 years,
the challenge is to keep it fresh.
Attendees are always our top priority and
it’s essential that our conferences
continue to offer a valuable experience
and lots of fun and networking. So we
cleared the board and looked at this from
a new perspective. We realized that DomainFest
is a very strong brand and needed to be
the centerpiece of our conference series.
The growing strength of the domain
industry also played a huge part in our
decision-making. Hollywood was always a
favorite for attendees.
DN
Journal: With your move
to early spring, a new conference, NamesCon
quickly filled the January gap and drew
well in Las Vegas, where the next T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference will also be held in late May.
This created an unexpected situation for
many show goers - three west coast
conferences in the first six months of the
year. There was also the just |
Oversee.net CEO Debra Domeyer
at Webfest Global 2013 |
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completed
ICANN Singapore conference in March.
Even though the industry is back in
expansion mode, there is only so much
money to go around. Has the bigger crowd
in a shorter time frame had any noticeable
effect on DomainFest 2014? |
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Oversee.net
Sr. VP Dwayne Walker
at Webfest Global 2013 |
Dwayne
Walker (Senior Vice President, Oversee.net):
We’ve had a very positive response
to the conference with its new date. There
is so much interest in domain names today
that our industry is rapidly going mainstream.
This is good news for domain owners,
online businesses, startups and investors.
Our format with different tracks is
attracting new attendees to the
conference. Clearly, the focus on
startups, raising money, running online
businesses, gTLDs and monetizing Internet
traffic has created a buzz. We
expect that attendance at this DomainFest
to be larger than last year’s DomainFest.
There are also a record number of
companies sponsoring DomainFest this year!
DN
Journal: DomainFest has a long
record of success built upon on world
famous keynoters, a solid agenda, unique
social events and an attractive location
in Los Angeles. Looking at the
agenda, that would appear to be one
thing that remains |
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same. Tell us about some of the agenda
highlights you are particularly excited
about this year. |
Dwayne
Walker (Senior Vice President, Oversee.net):
Our
agenda really hits the hot topics for our
industry. In a departure from the past couple of
years, we are running multiple tracks so
we cover all the subjects that are important to
our industry. We have experts covering gTLDs and
Registrars, Domain Monetization, Successfully
Running Online Businesses and Start-ups.
We’ve been able to attract speaker experts
with deep knowledge in their respective fields.
And for the first time, we have a startup track
with some very memorable names in the world of
venture capitalists.
Our
first keynoter is best-selling author,
successful online business entrepreneur and
social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary
is a terrific speaker with millions of
Facebook fans and Twitter followers. Stay tuned
for a “ jab," in Gary’s
lexicon--anything of value — a joke, an idea,
shared information, an introduction. We are also
happy to welcome .CLUB Domains CMO Jeffrey
Sass; Dan Schindler, Co-Founder of Donuts;
and Rich Merdinger, Vice President,
Domains for GoDaddy; Daniel Negari CEO
of .XYZ and .College as keynoters
on the second and third day, respectively, of
the conference
There’s
also an online premium domain name auction
in partnership with NameJet with some
great domains available for sale.
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DomainFest
has always been known for its networking
and social events. That tradition is alive
and well. On Monday night, .CLUB is
hosting a welcome reception to kick off
the .CLUB land rush. On Tuesday, there’s
a private concert with Grammy-award
winning rock band Stone Temple Pilots
with Chester Bennington. And
we close out the event with our networking
party at the Hollywood famous SkyBar,
one of LA most beautiful venues.
DN
Journal: The main topic
of |
Stone
Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington
will play at Domainfest Tuesday night
(April 1)
Photo courtesy of StoneTemplePilots.com |
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discussion
in just about all industry circles this
year is the arrival of new gTLDs.
After a long recession, many are hoping
that new gTLDs will help fuel a new
growth spurt in the industry.
Are they, at the early stage they are in
now, having a positive impact on DomainFest
in terms of attendee and sponsor interest? |
Dwayne
Walker (Senior Vice President, Oversee.net):
.CLUB
being the platinum sponsor of DomainFest says it
all. During the conference .CLUB will launch its
Land Rush period with thousands of premium
quality names included at Land Rush prices.
Other gTLDs are sponsoring as well: Donuts, .bar
and .rest, and .xyz & .college. All in all,
we have a record number of sponsors this year.
Attendees
are very interested in gTLDs. We are
running three days of panels on this subject
because the topic is so hot. The speaker/experts
who are participating cover a very broad range
of topics that include:
•
The New gTLD Land Grab – Panelists
provide an overview of the gTLD landscape and
the players. The moderator is Daniel
Schindler, Co-Founder & Executive Vice
President of Donuts Inc. Panelist include Steve
Banfield, Senior Vice President and General
Manager, Registrar Services for Rightside, and
Raymond King, CEO of Top Level Design, LLC.
•
Winning Registry Strategies – Listen to
the top registry strategies. The moderator is
Karen Bernstein, Principal, Bernstein IP.
Panelists include Colin Campbell, CEO of .CLUB
Domains LLC; Daniel Negari, CEO of .XYZ and
.College; and Daniel Schindler, Co-Founder and
Executive Vice President of Donuts Inc.
•
Rising Stars – Experts debate which
gTLDs are the clear winners in the market and
which are the ones to watch and why. The
moderator is Tina Dam, Co-Founder of MyTLD.
Panelists are Aaron Grego, CEO of Punto 2012;
Joe Alagna, Vice President of Channel
Development for 101Domain.com; and Bret Fausett,
Esq., General Counsel for Uniregistry, Inc.
•
Untapped Opportunities for Promoting gTLDs
- This session focuses on using new business
models to generate revenue. The moderator is
Andrew Allemann, Editor of DomainNameWire.com.
Panelists are Melissa Dafini, Marketing
Strategist for Punto 2012, and Bob Mountain,
Chief Revenue Officer for Afternic.com.
•
Self-Regulation within the DNS Industry
– The moderator is Raymond King, CEO of Top
Level Design LLC. Panelists include Akram
Atallah, President of the Global Domains
Division for ICANN, and Reg Levy, Vice President
of Compliance and Policy for Minds and Machines.
•
ICANN Update on gTLD Rollout – This
panel provides information on what ICANN is
doing. This discussion features Akram
Atallah, President of the Global Domains
Division for ICANN.
•
The Next Generation Registrars and Registry
Services – This seminar provides insights
into the engines behind gTLDs. Panelists
are Rich Merdinger, Vice President of Domains
for GoDaddy, and Ben Crawford, Chief Executive
Officer for CentralNic PLC.
•
Risks and Limitations – The panelists
share their thoughts on brand, trademark, and
legal issues involved in owning gTLDs. The
moderator is William A. Delgado, Partner,
Willenken Wilson Loh & Delgado LLP.
Panelists include Karen Bernstein, Principal of
Bernstein IP; Kelly Hardy, North American
Business Development for .ME; and Don Moody,
J.D. and M.S., New gTLD Disputes.
•
How Long Until This Pays Off? – Experts
discuss building long-term value around gTLDs
and when to buy, hold, resell and flip. The
moderator is Victor Pitts, Director of Domain
Services for Above.com. Panelists are Alan Dunn,
Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and
Divestments for Domain Holdings, and Pinky
Brand, Vice President of Strategy and Partner
Relations for TLD Registry Ltd.
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DN
Journal: One other
question about the industry at large. We
are sensing a renewed optimism
about how things are going in the
industry, including seeing a lot of large
aftermarket domain sales (with several
seven-figure sales reported this month
alone) and all of the activity surrounding
new gTLDs. Oversee is in a position to
know what is happening in multiple
industry categories. Based on your own
business, how have things been going over
the past year and what is your sense of
how things will trend through 2014?
Debra
Domeyer and
Dwayne
Walker: We
see very positive trends for 2014. We
believe that the value and success of
domains, online businesses and the
Internet economy in general will continue
to increase. |
Growth
image from Bigstock |
DN
Journal: Thanks again for your
time and sharing your insight. Is there anything
else you would like to add before about DomainFest
2014?
Debra
Domeyer and
Dwayne
Walker: We’re really looking
forward to a great DomainFest conference filled
with tremendous speakers, panels, attendees and
of course networking – we’re really looking
forward to seeing everyone!!
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