The 2014 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West  conference continued Thursday (May 29) with the first full day of business at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Show co-founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu kicked thing off with welcoming comments to attendees at breakfast.

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu welcome attendees 
to the 2014 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West conference Thursday morning in Las Vegas.

The breakfast session also included a talk from legendary Las Vegas Mayor and "mob lawyer" Oscar Goodman, who stayed over to sign copies of his book Being Oscar (provided by the .VEGAS regsistry at no charge) to all attendees. A line that stretched to the end of the hall quickly formed to meet Goodman and get a copy of his colorful biography.

Author and former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman with T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendee Diana 
Jackson who was among those picking up a personally signed copy of his book Being Oscar.

In the show's first business sesion Bing.com's Senior Product Manager Duane Forrester delivered a well received keynote that gave attendees information on what they needed to do and especially not do to get the highest possible search engine ranking for the their websites.

Above: Bing.com's Duane Forrester delivering his keynote talk Thursday morning.

Below: T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West attendees take in SEO tips during Forrester's talk.

T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s new led sponsor, Neil Sackmary from GetItFido.com followed with a special presentation detailing the domain monetization platform he developed for his own company but is now opening to other domain investors. Sackmary's tools incorporate PPC, directing ad sales, sub-domain sales, automated storefronts, eBay tools, traffic splitting and other featuures.

Neil Sackmary of GetItFido.com introduces his new domain monetization platform to 
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West attendees Thursday in his las Vegas hometown.

The afternoon began with the show's first panel discussion - a gTLD Shootout that gave operators of new gTLD registries an opportunity to make their case why domain investors and developers should put money into their extensions.

Above: Participants in the gTLD Shootout session included (L to R) Ray King (.wiki), Jeanette Sause (.global), Jim Trevino (.VEGAS), moderator Jothan Frakes, Sevan Derderian (Uniregistry.com) and Colin Campbell (.CLUB)>

Below: Jeanette Sause of the new .global registry details why she thinks the gTLD will be a worthwhile investment.

After a nice sitdown luncheon sponsored by Frank Schilling's Uniregistry.com Neil Sackmary returned to the stage for a brief 15-minute session that covered how his dual purpose Buy it Now/Make an offer shopping cart (used at his Spobo.com) produces more sales. 

Next up at 2:45pm was a panel discussion moderated by Michael Cyger titled From Hype to Handicapping New gTLDs that provided panelist opinions on which new extensions they felt had the best chance to succeed and the hurdles they all need to clear to survive.

The Handicapping New gTLDs panel featured (L to R): Michael Gilmour (ParkLogic.com), 
Mark Hershiser (DomainPicks.com), Michael Castello (CCIN.com), Braden Pollock (LegalBrandMarketing.com) and moderator Michael Cyger (DominaSherpa.com).

Cyger then welcomed four new experts to the stage for a DomainSherpa Live! show, a weekly web program in which his panelists cover the week's key industry news and issues.

Michael Cyger's Domain Sherpa Live! show from T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West featured (L to R): 
Jothan Frakes, Rick Schwartz, Michael Berkens and Adam Dicker.

Cyger wrapped up the day and a busy afternoon for him by interviewing DNForum.com owner Adam Dicker who showed the audience how to turn a domain name into a business in just 60 minutes.

Michael Cyger interviewing Adam Dicker in the final business session of the day Thursday.

With the business day now done attendees took a dinner break before heading to the Bellagio Ballroom for the Official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party hosted by GetItFido.com. The evening featured both acoustic and live performances from the rapidy rising Las Vegas based rock band (and Century Media recording artists Otherwise) that were arranged by GetItFido's Neil Sackmary who is a close friend of the band.

Those on hand at the Official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party Thursday night at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas included (left to right): Ron Jackson (DNournal.com), Neil Sackmary (GetItFido.com), Rick Schwartz (T.R.A.F.F.I.C.) and Brandon Abbey (Escrow.com).

Above: Attendees could get within inches of Otherwise lead singer Adrian Patrick 
during the two Otherwise sets that highlighted the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party

Otherwise lead guitarist Ryan Patrick (Adrian's brother) playing during the band's acoustic set. The Otherwise line up also includes guitarist Andrew Pugh, drummer Corky Gainsford and bassist Vassilios Metropoulos.

The audience got a special treat when GetItFido gave away two guitars that were autographed by the full band. The two lucky winners whose names were pulled in a random drawing were Australia's Michael Gilmour and Bill Lozada.

Otherwise lead singer Adrian Patrick adds a bitemark to his autograph 
on the guitar won by T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendee Bill Lozada! 

 I have previously written about how I became an immediate Otherwise fan after checking out their outstanding YouTube videos (and buying their first Century Media CD on Amazon) when I heard they would be at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. The band's performance on and off stage exceeded my already high expectations. All of the band members hung out with T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendees, signing autographs, taking photos and just having a good time til way past midnight. 

The band members are all great guys who deserve the success they are now achieving through hard work, great talent and an obvious appreciation for their legion of fans that is growing on a daily basis. You can check out the band's website and like their Facebook page to keep up with them on their journey to the top.

Otherwise band members joined some of the last domainers standing 
(and sitting) after their private concert Thursday night in Las Vegas.

As I write this the second (and final day of business) is still underway at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. I'll have the Friday photos and highlights, as well as those from the Farewell Breakfast Saturday morning in my next post that will be written and posted when I am back at our Florida office Monday (June 2).