We are back home in Tampa after spending the past four days on the opposite side of the state with industry friends in South Florida - one of the world's key locales for domain investment activity. As I mentioned Friday I went down for multiple reasons including Thursday night's South Florida Domain Pros meeting at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six Hotel in Fort Lauderdale. In addition to seeing people at the SFDP Meeting I wanted to spend some time exploring that hotel because it will also serve as the venue for the inaugural edition of THE Domain Conference coming up September 27-29, 2015 with pre-show Cabana Networking September 26-27.

This is the new new show we told you about being staged by T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Howard Neu, his wife Barbara and their son Ray Dillman Neu. I was thoroughly impressed by the hotel and its gorgeous grounds and  surroundings. From the revolving meeting room at the top of the hotel the 360 degree vistas include the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Intrascoastal Waterway, Pier Sixty-Six yacht basin and Fort Lauderdale skyline to the west.

The Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where the inaugural edition of THE Domain Conference will be held September 27-29, 2015 (with pre-show Cabana Networking September 26-27). 

In addition to a fabulous pool area, the Pier Sixty-Six hotel has a wide variety of lawn games available on their spacious tropical grounds, including this gigantic chess board that Diana and I tried our hand at. We decided it would be even more fun if we knew how to play (stacking the pieces was apparently not the object of the game)!

We came away amazed they were able to get this kind of resort while simultaneously slashing room rates to as low as $109 a night and setting the registration fee at just $499 (a charge that also includes daily luncheons during the show). Better yet, you can cut that cost down to just $349 (plus tax) if you take advantage of an introductory special that is good until March 15, 2015. Just go to THEDomainConference.CLUB, enter the promo code MARCH15 and click on “Try Code”.  .CLUB has already signed on as the show's Premier Sponsor, with Coffee.Club, Escrow.com and Above.com also among the first companies to get behind the new event. The Neus said the show will put networking front and center with a Speed Networking session already planned as a key part of the agenda. 

Yet another reason we wanted to make the trip to South Florida was to see some friends from other parts of the country (and as far away as Canada) who came to check things out too, including Michael Castello (CCIN.com) and Claude Dauman (Domains90210.com) from California, Fred Mercaldo (CityBrandMedia.com) from Scottsdale, Arizona and Frank Michlick (DomainCocoon.com) from Montreal, to name just a few. After the SFDP meeting Thursday Diana and I stayed over to thoroughly explore the Pier Sixty-Six Hotel Friday, then on Saturday we drove north to Palm Beach to spend the day with Michael Castello and his mother Victoria at Victoria's lovely island home where Claude, Howard Neu & Barbara also joined the gathering. 

(L to R): Michael Castello, Victoria Castello, Howard Neu, Barbara Neu, Claude Dauman, 
Diana Jackson and Ron Jackson at Victoria's home Saturday afternoon (Feb. 28).

By the way, that lovely painting you see on the wall in the photo above is a great depiction of Victoria with Michael and his brother David when the Castello Brothers were children. Michael and David commissioned the painting as a surprise gift to their mother who told us she cried the first time she saw it. We had so much fun visiting that we nearly cried when it was time to go home! It was a great day and a great way to wind up our visit before heading back to Tampa Sunday. We are already looking forward to seeing everyone in South Florida again at THE Domain Conference in September (if not sooner)!