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Above:
The day began with talks from Two
Leaders of the Domain Industry on
the Future & Developing a
Business - those being two
guys very well qualified to address
those topics - DNForum.com owner Adam
Dicker (left) and City Brand
Media Founder Fred Mercaldo
(right) who also owns Scottsdale.com.
Below:
The second session brought
three attorneys and Internet
Commerce Association
advocate Andee Hill (Donuts
Inc.) to the dais to talk about ICA,
UDP & URS - What's New.
Left to right are Stevan
Lieberman (APLegal.com), Ms.
Hill, ICA Legal Counsel Phil
Corwin and noted attorney (and
Domain Hall of Fame member) John
Berryhill.
Above:
The morning sessions concluded with
a talk on investment strategy
delivered by published author and
noted speaker Michael Poggi,
founder of TheMillionairesGroup.com
and Poggi Wealth Institute.
Below:
One of the great things about the
domain business is that we are one
big family. Here's an example -
before the Tuesday luncheon the
thoughtful Co-Founders of THE Domain
Conference (Howard, Barbara
& Ray Neu) brought out a birthday
cake to honor every attendee who
had a birthday this month! Left to
right are Eddie Sixto, Larry
Fischer, Ilze
Kaulins-Plaskacz, Diana
Jackson, Adam Dicker and Markus
Jackson.
Above:
Before lunch was served at the Domain
Industry Awards Luncheon,
sponsored by Donuts
Inc., I gave
my annual
State of the Industry talk
covering the latest domain aftermarket
sales trends. It was nice to again
be able to report strong sales
with median prices that are way
up so far this year in most
categories (up 14% for .coms
and 8% for non .com gTLDs).
Below:
After my talk my wife Diana
took the stage to tell the story
behind her new painting for The
Water School. It was inspired by
a great photograph that Braden
Pollock took while on a trip to
Africa. Braden and Dr. Gregg
McNair (a Water School director)
joined Diana to auction off the
painting that
wound up going for $6,500,
with all proceeds going to The
Water School. Left to
right below are TDC Co-Founder
Howard Neu, Braden Pollock, Diana
Jackson and Dr. Gregg McNair.
Above: A closer view
of Diana Jackson's painting sold
to raise funds for The Water School.
Below:
Next up it was time to hand out some
awards! The Domain Industry
Awards Luncheon began with Adam
Dicker receiving the Developer
of the Year Award, handed to him
here by DomainSherpas's Michael
Cyger. Michael would
return to the stage two more times
to pick up a pair of awards of his
own - Blogger of the Year and
Goodwill Ambassador of the Year.
Above:
.CLUB also walked off with
two major honors - Best Registry
of the Year and Best Company
of the Year. The entire .CLUB
team came to the stage with CEO Colin
Campbell holding the first of
their two awards at center.
Below:
The Best Registrar of the Year
Award went to Go Daddy.
Three company representatives were
called to the stage to accept the
honor - Joe Styler (holding
the trophy) as well as Markus
Jackson and Cory Lodder.
Awards
also went to others who could not
attend the conference - Ali Zandi
for Domain Investor of the Year and
Andrew Rosener for Broker
of the Year. Plus, two new
members were inducted into the
Domain Industry Hall of Fame - Andrew
Rosener and NamesCon Co-Founder Richard
Lau. Congratulations to all of
the winners!
Above:
After lunch the business sessions
resumed with a panel discussion
titled Should You Sell or
Build? Are There Alternatives to a
Successful Domain Portfolio?
that featured (left to right): Chad
Folkening (Bidtellect.com),
Solomon Amoako (Sedo), Adam
Dicker (DNForum.com) and Michael
Gilmour (ParkLogic.com).
Below:
Next up the topic was How Do
You Buy and Negotiate for High End
Domains? Do You Need a Broker?
The four leading brokers who offered
their expert advice were (left to
right): Tessa Holcomb (Igloo.com),
Dave Evanson (Sedo), George
Hong (Guta.com) and Larry
Fischer (GetYourDomain.com).
Above:
While many sat in on the business
sessions others spent their time
networking outside the meeting room
or visiting company booths in the
Exhibit Hall. At the 101Domain.com
booth, Kimberly Zadroga and John
Neu were on hand to welcome TDC
attendees.
Above:
With the day winding down back in
the main ballroom a new session
featured Two Leaders of the
Domain Industry on the Future of
Developing - Part II - with Zappy
Zapolin (left) and Monte Cahn
(RightOfTheDot.com) the featured
guests interviewed by moderator Braden
Pollock (far right).
Below:
The final business session of this
first edition of THE Domain
Conference was about Digital
Branding - Using Domains and Social
Media. The panelists (left
to right) were Zappy Zapolin,
Yancy Naughton (HasTraffic.com),
Brett Napoli (AmbitionInsight.com)
and Jeff Sass (.CLUB).
Moderator Jothan Frakes is at
far right.
Though
the business sessions were done at a
conference that drew rave reviews
from attendees and exhibitors
alike, the show was not over.
There were some private dinners
around town Tuesday night and
dozens of attendees wound up hanging
out late to hop tables and talk in
the spacious and comfortable lounge
at the Pier 66 Hotel.
Also
ahead was the always popular
Farewell Breakfast in the
revolving meeting room at the top of
the hotel Wednesday morning.
That was such a unique event I
decided to do a separate post about
it along with some final thoughts on
THE Domain conference that I will
publish Thursday (October 1). Now,
having just gotten back from Fort
Lauderdale, it is time to catch a
few hours of sleep - something
that was in short supply at TDC -
but it was a small price to pay for
such a wealth of information and the
invaluable time spent with great friends
old and new!
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