| By
Ron Jackson
The organizers of the DOMAINfest Global Conference 2008
in Hollywood, California, Oversee.net,
did just about everything right during their three-day run at
the Renaissance Hotel January 21-23. Well, everything except
keeping away the highly unusual (for Southern California) cold rainy
weather that prevailed throughout the week. The area was in
dire need of the moisture though and inside the Renaissance, the
DOMAINfest crew kept attendees in a sunny mood with a well-thought
out agenda, comfortable quarters, good food and drink and great
people everywhere you turned.
|
Scene
from DOMAINfest Global 2008
held Jan. 21-23 in Hollywood, California |
|
|
Attendees
take a break in a very
comfortable sponsor exhibit area |
The show officially began, even before the welcoming
remarks, with a noon luncheon Monday (Jan. 21). Very smart
move. Let people sleep in so they arrive well rested, then give them
a great meal to put them in the best possible mood. Next - again
before any formal programming - they scheduled some
in the sponsor exhibit hall. I immediately saw why they wanted to
show off the exhibit area right off the bat. This was more than
smart - it was a masterstroke. Even though they pay most of
the bills, at many shows sponsors find their booths have been pushed
off to the side away from the primary flow of traffic. DOMAINfest
solved that problem by putting comfortable sofas and chairs, snacks
and |
| beverages smack dab in the middle of the exhibit area. That made
it the place to hang out during breaks and the schedule was
set up to make breaks plentiful. The result was a constant crowd on
hand for the exhibits and the sponsors loved it. |
|
|
| To further insure the booths would have a
steady flow of visitors, Oversee gave all attendees a passport
containing the names of each sponsor. You had to visit each booth to
get your passport stamped and they made it worth your time to do it
by tying it into a contest with some great prizes, including a big
screen LCD TV. If you got your passport stamped by every exhibitor
you could drop it into the box the prize winners were drawn from.
It
was a great idea and helped make this fresh approach to bringing
everyone together in one place during down time - including
sponsors, attendees, speakers and show staff - work like a charm.
(Note to Oversee CEO Lawrence Ng - the person who thought up the
exhibit hall experience deserves a big raise!)
With all of the pleasant preliminaries out of
the way, everyone headed for the main ballroom to hear welcoming
remarks from three of Oversees top execs. Director of Business
Development (and one of the most familiar faces in the |
Oversee.net
CEO Lawrence Ng
welcoming crowd to DOMAINfest Global
Adventurer Brent Bishop
delivering Monday's keynote speech
|
| domain
business) Ron Sheridan kicked things off, Oversee's amazing
29-year-old wunderkind CEO Lawrence Ng followed, then Executive VP
Jeff Kupietzky completed the trifecta. Kupietzky noted that Oversee
had polled registrants to find out what they wanted in this show and
more opportunities to network topped the list. Oversee made that
happen with the frequent exhibit hall breaks I mentioned above,
scheduled formal networking sessions and social events every
evening.
While it was obvious that Oversee had
everything planned down to the nth degree they had to improvise
almost immediately when they lost their opening keynote speaker at
the last minute. Famed mountain climber Peter Hillary
was scheduled to talk but had to bow out when his father, the
legendary Sir Edmund Hillary, passed away. A state funeral
was held for Sir Edmund in New Zealand and Peter, of course,
was there. Fortunately, his good friend and fellow conqueror of
Mount Everest, Brent Bishop, was able to take Peter's place and
delivered an inspiring talk about overcoming obstacles. Bishop said
he saw many parallels between mountain climbers and domainers noting
that both required skill, vision, persistence and a stomach for
risk. |
|
Bishop said "Attitude is the most important ingredient
for overcoming obstacles. You have to believe it is possible to
reach the summit and believe that you will survive the
challenge." Bishop added that mountain climbers and
entrepreneurs (like domainers) have another thing in common - they
love challenges. If they overcome a challenge they will soon start
looking for another one to test their skills.
A half-hour break followed Bishop's talk, then
it was time for the first seminar session at 3:15pm. To open the
additional networking time attendees wanted, the seminar focus at
this show was more on quality than quantity and that was a good
thing. There were only two hours of seminars Monday but there were
two sessions to choose from in each hour. These |
| were usually
structured with one seminar aimed at newcomers to the space with the
other geared toward industry veterans. The opening hour featured a
session for the beginner/intermediate level called Domain
Industry Boot Camp with a simultaneous panel discussion for
experienced domainers covering The Aftermarket &
Appraisals. I sampled both by spending a half hour in each
room. |
(L
to R) Boot camp panelists Jothan Frakes, Sean Stafford,
Michael Gilmour & Adam Strong
Both panels were loaded with talent so you
couldn't go wrong. The drill sergeants at boot camp included Jothan
Frakes (Oversee.net), Sean Stafford (DNZoom.com), Michael
Gilmour (WhizzbangsBlog.com) and Adam Strong (DomainNameNews.com).
I know all of these guys well and for helping get newcomers quickly
up to speed, this was a real dream team. They covered the ins and
outs of buying, selling and monetization and also allowed plenty of
time for attendees to ask questions from the floor. Incidentally,
Stafford just released an ebook called Domain
Graduate: Tapping the Online Mines, that is an
excellent resource for new investors in this space.
|
Aftermarket
seminar draws big crowd on opening day |
In an adjacent room, another all-star team was
counseling industry veterans on the aftermarket and domain
appraisals. That panel featured Victor Pitts (Moniker.com), Tom
Murphy (NameMedia and their AfternicDLS), Matt Bentley
(Sedo.com), Dan Warner (Fabulous.com and their Domain
Distribution Network) and John Tompkins (Trellian.com).
These gentlemen provided so much useful information that it would be
impossible to convey it in an article that has to cover as much
ground as this one does, so instead let me refer you to |
| our
August 2007 Cover Story
on the domain aftermarket that features in depth interviews with top
executives from four of the five companies that were
represented on this panel. |
There was actually a third track running at the
same time in another corner of the hotel. Oversee's popular PPC
company DomainSponsor.com ran four sessions during the week to help
their clients learn how to get maximum benefits out of the services.
Unless you asked for directions, you wouldn't even know this was
going on and that was by design.
Oversee made a commitment to make
this an open conference where their brand wouldn't be given a
major advantage over any other sponsor that participated. Last year
I was skeptical about whether they could resist the temptation to
"toot their own horn" but they did and they had an even
lower profile for DomainSponsor this year (their booth was in the
middle of one wall - no more prominent that anyone else in the hall
and less so than most). That tack was the only way to assure that
DOMAINfest would be viewed as a conference for everyone. To their
credit they understood that well and delivered on their
promise.
| The second seminar hour started Monday at 5pm
with dual sessions on Negotiating to Win and Easy
Steps for Building Out Domains. The negotiating breakout was
a one-man show featuring Charles Ruffalo, who is known as the NetworKing.
Since I had to split time between the two sessions I only caught the
first half of Ruffalo's routine and I was exhuasted by the time I left!
He is a man in constant motion - running out into audience, using
props, pulling people up on stage - whatever it takes to try to make
a point or hold the crowd's attention. He is certainly different
and entertaining but I hadn't learned much about actual
negotiating before it was time to go and check out what was
happening across the hall. It's quite possible that the topic was
directly addressed after I left but whether it was or not, I enjoyed
the show - definitely different than your every day seminar! |
Network
king Charles Ruffalo (center)
makes a point during his negotiating seminar |
While Charles was busy ruffing up would-be negotiators,
a top-notch four man panel was offering tips on domain development
next door. The dais featured Frank Michlick (SharedReviews.com),
Brian Benko (NoParking.com), Sujan Patel (SEO Manager at
Oversee.net) and Eric Littman (Managing Partner, WashingtonVC).
One of the most interesting things I heard in this session came in
the audience Q and A period after the panelists had covered the
basics of building out sites, including AdSense, affiliate programs,
social networking, etc. Littman was asked, as a venture
capitalist, how someone who has developed a successful site can get
VC help to take it to the next level. He suggested getting to know
him (or other VCs) personally (another example of why conferences
are so important to success - there is no substitute for meeting
people face to face - even in a business where we spend most of our
time alone in front of a computer screen).
|
Littman added that it is also crucial to be
well prepared - do your homework. Learn about what others kinds of
investments the different VCs have made. If they have already put
money into your sector it is one they know and might be interested in
finding additional investments in. Also, don't try to sell them any
half-baked ideas. If your site has weaknesses hire someone or find a
partner to help you bring everything up to par.
You also have to keep in mind that VCs are
usually only interested in projects that have the potential to make a
lot of money. Littman said they are looking to hit home runs,
so the more you have developed the site and bettered your team, the
better chance you will have of attracting outside funding. Littman
said most VCs are interested in the team more than anything
else.
|
Eric
Littman
Washington VC |
After another half-hour break it was time for
the first big social event, a raucous evening cocktail party in the
hotel's Twist Lounge. With the huge growth in attendance this
year just about everyone was hoarse by the end of the evening after
shouting over the din for three hours - but I didn't hear anyone
complaining. These are the events where a lot of the real
relationship building gets done.
|
Centerfolds
sign autographs for fans |
Oversee took care of a lot of the
overcrowding by stationing three Playboy playmates at
the back of the lounge to sign autographs and pose for photos with
attendees (at least it took care of the overcrowding if you stayed
in the front of the lounge!).
I mean absolutely no offense to the lovely playmates but I'd
rather have my picture taken with the Diana Jacksons, Donny
Mahonys and Sally Letzers of the world - those are
my kind of women. They are actually interested in domains (or
at least do a great job of faking it!). Seriously, let's say you are
out at a romantic restaurant and want to talk about the latest drop
you just caught (as all real men do) - what kind of conversation
are you going to have with a playmate? I rest my case! |
Below are some more snapshots of attendees
unwinding at the Twist Lounge:
|
(Left
to right): Michele Neylon, Mark Klein, Tom
Murphy and Jothan Frakes |
|
|
(Left
to Right): Christoph Grüneberg, Ammar Kubba
& Diana Jackson |
|
|
Page
Howe (left) & Monte Cahn |
|
|
Above:
Bill Kerr (left) & Frank Schilling
At right: Dan Stager (the first guy to ever buy a
domain from me - back in 2002) |
|
Coming
Up Next on Page 2
of our DOMAINfest Global 2008 Review:
-
Frank
Schilling's Town Hall Meeting
-
GeoDomain
Heavyweights Dan Pulcrano & the Castello Brothers
Provide Advice on Cashing in on Local Advertising
-
The
First Ever SnapNames Live Domain Auction
-
Another
Legendary DomainSponsor Party!
Continue
to Page 2
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