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To get the inside scoop on what will be
happening in this month's show, I hooked up with Associated Cities
Executive Director Patrick Carleton and the organization's
Acting Chairman of the Board and AC Co-Founder Dan Pulcrano
(who was the subject of our February 2008 Cover
Story) for the exclusive interview below.
DN Journal:
The GeoDomain Expo has always offered something unique in the domain
conference space – total focus on developing quality domain names
into real businesses. This year you are also going to treat
attendees to an attractive new location as you stage the first major
domain conference in San Diego. Tell us why you selected that city
and a little about the show venue (the Catamaran Resort).
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Dan
Pulcrano
Associated Cities Co-Founder |
Dan Pulcrano:
My first job was selling ads for the San Diego Reader
when I was 16. I lived two blocks from the Catamaran,
and I used to hang out at the beach across the street when I
lived in Pacific Beach, so when Mark Burgess (the
owner of SanDiego.com) suggested it, the Catamaran
seemed like a good place to me. It’s a classic San Diego
hotel with a legendary jazz lounge where all the greats used
to play. It’s right on Mission Bay, and the ocean
is right across the street.
Patrick
Carleton: Sunshine, a great resort hotel and a
top ten city with an association member owning the .com
version of its name. The hotel is situated on the
beaches of Mission Bay which will be the venue for our Welcome
Luau (reception), and is only one block from the
Pacific Ocean! Our conference will “own” the
resort, and its attentive staff will cater to every desire
of our guests.
DN Journal:
You got a late start in organizing for this show but I hear
that things are coming together well. How are things shaping
up with respect to the agenda, your roster of speakers and
the other things you have planned for show week? |
Dan Pulcrano: Geodomainers are entrepreneurial,
so things fall together at the last minute. It’s like improv
comedy; the results are often more interesting than the meticulously
planned corporate-type conferences that everyone else stages. The real
attraction is the attendees, which is the wildest cast of
characters in the industry.
Patrick
Carleton: Our attendees and speakers will encompass the
top echelon of the owners and executives of GeoDomains and
traditional media. Our agenda is packed with thrilling
sessions, and we have just announced that Ted Souder, the
Head of Google Travel, will deliver a keynote on Friday,
April 24th!
DN Journal:
Dan, your conference theme, Freefall! (How to Monetize the
Collapse of Traditional Media), is certainly a timely one as we
are now seeing major newspapers shutting down their print editions
and moving their entire operations online. Can you give us, in
general terms, some examples of ways to monetize that collapse that
owners of .com city domains will learn more about in San Diego?
Dan Pulcrano:
Travel promotion, real estate listings, partnerships with agencies,
business directories, event ticket sales, flat fee advertising…The
list is long. There will be dozens of people sharing ideas, all
tested, original and deployed in original ways.
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Journal: While the show organizer, Associated
Cities, is an association of .com city domain owners and the
show is geared toward AC members, at past shows I have seen
a lot of attendees who are not .com city domain owners. They
come because many of the strategies talked about, content
development, attracting direct advertiser relationships,
etc. can be applied to all kinds of domain names. As a
result the show attracts a wide range of people, |
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requiring you to stage an event that
meets the needs of both AC members and domain owners from
the industry at large who like what you are presenting. How
do you go about serving everyone’s needs given the
kind of audience you now attract?
Dan Pulcrano:
Interestingly, we have seen people come as domainers or web
developers and then decide to launch geo-sites. Much of the
knowledge is transferable to other categories as well. Sharing
ideas and best practices is what it’s all about. If
someone comes back with one good idea — and they usually
return with more — it’s worth the cost of attending.
Patrick
Carleton: The GeoDomain Expo was the first domain
name conference to be structured around domain development.
Today, domain investors realize that development, not
parking, is the key to maximum monetization.
GeoDomains are the most highly developed category in
the domain name industry and the GeoDomain Expo is the #1
conference to network with the world's most successful
GeoDomainers.
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Patrick
Carleton
Associated Cites Executive Director |
DN Journal:
Speaking of your broadening base, I understand that the Associated
Cities board just signed a new operating agreement that is
going to expand the group’s scope while still keeping the original
mission to serve .com city domain owners intact. Can you tell us
about that and how you think it will affect the organization and its
signature conference, the GeoDomain Expo, going forward?
Dan Pulcrano:
The organization is evolving. There was pressure to include other
categories of geo-names, such as states and countries, and the new
structure will allow owners of those categories of .com domains to
organize under the Associated Geos umbrella. The first step, though,
will be to empower a member-elected board for Associated
Cities. It was originally set up by the founders as a business, but
the current thinking is to move toward a trade association model.
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Patrick
Carleton: We are very excited to be expanding our
reach beyond our roots of a purely dot-com city
organization. It is a natural progression that we are
now organizing the owners and operators of dot-com state and
country sites. As with the city members, state and
country sites will work together in sharing best practices
and help each other build their businesses and expand the
GeoDomain model.
DN Journal:
Thank you for your time gentlemen and I look forward to
seeing you in San Diego later this month. |
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For those who have not attended
previous GeoDomain Expos, our coverage of the 2008
show in Chicago and the 2007
event in San Francisco will give you a taste of
what it is all about. I hope to meet many of you in person
at this year's Expo in one of America's most beautiful
cities - San Diego. |
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