Those two pieces have a lot of photos and details that you didn't see in our daily Lowdown  coverage from the events. When the shows are underway, the action is pretty much non-stop from sun-up until well past midnight each day so there is no way to do in-depth coverage without holing up in your room and missing the things you are there to cover in the first place. That is why I spend a few days after I get back from each show thinking about what happened and trying to put it all into perspective with a  comprehensive wire to wire report on each event. I also think it is important to have a thorough review on the record as each major meeting is another chapter in the history of our industry. 

The outside world may not appreciate what is happening in this business yet, but I believe the 

day is coming when Main Street will sit up and take notice and finally realize the major role that domain names play in the new media world and the future of advertising and marketing. When those businessmen and women are ready to do the research I want them to have a body of work available that will make the job easy for them. Everything I've written over the past seven years has been done with that historical context in mind.

Now that DOMAINfest Global 2010 and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas are in the books, the deck is clear for me to head over to New Orleans Thursday for what is suddenly shaping up to be the event of a lifetime. The Domainer Mardi Gras conference will run Thursday through Saturday (Feb. 11-13) in the Big Easy - smack dab in the middle of the world famous Mardi Gras celebration. A lot of us found out what that was like last year when DMG made a successful debut. That

was more than enough to convince me to book flights to the 2010 encore, but now you add in the New Orleans Saints first Super Bowl win ever (a 31-17 stunner over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday) and you just know things are going to be completely off the hook in NOLA during DMG.