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the
ID bands helped them keep the fort from being over run by
wayward revelers. Then Friday night DMG guests were given
the orange band to gain entrance to Parked.com's
private balcony on Bourbon Street. From there
they had a birds eye view of one America's best known
spectacles - a seemingly endless sea of colorful Marci
Gras celebrants flowing by into the wee hours of the
night.
Part
of the sea of people celebrating Mardi Gras on Bourbon
Street Friday night (Feb. 12)
Photo taken from Parked.com's private balcony for Domainer
Mardi Gras guests.
Day 2 at DMG,
the first full day of business, had begun at 10:30am
Friday with welcoming comments from the show's Executive
Director Michael Ward and fellow executives from
conference organizer Parked.com,
Sig Solares and Donny Simonton. Simonton
said the theme of the conference was "Show Me the
Money" - something the event set out to do with
sessions devoted to learning how to earn revenue through
domain monetization, buying, selling and development.
Appropriately enough, Show Me the Money! was
also the title of the first panel discussion devoted to new
revenue oppotunities in the domain business.
Scene
from the first panel discussion, Show Me the Money!,
Friday at Domainer Mardi Gras.
Panelists for
this opening discussion were (seated left to right in the
photo above) Patrick Carleton (Executive Director
of Associated Cities), Bruce Marler (Missouri.me
Network) and Sean Stafford (Comwired.com).
Moderator Sig Solares is at the podium and the
video screen at left has a close-up view of Carleton. I'll
have details on this session and all of the other DMG
seminars in a comprehensive conference review article
that we will be publishing a week or so after the show
ends (we will have hundreds of photos and conference notes
to go through in compiling that wrap up report).
After a lunch
break, Moderator Michael Ward turned the tables on
industry reporters Andrew Allemann
(DomainNameWire.com) and I in a 45-minute session
during which he asked us the questions, reversing
the roles Andrew and I are used to. Michael did such a
good job as an interviewer we are hoping he doesn't get
into the news business too - the competition is already
fierce as it is!
Next up was a
session on Building Websites, featuring a panel of
experts who have learned the ins and outs by building and
operating their own successful sites.
Building
Websites panelists (left to right above); on the
video screen - Elliot Silver
(ElliotsBlog.com), who took part via a Skype connection
after a snowstorm in New York
prevented him from flying to New Orleans, Craig Rowe
(WhyPark.com), Michael Castello
and David Castello (CCIN.com) and moderator Donny
Simonton.
With the
historic snowstorms that shut down much of the
northeastern U.S. this week, I was impressed that the DMG
crew went the extra mile to set up Skype connections
enabling panelists who couldn't travel to still take part
in their sessions. In addition to piping in Elliot Silver
for the Building Websites seminar, they did it with
attorney John Berryhill, who was snowbound in Philadelphia,
so he could be part of the next session - New TLDs:
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Despite the
distance seperating Dr. Berryhill from New Orleans, he
managed to get into a full Mardi Gras mindset for
his appearance, popping up on screen wearing a jester's
hat and beads while accompanied by a bottle or two of his
favorite liquid refreshments. I won't mention those by
brand name as I suspect they may have been part of a product
placement deal John had on the side, but for the
record I should note that you have to be over 21 in most
states to buy these particular beverages. :-)
New
TLDs panelists (left to right): John Berryhill (on
the video screen live from
Philadelphia), Mike Rodenbaugh (IP attorney and consultant), Ken
Hansen (Nesutar),
Michael
Berkens (TheDomains.com) and Jeffrey Eckhaus
(Demand Media/eNom).
The session was moderated by Andrew Allemann.
This was an
exceptionally interesting discussion (one that Dr.
Berryhill helped enliven with his patented blend of
salient points and off the wall humor). As Allemann
pointed out, the varied and often opposing viewpoints expressed
during this session underscored the many difficult issues ICANN
is having to wrestle with in the process of activating
their plan to roll out an unlimited number of new
gTLDs.
The opening day
panel discussions were also one of the most pleasant
surprises I have had at a conference in a long time.
Naturally, people are going to expect that a conference
tied to the world famous Mardi Gras celebration is going
to be all about the partying. However, Michael Ward and
his staff put together some of the best content I
have seen anywhere on the conference circuit. Every
session has held my interest from start to finish with
fresh information, lively discourse and truly expert
advice on a wide range of topics. I'm sure many attendees
came because of Mardi Gras, but they will go home with
more than just a hangover thanks to the outstanding job
Ward and his staff have done with the business program.
Night fell soon
after the final panel discussion ended but the 24-hour
Mardi Gras day was just beginning for many. The
doors to the Daisy Dukes Restaurant, adjacent to
the Marriott (and owned by Parked.com's Sig Solares) were
thrown open to DMG guests at 6pm so they could grab a bite
to eat before heading over to Bourbon Street for the
balcony party.
Judi
and Michael Berkens grab a snack at Daisy
Dukes
before heading to the Parked.com balcony party.
DMG
attendees throw beads to Mardi Gras revelers
from
Parked.com's private balcony on Bourbon Street
Friday night (Feb. 13).
The balcony
party ran until 3am Saturday morning but I was in bed way
before that! Had to rest up for the final day of Domainer
Mardi Gras today. It gets underway with a 10:45am panel on
Domain Name Investing, followed at Noon by a brief
summary of a week-long Moniker
Showcase Online Auction that continues until Tuesday. Show organizers will
have closing comments at 12:15pm after which lunch will be
served, with the remainder of the afternoon open for
guests to go view the Mardi Gras parades. The
Parked.com balcony on Bourbon Street will also be open
again for 13 hours, from 2pm today until 3am Sunday. I'll
have highlights from today's activities for you in a final
post from New Orleans Sunday morning.
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