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The
Aquafillies performing at last night's DOMAINfest
Global
Golden Age of Hollywood Party at the Mondrian
Hotel's Skybar in West Hollywood.
Perhaps
the surprise of the night was that only one
domainer got pushed into the pool! The party was
still going strong when my wife Diana and I left
at 11:30pm (2:30am back home in Florida -
which is way past our normal bedtime). We
had a great time hanging out with friends and
meeting new ones who had traveled from countries
around the world for DOMAINfest.
Dr.
Chris Hartnett and his wife Dr.
Linda Hartnett at the Golden Age of
Hollywood Party.
Chris is a conference veteran but this was
Linda's first trip to a domain event.
The
final day of DOMAINfest Global got underway at
9:30 this morning (Thursday, Feb. 3) with an
excellent session offering Tips and
Strategies for Buying and Selling Domain Names.
Moderator
Lisa Box, Senior Director of Sales at
Oversee.net, (at far left in the picture below)
had an all-star panel to call on. The featured
experts were (left to right after Lisa) Michael
Berkens (MostWantedDomains.com), Larry
Fischer (DirectNavigation.com), Tessa
Holcomb (PPX.com), Jason Miner (Name
Media) and Kathy Nielsen (Sedo).
Conference
organizer Oversee.net followed with another
major coup - a Fireside Chat with Ben
Mezrich, the author or the book that the
smash movie The Social Network was
based on (The Accidental Billionaires: The
Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money,
Genius and Betrayal).
Mezrich
has written 11 books including another (Bringing
Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T.
Students Who Took Vegas For Millions)
that was also turned into a hit movie . That
best seller (63 weeks on the New York
Times Best Seller list) was the basis
for the film 21 starring Kevin
Spacey.
Oversee.net
President Jeff Kupietzky conducting a
fascinating Fireside Chat
with author Ben Mezrich (right) this
morning (Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011)
Ben is
obviously already a star in the publishing
world, but - this being the time of year for
predictions - I predict he will become one of
the few authors who will ascend to the kind of superstar
status that makes them household names. In
addition to being an excellent writer who finds amazing
stories to tell, the 40-year-old Harvard
graduate has a remarkably magnetic
personality. He is funny, down to earth and
gifted with that elusive special quality that
makes audiences instantly like him.
With
the popularity of the The Social
Network as a catalyst, Ben should
start popping up on all of the
popular talk shows from Leno
to Letterman to Oprah.
Once the rest of America sees him that is
all it will take to seal the deal -
and we can all say we saw him first at
DOMAINfest.
Mezrich
shared many anecdotes with the audience -
one of the most interesting being that buying
a domain name led him to his biggest
success. Mezrich wanted BenMezrich.com
which was held by a fan who liked his
books. He was able to buy the name for $750
and the site he set up soon started
attracting
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Author
Ben Mezrich |
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ideas for
stories from his visitors. One told
Mezrich he had a friend who was a co-founder
of Facebook. That turned out to be Eduardo
Saverin, who was suing his estranged
partner Mark Zuckerburg for pushing
him out of the company. The site visitor
put Mezrich in touch with Saverin and that
started the wheels turning in bringing the
previously untold blockbuster story to
life. Considering the millions of dollars
the movie and book have made from that one
website lead, Mezrich's $750 domain
purchase would qualify as one of the best
domain investments of all time.
After a lunch
break, the show's final seminar - The
Latest/Greatest SEO and SEM Tips -
drew a sizeable crowd back to the
ballroom. Moderator Ryan Berryman
of Oversee.net conducted the session.
In
the photo below you see (left to right)
Mr. Berryman and his panel of experts; Andy
Atkins-Krueger (WebCertain.com), Bruce
Clay, Scott Dotterer and Danny
Sullivan (Search Engine Land). |
As I
write this, the final business event of
DOMAINfest Global 2011 - Moniker's Premium
Live Domain Auction - is just getting
underway. I'll have the auction results for you
in my final post from Santa Monica tomorrow,
along with photos and highlights from the big
social event tonight that officially closes the
show - a gala party at the Playboy Mansion
that will benefit Jenny
McCarthy's Generation Rescue Autism Foundation.
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