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After
opening Sunday evening
with
a series of social
events, the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 conference being held at the Ritz
Carlton on Florida's Fort Lauderdale
Beach got down to business Monday
(Oct. 9) with a full slate of business sessions
during the day and the show's official party at
Pier 66 Monday night. The first panel
discussion featured eight company executives who
offered their opinions on the current Health
of the Industry and the prospects for the
future.
Monday
morning's Health of the Industry panel
featured (left to right): Michael Gilmour
(ParkLogic.com), Ted Olson (Afternic), Brad Lemire
(Sedo), Jeff Gabriel (DomainAdvisors),
moderator Howard Neu, investor Chris Hartnett, John Ferber (Domain
Holdings), Ron
Jackson (DNJournal.com)
and Steve Cheatham (JuiceCow.com).
The
next session focused on the new gTLDs
that ICANN expects to begin approving in
the next year or so. As you would expect there
were varying degrees of enthusiam for the new
gTLD program and how they might impact the
current supremacy of .coms. Panelists
included .com proponent Michael Mann
(DomainMarket.com) and three executives with
financial interests in the new gTLD space, Monte
Cahn (RightOfTheDot.com), Michael Berkens
(RightOfTheDot.com) and Daniel Schindler (Donuts.co).
Michael
Berkens
(RightOfTheDot.com), at left, and Daniel
Schindler (Donuts.co)
were among the four panelists who offered their
vews on new gTLDs Monday morning.
Next,
in what proved to be one of the most popular
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. sessions in years, DNForum.com
owner Adam Dicker, in a solo interview
conducted by DomainSherpa.com's Michael Cyger,
provided invaluable advice on how to properly
select domains and build profitable niche and
authority websites using WordPress. Adam
gave out detailed tips that attendees could take
home and immediately put to revenue producing
work.
Adam
Dicker (right) giving his advice in a well
received interview
conducted by Michael Cyger (left) at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Monday.
The
business day continued with Declan
Dunn's highly anticipated Keynote
Address. Dunn, the author of Net Profits:
How to Win the Internet Game, is one of
the world's leading experts on afiliate
marketing and he opened a lot of eyes to new
ways domainers can increase traffic and make
more money.
Animated
keynote speaker Declan Dunn gave domain
owners a new perspective
on the best current ways to increase site
traffic and monetize visitors.
At 3pm
it was time for T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s live domain
auction. In recent years, results from
live auctions have been underwhelming at all
conferences. Unfortunately, sales at this
one (approximately $100,000) did not reach the level T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founder Rick
Schwartz had hoped for after revamping
the name selection process in an effort to
reverse the downward trend in live auction
sales.
A
scene from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s live domain
auction Monday afternoon (Oct. 8).
The
first day of business closed with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s
always popular Speed Networking session.
The oportunity to meet one on one with dozens of
other industry professionals at a single event has
paid huge dividends to many participants over
the years, making it one of the show's most
consistently popular sessions.
A
scene from T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012's Speed
Networking session Monday.
With
the day's work done, it was time to party and
the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party is
always top notch. This year's party in the
revolving rooftop restaurant at Fort
Lauderdale Beach's Pier 66, sponsored by
Michael Mann's DomainMarket.com,
was no exception. DomainMarket executives Chad
Bennett and Sonia Martinez Doubet
joined Michael and his fiancée,
Tiffany, in welcoming guests to the big
event.
Michael
Mann and his fiancée,
Tiffany Reynolds, welcomed guests
to the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party at Pier
66 Monday night.
Elvis
was in the building!
In a major party
highlight, a world class Elvis Presley
impersonator appeared just before midnght and wowed
the crowd. Bob & Trudie
Olea
(center) were obviously thrilled to get an up close and
personal view of their idol.
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Elvis
inspired others to swivel their hips
including a domain industry duo that
looked good enough to compete on Dancing
With the Stars. Two of our
favorite CEOs (and genuinely nice people)
NameMedia's Kelly Conlin and Oversee.net's
Debra Domeyer, joined forces to bring
the house down. I just wonder if it is
really fair for two people to be
able to do so many things well. If
you are going to be exceptionally smart and
an inspirational leader that is
fine, but do you have to be a great dancer
too? That's just rubbing it in!
The Party was
a great way to cap a highly productive and
entertaining opening day at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
As I write this Tuesday sessions are still
underway. I'll have photos and highlights
of those for you in tomorrow's post. I do
want to pass along results from the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Awards brunch that was held this
morning (with more photos of that to come
Tuesday). The winners were:
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NameMedia
CEO Kelly Conlin and Oversee.net
CEO Debra
Domeyer delighted the crowd by hitting
the dance floor at
the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party Monday
night. (Photo courtesy
of Barbara Neu, as is the Elvis photo
above and the Frank
Schilling shot below) |
| Best New
Monetizing Solution - Domain
Power.com
Best Overall
Domain Solution
- Sedo
Best Domain
Blog:
DomainSherpa.com
We Get It
Award: Sales
Force
Broker of the
Year:
Dave Evanson (Sedo)
Developer of
the Year:
Alan Dunn (DomainHoldings)
Sponsor of the
Year:
Escrow.com
1st Annual Bandit Berkens Goodwill
Ambassador Award - Judi
and Michael Berkens
(Judi
gave an emotional acceptance speech that
had everyone tearing up)
Domain Hall of
Fame (TWO new members are added each
year):
Michael Mann and Chad Folkening
Domainer of
the Year: Frank
Schilling (his
third win in this category)
Frank Schilling (center)
receiving his third Domainer of the Year
Award from
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu Tuesday morning
(Oct. 9)
In
addition to receiving his thrd Domainer of
the Year Award Tuesday morning, Frank
Schilling unveiled a truly remarkable new
mobile sales platform (now
available for iPhone only through Apple's
App Store). You do not have to
park your domains with Schilling's InternetTraffic.com
to use the company's revolutonary
new DomainNameSales.com
platform. It is open to everyone.
You can see a video with more details here.
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