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If
you missed our coverage from the
first three three days of the
conference you can see Sunday's
opening day photos and highlights here,
day 2 Monday here
and day 3 Tuesday here.
Above
and below: The final day Wednesday
began at 11am with a Closing
Keynote Roundtable that featured
(left to right on the dais below):
moderator Derek Newman, Sandeep
Ramchandani (Radix Registry), Steve
Heflin (Afilias), Rob Monster
(DigitalTown) and Christian
Voss (Sedo).
The
wide-ranging roundtable session ran
close to two hours during which
attendees could also enjoy a full
breakfast (below) before beginning
their journey home.
Above:
The Exhibition Hall was also
open for three hours Wednesday from
11am-2pm giving attendees a chance
to visit service providers they may
have missed earlier in the week
while busy absorbing a seemingly
endless variety of business
sessions. I stopped by to see Stuart
Dinnes (Director Channel
Strategy) at the Verisign
booth. Verisign served as NamesCon
Global's title sponsor this year.
Below:
The GoDaddy booth was also a
beehive of activity throughout show
week as a steady flow of attendees
came by to chat with representatives
from the world's biggest registrar.
Above:
Of course there is nothing show
goers love more than a free souvenir
T-shirt from a favorite service
provide. This visitor picks up a
nice 101Domain.com shirt from
COO Anthony Beltran while
visiting the popular registrar's
booth Wednesday.
Below:
Dynadot is another registrar
that has become a favorite among
domain investors who appreciate
their appealing interface, consistently
low prices and excellent customer
service, as well as the growing
aftermarket the site provides. I
stopped by to chat with Barry
Coughlan (left) about the
company's history and current
services.
Above:
After checking out of their rooms
many attendees used that 11am-2pm
window to meet in the Exhibit
Hall for some final networking
before heading to the airport.
Below:
Others stayed on for the day's
second special event - NamesCon's
first Unconference, held in
the Keynote Hall from 2-5pm with Bill
Sweetman (left) from NameNinja
and Braden Pollock from LegalBrandMarketing
moderating the event.
So,
what is an Unconference? In
short, NamesCon provides the forum
and the moderators, but attendees
decide the content. They follow
the World
Café method, where each
table in the keynote hall is
dedicated to a certain topic, as
decided upon by Unconference
attendees. The topics they want to
discuss are listed on a white board
with a table then devoted to each
one (as you see below). Attendees
are free to move from table to table
to delve into whatever topic
interests them as the unconference
unfolds.
Above
and below: Another important part of
unconferences are the white paper
table coverings and magic
markers. Attendees can use the
markers to jot down thoughts or
things they learned that might be
useful to others who follow them to
that table. The self-directed system
is a very casual, relaxing way to
network and learn more about the
things you are most interested in.
Above:
Greg Ricks (at right) was
among the familiar faces at the
Wednesday unconference that
officially closed the show. Greg,
who came in from Texas, was the
owner of DNForum.com when I
entered the business in 2002. It was
the place many of us learned about
the domain world when it was still
in its infancy. Today we are
fortunate to have a rich variety of
forums, blogs, books and other
resources that make industry
information and insight readily
available, but it is conferences
that provide the final piece of the
puzzle you need to have the best
possible chance to succeed - a place
to build personal relationships
through face to face contacts. NamesCon
Global 2018 underscored that
truth yet again and sent us home
much better equipped to take
advantage of the opportunities that
await in the year ahead and beyond.
Thanks to everyone on the
NamesCon team for another job very
well done.
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(Posted
February 1, 2018) |
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