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that
is exactly what we are working on
now with plans to release the complete
review Tuesday night or
Wednesday morning. In the meantime,
here is look at the aptly named Fun
Day that officially brought down
the curtain on the 7th annual
edition of NamesCon Global
Saturday:
Above:
(left to right) NamesCon Global
attendees Krinal Mehta, Prakhar
Bindal and Aishwin Vikhona
ready to get Fun Day underway
Saturday (February 1).
Above:
The closing day event was held at
Austin's immensely popular Banger's
Sausage House and Beer Garden,
running all day from 10am to 5pm.
NamesCon arranged a large
private area for attendees on
the elevated patio overlooking at
the far right that overlooks the
public area in the foreground.
Below:
In addition to live music from a top
notch Austin band, attendees enjoyed
a loaded buffet with a
variety of sausages, side dishes and
desserts, as well as access to an
astounding variety of draft beers
and cold drinks that came in handy
as the temperature zoomed well into
the 70s by afternoon.
Above:
With the sun out and not a cloud in
the sky, tables in the shade were
popular. Those settled in at this
one are (clockwise from the left): Hani
Armstrong, Marlon Phillips
and Dave Roberts (all from
ProtectedParking.com), as well as Susan
Lawrence, Adrienne Phillips
and Diana Jackson.
Below:
The best part of the day was a
chance to catch up with old friends
and make new ones. (Left to right) Howard
Neu, Ammar Kubba and Ron
Jackson first met in the domain
business over 15 years ago
and have remained fellow domain aficionados
and personal friends ever since.
While
the music, food and drinks were
great, the conversations were even
better. Above, Tess Diaz
and Alan Hack do some
catching up in front of the nearly
200 draft beer taps at Banger's.
Below, Morgan Linton (left)
and George Verdugo were also
busy comparing notes.
Above:
NamesCon Global attracts
domain investors and developers from
all of the world. India,
which has one the world's most
thriving domain communities, is
always well represented at the show.
Left to right above are Mayur
Saparia (who was making his
first trip to the U.S.), Manish
Lunja, Deepak Daftari (a
long-time friend of ours who helped
welcome us to India when we first
visited there), "honorary
Indian" Bennie Sparkman
(an industry veteran and close
friend of Deepak's who is actually a
Texan!) and Ritesh Singh.
We
stayed at Fun Day all the way to the
end. It's always hard to say goodbye
to good friends that you likely
won't see again for months or even a
full year when NamesCon Global rolls
around again, but it is
certainly a blessing every time
we get to do it.
Above
& below: With NamesCon Global
keeping us busy, we didn't get
around to seeing a lot of other
things the city of Austin
offers, so right after the Fun
Day event ended, Diana and I,
along with Howard & Barbara
Neu (above), grabbed a ride over
to the Texas State Capitol building,
It is a remarkable place that many
travel guides recommend people
see for its rich history and ornate
architecture. The Capital grounds
are a park in themselves, filled
with beautiful statues and
monuments. The elaborate one below
celebrates the wde variety of early
settlers that played a role in
developing the territory that became
America's biggest state.
Above:
A view of the Texas State Capital
Dome Saturday. Looking up from
the rotunda inside also provides a
stunning view. This was NamesCon
Global's first time in Austin
(after six years in Las Vegas) and
we thoroughly enjoyed the change of
pace. It is a great city in a great
state. Everyone on the NamesCon
management team told us they loved
it too and they are leaning to
returning to Austin again next year.
However, as they do every year, they
will now take a bit of time to
reflect on this year's event, listen
to attendee feedback and research
all of the options. They have
already decided the dates will
remain in January for 2021 and they
expect to announce the location in
the near future. In the meantime,
NamesCon fans can look forward to
the NamesCon
Europe conference coming
up August 6-8, 2020 in Budapest,
Hungary.
Finally,
a big thank you to NamesCon
President & CEO Soeren von
Varchmin, Head of Operations
Helga Neumer and their entire
team for producing another
outstanding event that made every
minute in Austin time well spent!
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