Above:
The busy registration desk shortly before Domain
Days Dubai opened Wednesday. Below:
Attendees settled into their seats for the first of 12
opening day business sessions.
A dozen
opening day business sessions followed, featuring a
wide variety of topics starting with the
fascinating evolution and milestones of the UAE's
.ae country-code top level domain and ending
nine hours later with the story behind Morocco's
largest ICANN Registrar and Hosting company.
Above: In
a popular morning Keynote Address, conference
Co-Host Dr. Marwan Alzarouni, Strategic Advisor &
CEO of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism & Dubai Blockchain Center,
spoke on Charting the Future: Dubai's
Pioneering Role in the Digital Asset Landscape. Below:
The next session was also a highlight with IT.com's
Joe Alagna and Tess Diaz covering Domain Industry Startups - Going from Nothing to Something - Bootstrapping, Pre-IPO, and Acquisitions.
Sessions
followed on The state of Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Domain Ecosystem,
ESG: Shaping a Sustainable Future in the Domain Industry
and 25 Years of Domaining with InterNetX & Sedo – the registrar and aftermarket perspective.
Then it was ime for the 1PM Lunch Break.
Above:
Among the many familiar faces in the crowd at Domain
Days Dubai are (left to right) Sedo CMO Christian
Voss, Jack Dai (DN.com), Yiqiu Tao
(Sedo) and London Domain Name Summit Founder
Helmuts Meskonis.
The
afternoon sessions began with Behar Esmat's presentation
on Universal Acceptance: Preparing your business for today’s domain names and email addresses,
followed by a panel discussion about the Local
& Global Domains Aftermarket that
featured Abdu Tarabichi, Adel alTerkait,Tess
Diaz, Braden Pollock, DN.com's Jack
Dai and Tess Diaz.
Above:
Next up, Arab Domain Academy Founder Ayoub Kehel,
fondly known as Mr. Kehel, discussed his
mission - Empowering Arab Domain Name
Investors: The Arab Domain Academy Journey.
A
4pm coffee & snack break gave attendees a chance
to fuel up for the final three-session run down the
stretch that closed out day one. Those included The
Rise of Web 3.0 featuring Freename's
Eleonora Bellotto and Not Sitting on the
Sidelines: Marketing a TLD by .Store Registry
delivered by Arjun Pande, Director - .Store Domains.
Above: In
the final opening day business session, Hamza
Aboulfeth, Founder & CEO of Genious.net,
told attendees how he built Morocco's largest
ICANN Registrar and Hosting company. Munir Badr
followed with some closing remarks and things to
look forward to on day 2 Thursday, then joined the
crowd in getting ready for a 7:30PM Networking
Dinner at Bal Harbour Beach, sponsored
by Munir's company, AEserver.
Above:
Domain Days attendees arrive at the Bal Harbor Beach
restaurant for Wednesday night's
Networking Dinner.
We
expect to have Thursday's Day 2 photos and
highlights from Domain Days Dubai available
to share with you by
the end of the day Friday, so check back here in The
Lowdown for those!
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