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DN Journal - your source for notable news 
and information from all corners of the global 
domain name industry! 

The Lowdown is compiled by DN Journal 
Editor & Publisher Ron Jackson.

Domain Aftermarket PRO's 3-Day Retreat in India Proved Good Things Come in Small Packages

This has been a busy summer of domain conferences with the 2024 edition of NamesCon Global held in June (in Austin, Texas) and Domain Summit in August (in London, just last week). Those were both held in major cities with hundreds of people attending each one. However, there were also more intimate industry gatherings held in more tranquil surroundings. A prime example was a free 3-day retreat that Domain Aftermarket PRO (DAP) hosted July 26-28 in Lonavala, India. Lonavala, located 50 miles southeast of Mumbai, is a stunningly picturesque hilltop town that attracts visitors looking to escape the crowds and enjoy the cooler temperatures that come with its higher elevation.

Photo credit: Image by Arjun Singh Kulkarni 

It was a perfect spot for DAP Founder Jay Paudyal, a long time leader of India's domain investment community, to host an in-person retreat. DAP was already well-known thanks to the free online webinars DAP had been presenting over the past decade. Through them they have been instrumental in building a network of more than 2,000 members.

Above: Jay Paudyal (at left) at DAP's 3-day July retreat in Lonavala.

With a theme of Building Internet Businesses, nearly DAP welcomed all who wanted to come to Lonavala to three days of educational sessions, networking opportunities, and domain sales celebrations. Over 30 people from around the country made the trip to to get high level domaining advice and learn more about video content creation and eCommerce. As you would expect in such a beautiful locale, there was also plenty of time for exploring the area and leisure social activities.

Day one was devoted to catching up with old friends and making new ones before diving into the primary topic of the first day - Creating Video Content. In that two-hour sessions, guests were shown an array of equipment and devices equipment and devices for video productions. They also saw watched an entire studio being set up with a live video shot in this practical seminar.

The second day was a full day devoted to the Domain Aftermarket and was comprised of four separate sessions: 
1 - Being serious about Domain Investment by Jay Paudyal.
2 - Sell Domains Fast by Aishwin Vikhona.
3 - Scope of AI and IO domain investment space by Chetan.
4 - Domain Investment stories by Harmandeep, Alok M and Vinesh Bhaskarla. 

Jay introduced the fundamentals of domain investment, including strategies for selecting, pricing, and selling domains. Aishwin’s in-depth session (below), lasting over four hours, provided invaluable insight learned for him many years as a successful investor, developer and author. 

Above: Chetan (at right) with Jay, discussed AI and IO domain opportunities while the final session focused on real-world experiences and community support while addressing important questions like GoDaddy’s GST compliance, Afternic’s Custom Lander, pros & cons of having a digital wallet with other domain registrars.

On Day 3 the focus switched to eCommerce with a demonstration of creating an online store from scratch using Shopify and Woo Commerce. In addition to developing product stores, they discussed how to build a domain name portfolio website with Shopify and Woo Commerce, something most attendees did not know they could do using the same Shopify and Woo tools.

Above & below: One of the favorite parts of the social events and entertainment activity was a performance from a magician who creatively linked magic to domain investing (we can see that!), providing an engaging and educational experience that was a big hit with the audience. 

Jay noted that attendees, some of whom are seen in the play area above and at tea time in the shot below, also appreciated the branded goodies from GoDaddy and expressed their gratitude through video selfies. Least surprising of all was a consensus that they would like have more of these smaller more intimate events to attend!

(Posted August 30, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2024/dailyposts/0830.htm

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The Big Picture: New Photos and Positive Feedback for 2024 Domain Summit Has Founder Fired Up 

Last week the 2024 Domain Summit conference concluded its four-day run in London, England where the show at the Hilton London Metropole ran August 19-22. Now that conference Founder Helmuts Meskonis (seen in the photo at right) has had a few days to reflect on what was accomplished at this year's event and how the future is shaping up for Domain Summit, we got back together with him for an update. His thoughts on the conference are accompanied by some of the professional photos taken by Rina Rock for Domain Summit's photography sponsor, the .One Registry.  

With attendance up and positive feedback rolling in on social media, Helmuts was understandably excited to talk about it. "It was a great success!," he began. "We had a little over 250 attendees who came in from around the world and everything got off to a great start on day one  (Sunday, August 19) with a fantastic Team Internet offices tour for a selected number of attendees, hosted by Team Internet CEO Michael Riedl. That was followed in the evening with an awesome networking party generously hosted by it.com Domains on the top floor of the Hilton London Metropole."

Above: IT.com Domains Director of Global Business Development Rolandos Japertas (right) was on hand this immaculately dressed greeter to welcome attendees to the opening night Networking Party at Domain Summit.  Below: Guests wasted no time getting to know each other.

Above: IT.com Domains Business Manager Natalia Japerte obviously liked what the DJ was playing!

Below (clockwise from top left): Domain Summit Founder Helmuts Meskonis, Karsten Mangaard Heimbürger (Director of .One Registry), Sabina Jasinska (VP of Group Marketing, Team Internet) and attorney Karen Bernstein at thye opening night party.

Above: Coming together from opposite sides of the world, at left, Braden Pollock (USA) from LegalBrandMarketing.com with Munir Badr (UAE), Founder of AEServer.com and Domain Days Dubai.

Above: Heloise dos Santos (IT.com Domains Marketing Specialist and International Women's Alliance Brand Ambassdor) with Domain Summit moderator Tess Diaz (at left), welcomed guests (some seen below) to the company's Monday night party.

The next morning (Tuesday, August 20) it was time to get down to business with the opening round of business sessions and a technological update that Helmuts said was especially appreciated. "With generous support from super-simple crypto payments service Nicky.me and ShortDot Registry, this year we were able to upgrade the presentation screen to a wide LED wall," Meskonis said, "That made it much easier for attendee's to enjoy the speakers and dynamic presentations and what speakers we had! The Keynote was delivered by the CEO of Team Internet Michael Riedl and another welcome address was given by Nigel Hickson, the UK government's Senior Adviser or Data Protection, who is so loved and known in our industry.

The photo above from Team Internet CEO Michael Riedl's opening day Keynote also shows the razor sharp LED presentation screen that was a big hit with attendees. Between Michael and the upgraded technology, the audience (below) like what they were seeing.

Meskonis said the hits just kept on coming on opening day, noting some of the other highlights. "We had Christopher Mondini (ICANN's Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement, Europe and Managing Director for Europe), Werner Staub, one of the most intellectual industry leaders who is the CORE Association Chair, a session with two non-executive Nominet Directors Steve Wright and Kieren McCarthy and another with leading industry lawyers Karen Bernstein and Jim Davies."

ICANN's Chris Mondini giving some insight into plans for the next round of New gTLDs.

Everyone loves Ask Me Anything sessions and Domain Summit had a good one Tuesday 
afternoon with Tess Diaz hosting Shortdot CEO Lars Jensen for this AMA.

We barely scratched the surface of business day 1 and business day 2 Wednesday (August 21) was just as bountiful with more than 20 presentations and panel discussions held over the two days. Meskonis said the mobile ecosystem was was well represented with MEF, Aegis Mobile and Virgin Media O2 all having representative on hand, along with James Williams (MrConnectivity) for a Wednesday session on Business Messaging: Maximizing Loyalty and Profits.  Helmuts added, "In another day 2 highlight, "David Barnett (Stobbs), a brand protection professional with 20 years of experience, presented  scientific research related to domain names. We even got a fresh perspective of from 15-years young and bright Charlotte Riedl on the Generation Z view of domain names!"

Above: The mobile ecosystem was in the spotlight during this panel session Wednesday.

Below: 15-year-old Charlotte Riedl may be the youngest presenter at a major domain conference in industry history - and if you heard her, you know you will be hearing a lot more from her in the years ahead!

Speaking of hearing Charlotte, you might also be able to see her session soon, Helmuts said, "The live stream recordings will be published this week. Our videographer was sponsored by the amazing domain parking company BODIS that I personally use to park my domain names, and the domain names of my hosting company HostMaria.

We've now touched on some of the business sessions but the social activities are every bit as important to conference attendees. Helmuts said, "of course, we all love networking evenings and had those on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (August 20 and 21). They took place in a nearby newly renovated vegetarian restaurant, The Veg Box, that closed the whole place just for us. The success of these networking evenings was assured by a generous joint sponsorship from Munir Badir of AEserver.com and Ryan Ewen of DNWE.com. Thank you, gentlemen!" These events gave everyone time to talk about possible business deals or to make last-minute contacts with attendees they hadn't yet had a chance to talk with." Here are some scenes from the evening socials:

Those still in London Thursday morning (August 22) could carry on the networking even longer. Helmuts said. "Thursday started with a late breakfast sponsored by Titan Research and Richard Lau. After breakfast a group of the last pros standing (including Freddy from Namespace, Cosmin of Titan Research, ladies of .Sky Registry, Susan from D3, Jonathan of Siteplug and more) had a wonderful networking walk in the beautiful Hyde Park.

This year's Summit also included a couple of conferences that ran alongside the Domain Summit that Helmuts also wanted to highlight. "Just one floor above Domain Summit we had The International Women's Alliance (IWA) conference on August 20, then on the 21st, a Digital Assets Track devoted to Web3, crypto payments and various digital assets classes organized by Daniel Stanica of Monetize.info."

Above: IWA Founder Natalia Japerte welcomed attendees to the organization's first conference.

Below: A scene from the IWA convention that ran August 20 
on the floor above the Domain Summit.

Summing it all up, Helmuts said, "I was naturally worried that no-one would actually turn up, so seeing the full conference room preparing the 1st keynote speech by Michal Riedl and seeing people standing by the walls, and also knowing that there are people at the exhibition tables, I had to keep myself from bursting into tears of joy!" 

"We had so many amazing attendees like my friend Stefanus, the head of Domains of DreamHost, the German titan Martin of NicSell, Kalin of Seo.Domains and many many more - I just wish it was possible to mention then all! With honor and professional pride I can claim that Europe has it's own fabulous and super valuable Domain Summit with our own formula of kindness, respect, centered to business, and high-level attendees! In fact, I already have been approached by several industry leading companies on possible collaborations and/or sponsorships for next year, so expect the unexpected!!"

(Posted August 27, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2024/dailyposts/0827.htm

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.AM is Celebrating It's 30th Birthday Today With Plans to Expand Global Use of Armenia's ccTLD

Over 40% of the 362 million domains that have been registered worldwide are ccTLDs (country code top level domains). Yet you don't hear a lot about most of them because there are 308 ccTLDs splitting up the pie. Every one of them has an interesting story of their own though and those stories can vary greatly from one to another. Some are tightly regulated for exclusive use by a given country's citizens. Others are open to all and often re-purposed and marketed for a completely different use than they were created for in the first place - the most visible current example being Anguilla's .ai that is being marketed as a home for artificial intelligence websites.

Since I started my career as a radio broadcaster at a local AM station while still in my teens the .am extension caught my eye when I entered the domain world 22 years ago. Many of today's stations on both the AM and FM bands simulcast over the Internet, making Armenia's .am one of the many ccTLDs whose letters could serve multiple markets. When i heard that .am was turning 30 today, I knew a couple of people already familiar to many of our readers - Nick Cervantes and Katarina Gevorgyan, who could give us a lot more insight into .am's unique story. 

.AM is administered by the Internet Society of Armenia NGO (ISOC.am). Nick, a retired United States Marine, is an ISOC.am Volunteer and his wife Katarina is the organization's Manager of External Relations, as well as a member of the Board.

Nick Cervantes
ISOC.am Volunteer

Katarina Gevorgyan, Internet Society of Armenia Manager of External Relations and Board Member, with GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani at the 2020 NamesCon Global conference in Austin, Texas.

In addition to helping ISOC.am as a volunteer, Nick, who has a background in Communications and Electronics, does analysis and marketing for the .am  extension on his own through his ArmeniaDomains.com website. He told us "The ISOC Armenia Chapter has a very limited budget, a small handful of sponsors and few investors, probably due to most people not knowing where Armenia is located. It was the first Christian state in the world starting in 301 A.D. and after many wars for its territory and genocide it is now a small landlocked country of around 3 million people between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran." 

With that small population to draw on, .am proponents realize they have to expand their horizons to grow. "We have been working hard promoting  the .am ccTLD both locally and internationally," Nick said. "The local Chapter works mainly locally using the native Armenian language while I  use my English language site to reach the global audience. In conjunction with their 30th birthday, the  .am registry is now ramping up its promotion with a "30" theme, including a series of short YouTube videos under the 30 Facts About .AM banner. The first three are already up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ev0vpAyTaQ  30 facts about .am domain (1-5)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vc3Be4Y1sI&t=49s  30 facts about .am domain (6-10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1CxANXEs4Q 30 facts about .am domain (11-15)

As additional facts videos are released they will be [posted on the ISOC.am Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ArmenianInternetSociety

On the local front, .am has put the above banners up in the Yerevan, Armenia  Metro stations. (Click banner to see full size).

Nick Cervantes also sees room for .am on the artificial intelligence bandwagon citing AM as a fit for 
Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning (AM) - A shorter version from (AIML), Artificial Intelligence Metaverse (AM) and Artificial Intelligence Marketing (AM). He has posted additional articles on his site with suggested used cases for .am, asset management being one example.

Nick hasn't forgotten Web3 and Blockchain either, noting "I have put two .am ccTLDs on the new DNS ENS Offchain to show the ISOC.AM chapter that their .am is capable of WEB3. The domains are ArmeniaDomains.am and Pop.am. These are the only 2 known .am ccTLDs put on the new DNS ENS Offchain.  More will be added later and begin creating WEB3 sites in the near future.

The domains can be verified on Etherscan or the ENS APP.

https://etherscan.io/name-lookup-search?id=armeniadomains.am

https://etherscan.io/name-lookup-search?id=pop.am

As far as my original thought that .am would be a natural for radio, it turns out I wasn't the only one thinking that. 17 Major League Baseball teams have .am domains to promote or stream their radio broadcasts, including our own Tampa Bay Rays who use Rays.am as a short link to the complete list of stations on the Ray Radio Network. Further proof for ccTLDs looking to grow that more than one road can get you to your destination. 

(Posted August 26, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2024/dailyposts/0826.htm

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Well-Run 2024 Domain Summit in London Was Like a Walk in the Park (Literally and Figuratively) 

The 2024 Domain Summit conference in London, England wound up its four-day run Thursday, August 22, with a  Farewell Breakfast at the show hotel, the London Hilton Metropole. After a pair of casual opening day events Monday, Domain Summit swung into high gear with two full business days (followed by evening social events) on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Conference Founder Helmuts Meskonis said about 250 attendees came to the Summit from around the world to take advantage of the face-to-face networking opportunities and industry updates presented in more than 20 business sessions staged during the event. Professional photos from Domain Summit will be coming soon. While waiting for those for our final recap, we gathered a few from social media posts to share with you now.

At right: Domain Summit Founder Helmuts Meskonis (front right) and Freddy Schiwek (Namespace.com) in a group of attendees who closed the 2024 conference with a walk through London's beautiful Hyde Park after breakfast Thursday, August 22.

A couple of the main events on the first business day Tuesday were a morning Keynote Address from Team Internet CEO Michael Riedl and an afternoon Ask Many Anything session (seen above) with ShortDot CEO Lars Jensen fielding questions from the audience and conference moderator Tess Diaz (IT.com Domains).

Above: The Tuesday schedule also included an Address from Nigel Hickson, Senior Adviser on Data Protection for UK DCMS.

Below: One of the most popular panel discussions on Tuesday centered on ccTLDs (country code Top Level Domains). It featured (left to right), Philippe Boos (Founder & CEO, DOMGATE), Kieren McCarthy (Non Executive Director, Nominet), Mark Ghoriafi (Sedo Premium Broker) and moderator Tess Diaz.

Above: A daily lunch was served each day, so attendees didn't have to go offsite to refuel before getting back to business in the afternoon sessions.

Below: Markus Fackler (Senior Partner Manager at InterNetX), at left, catching up with Manmeet Pal Singh, a veteran of India's booming domain industry.

Above: Current trends in domain name parking and monetization is always a hot topic and that was the case at Domain Summit where, left to right, David Thorpe (Team Internet), Ryan Ewen (Dot UK Group), James Tuplin (Bodis) and Shaun Wilkinson (Sedo) provided a thorough update.

Below: In conclusion (for now), Sedo Premium Broker Mark Ghoriafi (at left) and Namespace.com's Freddy Schiwek gave Domain Summit two thumbs up!

(Posted August 23, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2024/dailyposts/0823.htm

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The 2024 Domain Summit Conference is Underway in London with an International Crowd in Town for the Show

The 2024 Domain Summit conference got underway Monday (August 19 in London, England. The show, founded and produced by Helmuts Meskonis, will continue through Thursday morning at the Hilton Metropole Hotel. Opening day was devoted to a pair of casual functions that allowed attendees to catch up with old friends and get to know new ones. It began with a daytime off-site tour of the Team Internet offices in London where guests were welcomed by CEO Michael Riedl. That was followed by an evening networking party back at the Metropole that was hosted by IT.com Domains. Our friend Mark Ghoriafi, Premium Domain Broker at Sedo, is in London for the conference and he posted several photos that provide a nice peak into Monday's events.

Above: Team Internet CEO Michael Riedl leads the way for Domain Summit 
guests  on their way to visit the company's offices in London.

Below: Once inside it didn't take long for wall to wall 
conversations to break out at Team Internet HQ.

Above: In a meeting room at Team Internet CEO Michael Reidl fields questions 
about the public company's wide ranging business solutions.  

Below: After the visit to Team Internet, it was back to the Hilton London Interpole
 for a 23rd floor networking party hosted Monday evening by IT.com Domains.

Above: In the house from Canada is ExcellentDomains.ca Founder 
Ilze Kaulins-Plaskacz  (at left) and her equally effervescent sister, Rita. 

Below: Holding down the fort (or at least a table) Monday evening are (left to right) 
Dr. Gregg McNair (PTL Chairman, in from Australia), Mark Ghoriafi (Sedo Premium Broker and UK native who currently resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida), Canada's Richard Lau (industry pioneer and original founder of NamesCon) and California's Braden Pollock (angel investor and Founder of LegalBrandMarketing.com).

Above: Tuesday morning it was time for the first full day of business to get underway at Domain Summit. Left to right, conference founder Helmuts Meskonis, Domain Summit moderator Tess Diaz and Sedo's Mark Ghoriafi, are fired up and ready to go.

The Domain Summit agenda will continue to play out with two full business days and evening social events Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a Farewell Breakfast and (weather permitting) a walk through Hyde Park Thursday morning.

(Posted August 20, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Finalists Revealed for PIR's 2024 .ORG Impact Awards: Emmy & Tony Winner to Host October Ceremony Honoring Winners

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the people behind the .ORG domain, have named the finalists for the 6th annual .ORG Impact Awards. PIR also announced that philanthropist, activist, Emmy & Tony Award winning actor Alan Cumming will host the 2024 awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on October 8. Alan is currently the star and producer of the The Traitors on NBC's Peacock Network.

The .ORG Impact Awards were created to recognize outstanding mission-driven individuals and organizations from around the world for their positive contributions to society. All 35 finalists will receive donations of $2,500 USD and will receive invitations to the October celebration. That event will include opportunities to meet with 

Washington, D.C policy experts and nonprofit leaders. This year's finalists range from nonprofits expanding access to clean water in Nigeria to those supporting the healthy development of children in Chicago. The 35 finalists represent the top five entries chosen in each of the seven award categories:

• Community Building

• Quality Education for All

• Environmental Stewardship

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Health and Healing

• Hunger and Poverty

• Rising Stars (leaders, under 25, making a difference in their communities)

(Posted August 19, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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When One Door Closes, Another Opens: New Interview Details How Ron Jackson Found Domains Behind Door #3

For more than 20 years now, InterNetX has consistently developed innovative solutions for domains, hosting and encryption. A few years ago they added a Snapshot section to their website that serves as a hub for a remarkably rich collection of interviews, podcasts, e-papers and blog posts that provide unique, in-depth insight that anyone in the domain or digital infrastructure industries can benefit from. Simone Catania, InterNetX's Global Content & Communications Manager, oversees the production of the wide ranging elements that have gone into building one of the most valuable informational resources we have now. 

Having already been a fan of Simone's work, I was honored to sit down for an interview with him discussing how and why I got involved in the domain business to begin with (a journey that started back in 2002, less than a year before DNJournal was launched on New Year's Day 2003). That interview (available in both English and German languages) was published today as the latest installment in Snapshot's popular "All About Domains" series. 

As an industry that is still relatively new, most in the domain business came into it from somewhere else - often from completely unrelated fields. In my 

Simone Catania
Global Content & Communications Manager InterNetX

case, this was the third industry I had found a home in. I spent the first 20 years of my work life as a radio and TV reporter, then went to work for myself, following a passion for music to open a series of record stores. Those  flourished until the Internet came along and wiped them all out. Simone's interview begins there and goes on to illustrate the truth in the old saying, "when one door closes, another one opens." In my case, door number 3 turned out to be the best one I ever walked through. You can read all about it by clicking the graphic below. 

(Posted August 13, 2024) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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