The rest of opening day Monday (January 27) was devoted to a half-dozen off-site social activities that have become a popular staple of the ICA's Annual Meeting. They give attendees a chance to connect with smaller groups of people with similar interests by sending them to interesting places in and around Las Vegas. That allows more time to develop personal relationships than you might have in a traditional conference setting. 

This year, my wife Diana and I (at right) quickly settled on a visit to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve & Nevada State Museum - both conveniently located on a beautiful 180-acre plot of land just west of town. The first Las Vegas settlers set up camp around the springs that were located there before drying up in the mid 1950s. The land now hosts a rebuilt Boomtown village based on how it looked in 1905, a Botanical Garden, nature walks and an excellent museum.

Above: Our group on the Las Vegas Springs Preserve trip.

Below: The Las Vegas skyline can be seen behind the Botanical Garden.

Above: This train took us to Boomtown 1905 for a look at a very early version of Las Vegas!

Above & below: After exploring the grounds we went inside the Nevada State Museum where you are greeted by a giant Mastodon as soon as you walk through the door. The museum houses everything from prehistoric fossils to Las Vegas military artifacts to showgirl history and beyond.

At the same time we were at the Preserve and Museum, ICA members were involved in other activities all over town. One of those has become a permanent part of the Annual Meeting agenda - the Kubba Kup Pickleball Tournament (below).

This year's Tournament winner was Josh Reason (at far left below). Josh and the next two top finishers, Andrew Allemann and Steven Kennedy, received their trophies during the Opening Gala that night where they were presented by Kup Founder Ammar Kubba, seen here with his wife, Josephine.

Above & below: Another one of the perennial favorites at the ICA Annual Meeting is the Red Rock Canyon hike. The weather was beautiful and the fabulous scenery always draws members who love the great outdoors. 

For those who love golf - the ICA has them covered with a visit to Top Golf (above).  A lot of people love a good Scavenger Hunt and that was an option as well. Among those who headed to Meow Wolf for that were (below, left to right), Tess Diaz, David Helgeson, Mark Daniel, Joe Uddeme and Deepak Daftari. 

Then there was a chance to visit the Arte Museum Las Vegas - a unique experience with 14 distinct exhibits that reinterpret elements of nature through digital media art. Among the ICA members there were Jeffrey Neuman, Jason Schaeffer and ICA General Counsel Zak Muscovitch. 

After a busy morning and afternoon exploring Las Vegas, the Opening Night Gala, hosted by GoDaddy, got underway at 7pm. Below, Godaddy Vice President (Domain Investors) and ICA Board Member Paul Nicks welcomed attendees. 

The evening began with the presentation of two major ICA Awards and a fond remembrance of a beloved industry pioneer we lost just a month after last year's Annual Meeting.

Above: This year the ICA created a new Trailblazer Award to recognize and celebrate companies and individuals that have significantly advanced the domain name industry by creating an especially innovative product or service with lasting influence on our business. Atom.com Founder & CEO Darpan Munjal (seen here with ICA Executive Director Kamila Sekiewicz) was the first to receive that high honor for building what has become recognized as the world's top business naming platform.

Above: Next, Kamila announced the 2025 winner of the ICA's prestigious Lonnie Borck Memorial Award, presented annually to an individual who has made "extraordinary contributions toward fostering a sense of community within the domain name industry." This year's award went to industry veteran Richard Lau whose many accomplishments include founding the NamesCon conference. Richard is also the Director of the Water School, a life saving charitable organization that he has tirelessly worked to raise funds for (the very reason he established NamesCon to begin with).

Above: A special ceremony followed, honoring a life well-lived in Remembering Howard Neu. The pioneer was one of the world's first domain attorneys and he co-founded the historic TRAFFIC conference in 2004, as well as the ICA itself in 2006. Howard, a close personal friend, passed away in February 2024 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer (I wrote a tribute to his life and legacy soon after we lost him). With Howard's wife Barbara (the Godmother of the domain business) and son, veteran domain investor Ray Dillman Neu (who are also dear friends), looking on, I shared some of my favorite memories of Howard and also brought up Jeff Sass and John Berryhill (seen with me above) to share their memories of him. Jeff met Howard before a domain industry even existed - Howard was the HOA President of the neighborhood they both lived in! 

As most of you know, John Berryhill, along with Howard and Ari Goldberger will be forever known as one of the Three Amigos, a name they earned as pioneering domain attorneys in the earliest days of the industry. Ari would have been with us to honor Howard too were it not for the passing of his beloved mother on January 28 (while the ICA Meeting was underway). Ruth Goldberger was 97 and if you know Ari and the values he lives by, you know she was a great mom too. Our condolences to Ari and his family - all of your friends at ICA were thinking of you too. 

A number of tears fell while we talked about Howard but we are eternally grateful for his friendship and will always be thankful for what he did for our industry.

After the awards ceremony and remembrance, dinner was served - then it was time for the evening's entertainment.

Above: It began with a performance by James, The Irish Hypnotist. Now, generally speaking, putting an audience to sleep is not the target a a performer is aiming for! However, if you are a hypnotist, it can be pretty impressive to those watching from a safe distance! Fortunately, these four volunteers were soon awakened - though only so the James could make them do a variety of silly things that kept the audience laughing!

Above & below: Then it was time for the Main Event, a performance by Mentalist Alain Nu, The Man Who Knows. What I would like to know is, how does he do those things! Here, Alain gives audience member Mike Gaffney a close up look at how he can make the prongs on a fork go limp and flop around like noodles! Alain also went out into the audience and stood on a chair so everyone could try to figure out how he bends spoons with his mind and performs other seeming impossibilities. I don't know about you, but if I could do impossible things, I would make one-word and 3-letter .com domains magically appear in my account! That aside, Alain really is amazing.

Now - one more thing about James, the Irish Hypnotist. I saw him hypnotize some ICA members out in the hallway after his show. He told them they had to get up before 7am the next morning and run through the streets of Las Vegas in 35 degree temperatures! I thought, well, that's not going to happen, but it did! Someone even took a picture (below) to prove it.  Clockwise from lower left are Michael Cyger, Brian Harbin, Doron Vermaat, JT Tenenbaum and Aaron Wilken. What I worry about now is that the hypnotist has left town without breaking the spell. These guys could be doomed to continue doing this every day from now on!

Oh well...it's on to a busy Closing Day, Tuesday, January 28, at the 2025 ICA Annual Meeting.

This got started Tuesday morning at 9am with events in both of the ICA's meeting rooms. In one, above, the popular Broker's Breakfast returned. In the other, below, the ICA conducted a Speed Networking Event for the first time. With an hour allotted to each, you could easily do both things if you wished.

Two my favorite sessions of the entire meeting followed back to back with everyone together in the main room to see them. 

Above & below: At 10am the President of the ICA Board, Sedo's Jeremiah Johnston, presented a detailed history of the ICA - including all of the ups and the downs (with the latter consuming many years before the tide turned) . Jeremiah has been on the board since day 1 in 2006 and despite so many days when it looked like the vision of the founders might never be realized, he refused to give up the fight. Jeremiah knew it was critically important for domain registrants to have a champion on their side when it came to making policy that would determine whether or nor they could build a viable business. Having served on the board with Jeremiah in several of those early years, I can tell you that one of my greatest pleasures today is seeing his perseverance, and that of Nat Cohen and a handful of other pioneers who kept the fire burning, finally rewarded by seeing what has come from their efforts. They and a great group of new leaders who stepped up and took on key roles at a critical time combined to make today's ICA possible.

Above: Another key figure in the emergence of the ICA as an invaluable institution is General Counsel Zak Muscovitch who followed Jeremiah on stage to provide members with a Policy Intelligence Briefing. While Zak took on his current role in 2018, he has been a domain attorney since 2003. No one knows the ropes better and his experience and ability has been an enormous asset to the ICA. It was amazing to hear what the ICA accomplished on our behalf in 2024. That is a separate story in itself. Suffice it to say that the ICA now has a seat at the table and a powerful voice in determining the outcome of issues that are important to all of our livelihoods. 

Above and below: The morning sessions continued with the ICA's Annual Town Hall Meeting. The full Board of Directors was on hand, including Nat Cohen, who I mentioned above. They were there to answer any questions and listen to any suggestions that ICA members had. The board members on the dais behind Nat above are (left to right) Jay Chapman, Tessa Holcomb, Braden Pollock, General Counsel Zak Muscovitch, Jeremiah Johnston, Ryan McKegney, Adam Wagner and Paul Nicks. This is a truly outstanding board. Their efforts, combined with the work of Executive Director Kamila Sekiewicz and Executive Assistant Tiffany Mark are the reason the ICA finally gained traction and respect and why it is growing at an extraordinary rate. Of course, if you are a member, you should give yourself a big hand too, by becoming a member or sponsor, you are providing the funds the ICA needs to help you and your business thrive.

Above: ICA members at the 2025 Annual Meeting Town Hall. 

Below: Member KW Boswell asks a question from the audience. 

Below: Attorney Jeffrey Neuman stands to provide some valuable input into a topic being discussed.

Above: In the final morning session, Atom.com Founder & CEO Darpan Munjal, fresh off being awarded the ICA's first Trailblazer Award the night before, was available for an Ask Me Anything session. With Atom rolling out a lot of new features and marketplaces (non .com domain holders will want to check out Sapphire ASAP), Darpan had a lot of positive things to talk about. 

After the lunch break, attendees were treated to a half dozen Guru Tables events. Starting a little after 2pm Tuesday (January 28), three consecutive sessions were held in each of the two meeting rooms, so members could go back and forth to catch any they were interested in. The concept is simple. An expert on a specific topic sits at a table and attendees can sit down and ask questions or listen to any of the experts they choose. To show you what happened we will run down all three sessions in one room, then all three sessions in the other.

Above & below: Starting with session 1 in the Primrose Room, Hilco Digital Assets Managing Director Andrew Miller, as he always does, drew a big crowd. His topic was From Offer to Close: Strategies for High-Stakes Domain Sales

In the same room as Andrew, at the same time, two other tables were also running. ICANN's Andree Hill was at one to talk about ICANN's Mission and Dynadot Founder & CEO Todd Han (at far right in the photo below) was at another to talk about Maximizing Success in the Domain Aftermarket with Dynadot.

Above & below: Is Session 2 in the Primrose Room, Turn Commerce Co-Founder Jeff Reberry was there to cover the ins and outs of two of the industry's top platforms -  Name Bright and Drop Catch.

Below: At the same time, Josh Reason was fielding questions about Domain Investing.

Above: In Session 3, GoDaddy's David Helgeson (top left) and Trip Briscoe (top center) spoke to Supporting Success: GoDaddy’s Approach to Empowering Domain Investors. I've gotten to know Trip over the past couple of years and he has a great back story. He started investing in domains when he was still in high school! Given that, it probably won't surprise you to hear that Trip was also the Valedictorian and President of his Class! 

At the same time in this room Rick Latona (GiantPanda.com) revealed The First New Tier 1 Parking Feed in Over a Decade, Matt Gould and Brady Anthony-Brumfield discussed Growth @ Unstoppable Domains and John Berryhill got into Risky Business - Outbound sales and broker liability. John also had the last session of the day so we'll have more about him shortly.

Now let's reset the clock to 2pm and go over to the second meeting room to run down the Guru Tables there.

Above & below: In session 1 in the Rose 12 room, Maria Cypher's table was busy with people gathered around to hear her divulge Naming Firm Secrets: What Domain Considerations Really Matter? Maria (at right in the photo below) is Partner, Creative Director at Catchword Branding.

At the same time in this room three other tables featured additional topics. Renee Fossen (FORUM) presented Focus on FORUM - domain name dispute resolution. D3 Founder Fred Hsu covered  Unleashing the DomainFi Economy by Bridging Web2 & Web3 and Grant Polachek (Atom.com) provided advice on How to accelerate you Brandable Domain Sales.

Above: In Session 2, Rob Schutz (Snagged.com) talked about Decoding Retail Domain Buyers: Personas and Strategies for Success. Rob is seated behind the open laptop.

At the same time at other tables, David Thorpe and Adam Wagner from Team Internet covered Maximizing Revenue Through Domain Parking: Insights from ParkingCrew and ICANN's Andee Hill provided information on the Next Round of gTLDs.

Above & below: In session 3, ICA Board Member Jay Chapman drew a crowd that wanted to hear him talk about A Way with Words: cues taken from domain inquiries.

Above & below: Across the room from Jay, 2025 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award Winner Richard Lau was also kept busy with the topic Discuss and Share: Tools and Tips used when tracking down domain name Owners.

Session 3 also feature ICA Board Member Ryan McKegney (DomainAgents.com) on The Pulse of the Domain Industry: Trends to watch in 2025 and Joe Alagna (it.com Domains) answering the question Is There Value to the Right of the Dot? 

Above & below: After the Gurus Tables, everyone got back together in one room for a 4:15pm Ask Me Anything session featuring GoDaddy's Alan Shiflett (at left above) and Paul Nicks. With GoDaddy's position at the top of the aftermarket pyramid, just about everyone in the room does or has done business with GoDaddy so there was a lot of interest in how various issues are being handled there and what to expect from the GoDaddy and Afternic platforms in the year ahead,  

Above: In the last business session of the 2025 ICA Annual Meeting John Berryhill presented an impromptu session on UDRP issues. 

The published agenda indicated an Attorney's Conclave would also be happening but when that didn't materialize I headed back to the room to get ready for the closing night reception at Zasu in Resorts World. To my surprise, as soon as I walked in the door at Zasu, I saw all of the attorneys who informed me that the Conclave had been moved to a more suitable location - the Dawghouse Saloon! OK, that makes perfect sense! Since I missed the opportunity to get a photo there I took one on the spot at Zasu. Below, left to right, are Jeffrey Neuman, Mike Rodenbaugh, Jason Schaeffer, Zak Muscovitch, Daniel Koleshchuk (not an attorney but Daniel works for Hilco Digital Assets, the co-host of the Zasu event with Atom.com), Stevan Lieberman and John Berryhill.

Above: The crowd starts to gather for the Closing Reception at Zasu.

Below: It's true what the say - the stars come out at night! Left to right: Tessa Holcomb, Kamila Sekieiwcz and KW Boswell.

Above: The Closing Reception put a perfect exclamation mark on an outstanding ICA Annual Meeting - one in which the organization took another giant leap forward. Atom.com and Hilco Digital Assets sponsored the night at Zasu and I thanked Atom.com Founder & CEO Darpan Munjal for the wonderful evening on the way out. 

As it always does, the 3-hour Closing Reception flew by in a heartbeat. If domain people are known for one thing it is their reluctance to call it a night. Fortunately, there was one order of business left on the agenda - the annual Poker Tournament organized by ICA Board Member Ryan McKegney. It didn't start until the Reception was over so a lot people headed in that direction to hang out, even if they weren't playing. You could watch and cheer on favorites or chat with friends on the periphery. 

We spent a few more hours there but around 1am (4am for those of us who came from the East Coast),  I cried uncle and finally headed out. Fortunately, Kina Merdinian stuck around for the final showdown between Bar Franek (top center) and Sten Lillieström (far right) and sent us this photo. Bar ended up winning the final hand and this year's Tournament title.

While Bar won this particular event, everyone who attended this year's ICA Annual Meeting went home with a better chance to win in 2025 thanks to what they learned and the relationships they made or strengthened in Las Vegas. Hope to see you there in 2026!