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The
Thursday night parties made for another short night, but
everyone figures they can always sleep when the conference is
over! The
main event Friday morning was the speed networking session
first introduced to rave reviews at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in Las
Vegas last May. Everyone sits facing each other, then every two
minutes, one row moves down a seat while the other row remains
stationary. In this system, you wind up meeting and exchanging
cards with about 20 people by the time the hour is up.
| Richard
Cohen of National A-1 and his partner Sandra
were among the people I met during that hour. Their
company owns some stunning domains, like Diet.com
and Singles.com. Though we met for just a couple of
minutes, Richard has taken some of his valuable time since
the show ended to send me some excellent advice on making
websites more appealing and adding features that keep
people coming back. His company has been very successful
on the Internet for more than a decade so getting the
benefit of his experience from that brief meeting at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is another example of what makes the show
well worth the price of admission. |
Scene
from speed networking session |
|
Robert Alfano
DomainCapital.com President
|
The
next session focused on how to finance your domain purchases. DomainCapital.com
was the first in the space to offer that option and others are now
stepping up to do the same. The panel included DomainCapital
President Robert Alfano, Ari Bayme (who spoke on behalf of DotzUp.com’s
finance program), Moniker’s Monte Cahn and Roland Chemtob of
LeaseMy.com. The seminar explained what you could expect
when applying for a loan to buy a domain. Typically the name is
held as collateral with a loan term of up to 60 months and
interest rates that run from 12-16%. You can normally borrow up to
two times the annual revenue produced by a domain.
Chemtob,
a former banker who has raised over $200 million for
Internet startups, talked about the benefits of leasing, an option
that is starting to turn up more and more often for domain owners
looking for increased income without giving up their domains.
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The
Friday lunch was sponsored by Fabulous.com and featured a talk by
company COO Dan Warner who presented highlights from his new
52-page paper on the domain aftermarket that was featured in DN
Journal and is available in its entirety at AftermarketDomains.com.
|
Scene
from Moniker's Live Auction
Auctioneer
Joel Langbaum |
Then
it was time for an event everyone had been waiting for,
Moniker.com’s Live T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Auction, an
event that was broadcast over WebmasterRadio.fm
where Moniker CEO Monte Cahn hosts the Domain
Masters radio show every Wednesday night at 7pm
U.S. Eastern time.
Moniker
also conducted a silent auction online throughout the
conference that ran a couple of days beyond the show,
closing Monday afternoon (Oct. 30). Professional
auctioneer Joel Langbaum was brought in to handle
the gavel, repeating a role he filled in the first ever
live domain auction held at last year’s T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
East conference in Delray Beach. Langbaum is quick with a
quip and his entertainment skills kept the crowd engaged
throughout the four hour event.
When
it was all over, more than $4.7 million worth of
domains had been sold, more than doubling the previous
live auction record set last May at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in
Las Vegas. The silent auction added another $607,000,
pushing the final total to $5.3 million.
Cameras.com
stole the show in the live auction, being taken for $1.5
million by Sig Solares of Parked.com. Flowers.mobi
also made a huge splash after attracting a stunning high bid of
$200,000 from T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founder Rick
Schwartz. |
Schwartz
has always championed .com and has had strong reservations about
other extensions so he would seem to be an unlikely buyer for this
domain. He had this
to say about it. “First of all before we are "Domainers" we are
"Investors." At least that is how I would describe
myself. I decided that buying a few premium .mobi's would possibly
be a good investment. Time will tell. I sure am not going to pitch
anyone on the extension. I know what you know. In time we will all
find out if flowers.mobi was a steal or a bad investment. The
downside is it goes down in value or becomes worthless. The upside
is that a domain like this can be life changing. I don't see that
many opportunities that cross my path that fit into the "life
changing" category and I don't gamble much and don't buy
lottery tickets. I am willing to take the risk and give it the
time needed. Also take in to account that 4 people in the room bid
over 6 figures for this domain. I knew all the bidders. They were
all qualified. All I can say is stay tuned and we'll all learn
together."
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Another
.mobi also cracked the 6-figure mark with Anything.com
purchasing Fun.mobi for $100,000. A
dozen domains attracted 6-figure or higher bids and a
total of 115 names were sold, averaging $42,000 per
sale. That is a 35%
success rate for big ticket items that as we noted earlier
aren’t normally as liquid as other assets. You can
see the complete
list of live auction results here.
The
highest price paid in the silent online auction was $60,000
for Castle.com, followed by the $30,000 each
fetched by Cage.com and PAX.com. A total of
288 domains were sold in that event, an average of $2,100
per sale. The complete
list of silent auction winning bids can be seen here.
Conducting
these auctions was a massive undertaking for Moniker. More
than 50,000 domains were submitted for the event and that
list took countless man hours to whittle down to a
manageable size. They got it done and also made some
dramatic improvements since the Las Vegas show. |
Moniker
CEO Monte Cahn
spots a bidder |
The
live auction ran especially smoothly this time out. This
auction taught them more about what works and what doesn’t
so the next one auction will be better still as this platform
continues to develop into a premier showcase for selling quality
domains.
The
last big event of the conference, the annual T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Awards dinner, followed the auction. In early September,
nearly 1,200 ballots were emailed to people who have a
standing invitation to attend T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences. Their
votes determined the award winners. So, without further
ado…the envelopes please:
|
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Awards |
| Category |
Winner |
| Best
New Click Program |
Sedo
Pro |
We
Get It Award
(Awarded to a company
that understands the web and the domain space) |
News
Corp. |
| Sponsor
of the Year |
Domain
Sponsor |
| Domainer
of the Year |
Rick
Schwartz |
| Best
Overall Solution |
Fabulous.com |
| WADND
Registrar Seal of Approval |
Tucows |
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Domain Hall of Fame
(Two people will be voted in
each year) |
Rick
Schwartz and
Ron Jackson (DNJournal.com) |
Along with the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards, Brian Null of
GolfCourses.com handed out awards for the Tuesday morning golf
tournament. Chris Stewart, who is obviously too good a
player to be allowed on the course with other domainers, won both
the Longest Drive and Shot of the Day Awards.
The winning team was captained by Brian Null (and yes, the
authorities are looking into this!).
The
Saturday
morning breakfast gave everyone a chance to say their final
goodbyes before checking out. There was also a meeting of the new
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Advisory Board, a volunteer group that was
elected by show attendees earlier in the week to provide Schwartz
and Neu with input on future shows, such as show locations,
possible seminar topics and and potential keynote speakers.
Those
elected to the advisory board were Ron Sheridan (DomainSponsor.com),
Dan Warner (Fabulous.com), Frank Schilling (Name
Administration, Inc.), Monte Cahn (Moniker.com), Adam
Dicker (iREIT.com and DNForum.com), Ron
Jackson (DNJournal.com), John Berryhill
(attorney) and Steve Sturgeon (DomainNameLawyers.com).
Mr. Schilling, who has taken on a founding role in the new
Internet Commerce Association, regretfully excused himself due to
other time commitments.
As of
this writing everyone is back home and more than likely catching
up on their sleep (with the exception of Monte Cahn who apparently
never sleeps). In four months it will be time to do it all over
again at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. I hope to meet
many of you there!
*
* * * *
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East
2006 Photo
Gallery
Here
are some additional photos shot during the week at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Enjoy!
|
Frank
Schilling, Name Administration |
|
During
one session, moderator Howard Neu called
Frank "perhaps the most successful domainer
of all time." He is also one of the nicest
guys in the industry. We've yet to meet anyone who
has had anything but good things to say about
"Franky". |
|
Pope John Berryhill
holding court
at the DomainSponsor party.
|
Above: David
Kesmodel (left), former Wall Street Journal
writer who is now working on a book about the
domain business, with Adam Strong.
At
right: Sal Shepherd and friend at
DomainSponsor Party. |
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Longtime
forum friends finally meet face to face. From left
to right above: Bob Connor (Domebase on the
forums and Dear Domey at DN Journal, Charles
Christopher (I Like Info at DomainState.com)
and Richard Meyer (Actnow everywhere). |
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DomainSponsor.com's
Ron Sheridan surprised Rick Schwartz
with a special gift "in recognition of the
contributions he has made in moving the industry
forward." The framed map Schwartz received is
the perfect gift for a domain lover - it has a
chart listing the country codes for every nation
on the globe. |
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| Above:
Jonathan Boswell of LeaseThis.com with Motley Fool
Co-Founder Tom Gardner. |
Above:
Jordan Rohan, Managing Director at RBC Capital
Markets. |
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| Above:
Two more veteran and very successful domain
investors, Canada's Shaun Pilfold (left)
and Chad Folkening of ECorp.com in
Indianapolis. Shaun hates flying so he drove all
the way from Western Canada to South Florida to
make the show! |
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Brian
Null of GolfCourses.com (left) and Marc
Ostrofsky, President of iREIT.com (right) with
two lovely ladies at the DomainSponsor Party. |
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| Above:
Howard and Barbara Neu. Howard is the
Co-Founder of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and a former Florida
TV personality who is the consummate show
moderator. Barbara does an incredible amount of
work behind the scenes to make the conference run
smoothly. |
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Jothan
Frakes of DomainSponsor.com (above left) and Adam
Dicker, DNForum.com owner and iREIT VP (above
right). Two real pros that are always a pleasure
to be around. |
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The
Parked.com booth. Gentleman on the left behind
the table is CEO Sig Solares who purchased Cameras.com
for $1.5 million in the Live Auction at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. |
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Above right: Amber West and Michael Collins
of Afternic.com.
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At
left: Milbank Roy VP Ari Bayme prepares for
a talk on domain leasing.
Below: Roland Chemtob of LeaseMy.com
talks to attendees after that Friday seminar on
leasing domains. |
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Boat
People: A scene is from the TrafficZ.com party
cruise on the Intracoastal Waterway |
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Above: Sam
Aidun (DomainSponsor) and one of his favorite clients Nick
M on the boat
At right: Rick
Schwartz with TrafficZ's very dapper CEO Ammar
Kubba |
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If
you come to T.R.A.F.F.I.C. forget about the
diet! Good food and drink are show trademarks. |
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The
show venue, the Westin Diplomat, was superb
inside and out. This view of the pool area and Atlantic
Ocean beachfront was shot from our 29th floor
balcony. |
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Here's
another shot from the opening day cocktail party
that shows you the beautiful setting at the
Diplomat. As you can see behind attorney Paul
Keating of Renova Ltd (center above) everyone
in the room had a panoramic view of the ocean
while enjoying the party. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East
will return to the same location in October
2007. Hope to see you there!
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