The Renaissance Hotel - site of DOMAINfest Global 2009 - is in the upper left corner of 
the photo at left. These shots were taken from the retail courtyard in the hotel complex. 

Regular registrants drifted into town throughout the day and by the time Boot Camp ended a sizeable crowd was on hand for a 7pm no or low reserve live domain auction conducted by Moniker.com. 

That event, meant as an appetizer for the premium live auction that would follow Thursday, yielded just over $128,000 in sales led by Eat.net ($15,000), SpearGuns.com ($14,000) and SanFranciscoRestaurant.com ($7,500). Bikes.net and  Consultations.com added $7,000 each as 60% of the listed domains were sold. Michael Berkens has a complete list of sales from this auction posted on his popular blog at TheDomains.com.

Right after the auction, attendees headed for an opening night cocktail party at the hotel's Twist Lounge where, in the photo below, you see Don Orr of iVentures (left) catching up with veteran domainer Larry Fischer.

Photo above: Auctioneer Mark Buleziuk, with 
Moniker CEO Monte Cahn at his side, calls the no/low 
reserve live domain auction Tuesday night (Jan. 27).

The Magic Castle in Hollywood where Thought 
Convergence treated guests to a private show.

By the time the cocktail party wound down you might expect most people, especially those still on East Coast time, to head for bed, but for many the night was just getting started as they moved on to various private events around the city. 

While one group when to a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game, Thought Convergence (parent company of TrafficZ, Aftermarket.com and Domain Tools) treated another to a private performance at Hollywood's famed Magic Castle - the mecca for professional magicians.

At the Castle, located just a block away from the Renaissance Hotel, guests were treated to a truly incredible perfomance by Derek DelGaudio, a young magician so skilled that he was called on to be the technical consultant on The Prestige, a superb movie about rival magicians that starred Hugh Jackman and Christopher Bale.

Jeff Kupietzky, Oversee.net President 
speaking at DOMAINfest Global

Peter Celeste, Oversee Senior VP 
and GM, Domain Services. 
(Photo courtesy of Marvin Yan). 

After his talk, Kupietzky introuduced Oversee Senior VP and General Manager of Domain Services, Peter Celeste who noted, "This is a time of change and change does bring opportunity. Those of us who can adapt to change are going to be the winners." That philosophy, and determination to make the most of changing conditions, is the reason the word Change is the keyword on the cover of the conference program. 

Continuing with that theme, Celeste stayed on stage to moderate a session titled Domaining 2.0 - What Does the Next Evolutionary Phase of Our Industry Look Like? That question was addressed by panelists Gregg McNair (Strata Services Ltd.), Nico Zeifang (Ziefang.com), Michael Berkens (Worldwide Media Inc.), Ofer Ronen (Sendori.com) and Steve Hisey (Oversee.net).

Berkens expanded on the comments he made during this session in an excellent wide-ranging post on his blog after the show (one filled with an excellent overview of landmark events in domain industry history - events Berkens has personally lived through). He wrote, "What can we say about the future? More quality domains will drop - we are seeing that already. As better domains drop, at wholesale prices, people will be less willing to spend their money at big trade show auctions, unless and until those prices reflect the values that you can find at the daily drop auction houses."

(Left to right): Moderator Peter Celeste talks with Gregg McNair, Nico Zeifang, 
Michael Berkens, Ofer Ronen and Steve Hisey about "Domaining 2.0".

Next up was the highly anticipated keynote talk with Apple Computer Co-Founder Steve Wozniak. In a delightfully informal conversation conducted by Oversee President Jeff Kupietzky, Wozniak reminisced about how he and partner Steve Jobs built one of the great business empires of all time from humble beginnings in Jobs' garage. 

A lunch break followed Wozniak's talk and also left time for attendees to visit the adjacent exhibit hall which also served as a popular area to hang out and chat with friends throughout the show. Comfortable seating was scattered throughout the hall with fresh cappuccino and snacks also helping pull people in and drive traffic to the sponsor's booths.

John Mauriello of Moniker.com (far left) chats with visitors to the company's booth.

The Wednesday afternoon schedule featured two panel discussions. One of the things I liked best about this show was a new, less formal format for the educational sessions (also employed very effectively for Steve Wozniak's keynote talk). Instead of people standing at a podium or sitting behind tables on a dais talking at attendees, the experts were hooked up with wireless mikes and seated in comfortable chairs across the stage where the moderator engaged them in free flowing conversations. 

It felt more like you were sitting in a living room with a lot of smart people listening to them speak openly about what was on their minds. The added spontaneity added a real spark to the proceedings and many people commented on this being a refreshing change of pace from past shows. 

In addition, DOMAINfest organizers said more than half of the speakers at this show were appearing for the first time. Now that the conference schedule is so crowded, mixing things up is something all show promoters have to strive for to keep frequent conference attendees from becoming bored with seeing the same format and people repeatedly. DOMAINfest took a couple of major steps in the right direction to achieve that.