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Rick
Latona: Many tech companies are located in Ireland for
both tax reasons and the ease of doing business there. I myself have
scoped out the scene and always imagined the country as the perfect
location for our eventual European headquarters.
Dublin itself is a fantastic city.
It’s fun and full of history. More than anything, the people are
what make the city great, as is the case with many cities. They are
friendly and easy to get along with.
DNJournal:
In addition to picking interesting cities for your events, you seem
to have had a knack for finding especially attractive venues within
each city. The Renaissance in Vancouver had a
spectacular view of Coal Harbour and your first European show
in Amsterdam last year
was held directly across the square from that city’s famous Royal
Palace. For Dublin, the show will be at the 186-year-old
Shelbourne Hotel which has been described as a national treasure.
What can you tell us about the location and how it will shape the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Dublin experience?
The
Shelbourne Hotel - built in 1824 - will be the site for T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Dublin
| Rick Latona:
Honestly, it’s the best hotel we’ve secured for
the entire year of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. events that we’ve
held. It’s in an absolutely beautiful setting and right in
the thick of things to do.
For the business people, you’ll be a
short walk to law firms and accounting offices if you want
to setup shop in Dublin. Those that are thirsty could
stumble their way home from the world famous Temple Bar
district. Shoppers won’t have to carry their bags far to
get home from Grafton Street.
The hotel is even across the street
from a wonderful park if you just want to stroll around
during the time that Dublin’s weather is the best.
DNJournal:
You’ll again have some of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.’s popular
standard features like Test Track, but in
looking through the agenda, a couple of new things jumped
out at me as being of special interest. First, let’s talk
about the opening business session which will be a site
clinic in which audience members can have an expert
panel review their websites live and provide tips for making
them better. How did that idea come about and what kind of
expertise will be available on the panel? |
Rick
Latona |
Rick Latona: You have a
good eye for picking this topic to ask me about. There will be an SEO,
a PPC and a Design expert on the panel.
Many domainers aren’t necessarily Internet people.
Meaning, they don’t always know about making sites convert in a
lead setting or how to optimize their pages properly. Many do,
don’t take me the wrong way. I’m just saying that not all do. We
want to help the later group.
Personally, I’ve never sat in a room where the audience
could ask a panel to comment on their name or site so I think
it’ll be quite interesting.
DNJournal: Another
session that looks especially interesting to me will be on day two
when you have a closing seminar titled Advanced Domain
Innovation - Revenue or Pipe Dream? This is an especially
timely topic as people are looking for ways to replace lost PPC
income. Tell us a little more about this session and I would also
like to know your personal opinion – we’re seeing a lot of
innovative new platforms for developing/monetizing domains – do
you think they will produce more revenue or is that a pipe dream?
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Rick Latona:
Who is going to be on that panel will be somewhat of a
surprise so I’m going to sidestep that question for now.
As for my personal opinion, I remain convinced that the
only way to develop a name is thoroughly.
My WeBuyWatches.com
and WatchBrokers.com
sites are doing well because they are full companies, fully
staffed with distribution channels, technology and a loyal
customer base.
That said, something needs to be done
with the massive amount of domains that I’m not ready to
develop yet. My situation is no different than other
domainers’.
There are a wealth of new programs and
platforms out there and discussing those will be a major
part of the agenda. |
DNJournal:
A lot of times I have made long trips to conferences and regretted
that I didn’t have more time to get out and see the host city or
country while I was there. For Dublin, you have compressed the
entire schedule into two days so it will be a lot easier for people
to stay over an extra day or two to enjoy Ireland. At the same time
that means T.R.A.F.F.I.C. activity will be compressed into just 48
hours. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. has always been a great place for networking
and doing business deals - will there still be ample opportunities
for those things in the tight schedule you are running there?
Rick Latona:
Yes! Will there be time for rest? No! Seriously, we
are getting started in the morning and rocking the Kasbah until the
late evening hours. It’ll be 48 non-stop hours. We figured
that would be best for all involved. Let’s get in there, do
business, have fun, then get back to our day jobs.
DNJournal:
The grand finale will be your live domain auction on August 25.
There is a lot of competition among sales venues for high quality
domains. How is your catalog shaping up for this event?
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Rick Latona:
It’s getting there. We have some big marquee names on the
list this time around. Keep an eye on saas.com. That
category killer could set off real fireworks. We aren’t
doing 2 or 3 auctions like at previous shows. We are going
to do one auction with good names and get it done in 3 hours
or so. It won’t be a long drawn out event with lots of
passes.
DNJournal:
You are a big ccTLD fan and devoted a lot of time to
Canada’s .ca extension at Vancouver. Ireland’s
ccTLD is .ie. What is the current state of affairs
for that country code and will it be getting any face time
in Dublin?
Rick Latona:
There will be some pretty major ccTLD names at the auction
but there won’t be any .ie names due to the registry’s
regulations. It’s just too hard to transfer
the names and we are reluctant to even sell a company
that owns the name because we don’t want to cause any
problems with the people at .ie. |
Ireland |
DNJournal:
I published an item a few days ago about an unexpected logjam of
domain shows this month with no less than five conferences falling
into a two-week period at the end of August, including T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Dublin. Two of the others will join you on the east side of the
Atlantic (England and Poland). As a show promoter how much is the
potential division of the audience, speaker pool, etc. a problem for
you in putting together your event and how do you counter that?
Rick Latona:
To be completely honest, I knew that six T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows would
be a lot to handle but I never thought that Oversee and Sedo
would each come out with their own 5-6 show plans. This has
gotten silly. I’ll be the first to admit it. Even Chef
Patrick and Rob Monster have jumped into the circuit. Where
does the madness stop? I know I started it, the chaos at
least, and I’ll be the first to bow out by not going bat sh*t
crazy in 2011 but this is still 2010 and I’m finishing what I
started. None of the shows happening within that period will be
like Dublin. Dublin is still a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. event and will have
the luster that attendees have gotten used to. We are going all out
on this one and it will be a trip to remember for all those who
come.
DNJournal:
In case I missed any bases, is there anything else you would like to
add about T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Dublin before we sign off?
Rick Latona:
As usual, I’m calling all domainers to come out of their shells
and attend this event. I encourage anyone who has been on the fence
to contact me directly. We’ll find a way to get you to the show
and make it a profitable experience for you. Just reach out to me
and let’s discuss the possibilities: http://www.ricklatona.com/contact-me
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