The 2008 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference got underway last night at Disney World's fabulous Grand Floridian Resort in Orlando, Florida. The event began with a welcoming cocktail party 

that brought domainers from all over the world together in the Grand Floridian's conference center. It was interesting and gratifying to see so many new faces in the crowd. Show organizers said more than a third of the registrants at this show were attending their first domain conference. 

After two and a half hours of getting to know each other the action moved to an adjacent ballroom where Moniker.com served up an appetizer for their big live auction coming up Friday 

TrafficZ founder and CEO Kevin Vo (front left) chats with Jeff Beasley of BlueFrog Interactive at the 2008 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East opening night cocktail party (May 20).

afternoon. They did it with a one-hour no or low reserve live auction of about 30 domain names. 53% of the names put on the block were sold, led by DayCare.org at $16,500. SpaceForRent.com and Refinancing.net added $8,000 each and DietChocolate.com drew $7,500 to help boost the final sales total to $62,750. It was a solid trial run for the main auction event coming up later this week.

Scene from Moniker.com's No or Low Reserve Live Auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East last night.

Today is the first full day of conference activity and events are scheduled to run from 8:30am to well past midnight. I'll be back Thursday morning with a post featuring highlights from today's schedule.
(Posted May 21, 2008)