When Rick Latona announced today that he was slashing the registration price for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Vancouver show coming up June 8-10 to just $395, the first thing I thought 

of was the Crazy Eddie electronics ads that blanketed TV in the Northeastern U.S. in the 1970's and 80's. A "crazy" character played by radio DJ Jerry Carroll would scream "Prices so low they're INSANE!" and the phrase became burned into many viewer's minds. Latona may not be insane, but that is one heck of a bargain price for a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference, especially one that would likely have drawn a big crowd anyhow. 

Vancouver is almost the domain industry equivalent of Mecca given how many legendary domainers have come out of that area (Frank Schilling, Kevin Ham and Garry Chernoff to name a few). Just about everyone I've talked to in recent weeks was planning to go before the price cut was announced so now I'm expecting the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel (where the show will be held) to really be rocking next month. 

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Promoter Rick Latona

To meet his lower price point, Latona has dropped  some of the perks associated with past T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows including sumptuous meals (Vancouver will have only a daily brunch) and fabulous parties at night (an opening night cocktail party is the only official evening function on the Vancouver agenda). Latona has done his research though and after having the vast majority of respondents tell him networking is the most important thing to them, he is betting fewer frills is a tradeoff a lot of people will accept in an exchange for a conference fee that meets their budget. 

Still it is a huge departure from what has been the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. "brand" in the past. Going forward it will be interesting to see how the show positions itself against all of the other competitors in the space. As of today, T.R.A.F.F.I.C has become the low cost leader among major multi-day conferences though.  

(Posted May 10, 2010)