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Above:
Host Patrick Ruddell (Chef
Patrick) keeping his cool behing the DNCruise
ice sculpture.
Below:
The networking gets underway early as
the first arrivals at the
welcoming cocktail party start getting
to know each other (almost half
of the guests were attending their
first domain conference).
It
didn't take long for the DNCruise
registrants to become one big happy
family. Everyone dined together at
8:15pm each night. Guests could switch
tables each evening so they could spend
time with a wider variety of fellow
domainers during the four-night
cruise.
Above:
(left to right) Zezura Ruddell, Patrick
Ruddell, Michael Castello
and Diana Jackson at DNCruise's
opening night dinner (Oct. 11)
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After
dinner every night, the maitre d' and
waiters cajoled the diners into closing
out the evening with an impromptu song
or dance. In the photo at right, the
first ladies of ccTLDs; .ME's Natasa Djukanovic
(at left) and .CO's Lori Anne Wardi,
show one of the waiters how to really
cut a rug.
One of the
best things about the casual cruise
atmosphere is that everyone let their
hair down and could feel comfortable
just being themselves. It produced a
great environment for getting to know each
other better than would have been
possible in a more formal setting. |
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Day
two of DNCruise opened with the
Imagination docking early Tuesday
morning under rainy skies in Key
West, Florida. It turned out that a
much bigger storm was brewing
across the Gulf of Mexico in the
exact location we were supposed to go
next. Shortly after I woke up I got a
text message from Michael Castello
telling me Hurricane Paula has
unexpectedly formed off the Yucatan
Peninsula and was headed straight
for Cozumel. While the captain
kept an eye on the weather reports, some
of the domain cruisers, including
Michael, decided to go into Key West
despite the downpour. My wife, Diana,
and I decided to stay onboard but
Michael sent me some photos from shore.
Above:
You can see the storm clouds brewing
over two cruise ships (the Imagination
is the
one at left) docked at Key West
in this photo snapped by Michael
Castello Tuesday (Oct. 12).
Below:
Other members of the shore excusion party who
joined Micheal Castello
in braving the wet weather at Key West.
(Clockwise from left): Chef Patrick's
friend and DNCruise photographer Gene, Zezura
Ruddell, Dan Warner,
Morgan Linton, Patrick Ruddell and Jodi
Chamberlain.
Everyone
had to be back onboard by 2:30pm
Tuesday. Soon after that, the captain
announced that with a hurricane bearing
down on Cozumel we were going to turn
around and head the opposite
direction with Nassau, Bahamas as
our new destination.
With
the Imagination now headed east, the
conference resumed with a networking
session Tuesday afternoon. I really
liked the way this one was handled.
After making some opening comments Chef
Patrick (while shedding a few tears of
joy at seeing his DNCruise creation come
to fruition) introduced the event's
sponsors, then had every attendee
step to the front of the room, one by
one, to introduce themselves and tell
the crowd how they got involved with
domains.
Time
would prevent this from being done at a
conference with hundreds of attendees,
but it was perfect for a smaller
gathering like this because it allowed
you to learn something about every
single person there. It was
especialy interesting to hear how they
arrived in this business and why they
shared your own passion for domains.
Veteran
domainer Chad Folkening
introduces himself at the Tuesday
afternoon
networking session. Many of you know
Chad, who is one of the industry's
biggest
hitters, but the many newcomers on
DNCruise were meeting him for the first
time.
Michael
Castello and I had been scheduled to
conduct an open forum discussion after the
networking session, but since each of us
had already spoken at length during the
individual introductions we called an
audible and opened that time for everyone
to chat one on one. Having just heard some
remarkable stories many of us
wanted to learn more from the people whose
accounts particularly intrigued us.
After dinner,
Chef Patrick introduced another new
wrinkle to the conference game - a Game
Night - in which attendees chose up teams
and competed head to head in a variety of
old school games with a load of cool
prizes up for grabs (including a Macbook
Pro, Ipods, a free cruise, cash and more).
Chef
Patrick, assisted by Morgan Linton
(both standing), explain the game
rules
for Taboo to the teams that were
ready to go head to head on Game Night.
Game
Night turned out to be a big hit with
participants who raved about the
networking and team building experience.
It went over so well that Patrick
scheduled a second game session for the
final night of the cruise.
Day
3 of DNCruise (Wednesday, Oct. 13) was a Day
at Sea (the Imagination would not
arrive in the Bahamas until Thursday
morning). With the weather still iffy that
made it a perfect day for a full round of
seminars covering a broad range of domain
topics. Craig Snyder, the General
Manager of Oversee.net's
Registrar and Aftermarket divisions
(including Moniker and SnapNames)
kicked things off at 10am with a detailed
discussion of the Drop Game
(covering the stages that expiring domains
go through before they become fair game
again).
Oversee.net's
Craig Snyder conducting a very
informative session
on the domain Drop Game Wednesday
morning (Oct. 13).
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This
was the first time I have heard
Craig speak at length and it was a
revelation. The U.S. Naval
Academy graduate did a great job
of making a very difficult subject
understandable, even for the
newcomers in the crowd.
He also
showed tremendous grace under fire.
The audience peppered him with
questions throughout his
presentation, something that few
speakers can handle well. Questions
are normally held until the end
so a speaker does not lose his train
of thought or have disruptions
shatter the presentation into dozens
of no longer recognizable pieces. |
Craig
Snyder, Oversee.net |
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For
Snyder, it seemed to be a piece of
cake though. He adroitly addressed
every question while still managing
to keep the overall presentation on
track. A thought that crossed my
mind after his session was that
everyone who paid $400 to be on the
cruise got their money's worth from
Craig's valuable session alone.
I hope Oversee will utilize his
obvious talents at their next DOMAINfest
Global conference in
February 2011. The industry needs
more people like this who can make
an arcane subject like domains less
of a mystery to the mainstream
business world. |
The
morning continued with three more
seminars. Next up was a panel discussion
on the rise of ccTLDs.
What,
Not .Com?! - A session moderated
by Morgan Linton (standing) about
the rapid
rise of ccTLDs. The panelists,
seated left to right, were Tony Kim
(Hexonet), Crystal Peterson
(.CO Registry), Lori
Anne Wardi (.CO Registry) and Natasa
Djukanovic (.ME Registry).
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Batting
third in the morning line up was
attorney Karen Bernstein, who
has clients raving about her
expertise on domain and trademark
related issues.
She was
followed by an all-star panel that
covered domain parking and alternate
methods of monetization. That
session, moderated by Parked.com's Michael
Ward, featured (left
to right in the photo below) Donny
Simonton, (President,
Parked.com), Gregg McNair
(PPX International) and Dan
Warner (CEO,
DomainAdvertising.com). |
Attorney
Karen Bernstein |
People
could drift in and out of the conference
sessions to grab a drink or relax on the
deck of the Imagination (shown the in
the Wednesday photo below), but
attendance for the seminars was quite
high, likely fueled be the large number
of newcomers who were determined to
absorb all of the information they could
get about how to succeed in the domain
business.
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After
a lunch break it was time to get
back down to business with four
more seminars Wednesday afternoon.
Morgan
Linton kicked it off
with a talk about website
development, his preferred method
of monetization. Rick Waters
followed with more details about
site development and successful
SEO practices. Brad
Waller, a expert on
mobile apps was next with tips on
adapting to an increasingly mobile
environment. |
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Brad
Waller |
Rick
Waters |
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David
Sams, a world class TV
producer who helped launch
syndicated classics like Jeopardy,
Wheel of Fortune and
the Oprah Winfrey
show, closed out the business day
with an inspiring talk about
online marketing and video. At
least, that is how it was listed
on the agenda. It was more about dreaming
big. It is something Sams has
done throughout his life while
following one key principle -
don't let anyone tell you NO
or that something you dream of
doing cannot be done.
He
pointed out that in the media
world, the gatekeepers who used to
be in control, have been washed
away by the Internet. Now everyone
has ready access to low cost
worldwide distribution platforms in
domain names. |
David
Sams delivering an inspiring
talk in DNCruise's final business
session. |
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David's
talk provided a fitting end to
DNCruise's seminar program. Chef
Patrick returned for some closing
comments (during which he thanked
his wife Zezura for pitching in
and helping him pull off a very
successful debut event). He and
Zezura also surprised five
attendees who were celebrating
birthdays by rolling out a cake
for them, as well as one
celebrating the birth of DNCruise. |
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Above:
Birthday cake helped give the
business portion of the DNCruise
agenda a sweet close.
The
business sessions were over, but the
fun was just beginning on
DNCruise. Gregg McNair, the
Executive Chairman of PPX
International, saw to that.
After dinner McNair, the most
energetic person you will ever meet
in your life, opened the door to his
spacious cabin to all attendees for
a late night party that brought day
3 to a rousing close.
Gregg
McNair
is a one-man party. Gregg
brings a smile to the face of
everyone he meets.
Whether you are with him one on
one or in the midst of the crowd
at one of his famous late
night parties, Gregg's enthusiasm
and good humor will leave you
feeling like a million
bucks.
Day
4 of DNCruise (Thursday, Oct. 14), a
day of leisure, opened when the
Imagination docked early that
morning in Nassau, Bahamas. Some
attendees made the short walk into
town to explore Nassau. Others took
a taxi ride to the fabulous
Atlantis Resort (where the Domain
Roundtable conference
will be held in March 2011) and
others elected to stay on board and
enjoy the beautiful day lounging by
the pool or enjoying other
activities on the Imagination.
Above:
A view of Paradise Island
in the Bahamas, snapped from the
upper deck
of the Imagination whle it was
docked in Nassau Thursday (Oct.
14).
Below:
Another view from the ship looking
at the Atlantis Resort,
located just across the channel
from the cruise ship docks.
Everyone
was back onboard by late afternoon
when the Imagination departed
Nassau for the final leg of the
cruise back to Miami. After dinner
that evening, attendees enjoyed
another Game Night in the last
group event on DNCruise 2010.
Oscar Felipe Correa
acts out a clue for his teammates in
Guesstures, a
game
similar to charades, that generated
a lot of fun Thursday night (Oct.
14).
The
Imagination cruised through the
Atlantic throughout the night,
bringing us back home at 8am Friday
(Oct. 15). As we disembarked, we
said our final goodbyes to old
friends and the many new ones we
made during DNCruise. People were
already talking about when they
could do it again. Chef Patrick
undoubtedly already has the wheels
in motion. He said he is aiming for
a 2011 event that would likely be
held next July with the
cruise moving to the West Coast for
a Los Angeles departure. If
you are looking for a new kind of
conference experience, DNCruise's
maiden voyage showed that you can
depend on Patrick and Zezura to
deliver it.
A
view of Miami from the deck
of the Carnival Imagination
on DNCruise 2010. |
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