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Attorney
Paul Keating was the featured speaker in
the opening session
at DOMAINfest Europe 2011 in Barcelona,
Spain on Wednesday, June 8.
Next
up was Richard
Baxter, CEO of SEOgadget.co.uk,
who described the impact of Google’s
recent Panda algorithm changes.
Baxter also explained in detail how certain
basic and advanced SEO best practices could
dramatically help publishers achieve better
rankings in light of those recent algorithm
changes.
The
DOMAINfest Europe audience receiving
advice from SEO expert Richard Baxter
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The
final morning session Wednesday was also
one of DOMAINfest Europe's main events -
the keynote speech from Dr.
Harry Brignull, a User
Experience Designer and Cognitive
Scientist who curates DarkPatterns.org,
a site dedicated to understanding
deceptive user interfaces with the aim
of stamping them out and
improving the web for everyone.
Dr.
Brignull got a chuckle out of the
audience during his introductory remarks
when he theorized that Domainers might
be too clever for their own good when it
comes to user experience design.
He said that he understands the strong
desire for clicks and conversions, but
warned against using tricks and
misdirection. He showed several
examples of well known brands that have
paid the price in bad social media PR
and decreased customer loyalty as a
result of using so-called “dark
patterns” in user experience
design.
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Keynote
speaker Dr. Harry Brignull |
After
a lunch break attendees returned to the
conference hall for two afternoon panel
discussions. The first was a TLD Update:
Growth Trends and Investment Bets
moderated by Lisa Box and the
second a session devoted to Mobile,
Social and Affiliate Revenue Strategies
moderated by Joerg Schnermann.
Neustar's
Ken Hansen speaking during the TLD Update
session Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Moderator
Joerg Schnermann (far left) guiding a
discussion on Mobile, Social
and Affiliate Revenue Strategies Wednesday
afternoon (June 8).
Oversee's
Aaron Kvitek said, "Attendees could be seen
taking notes throughout the Wednesday morning
presentations as well as during the afternoon
panel discussions. This is always a good sign
that speakers and panelists were providing
helpful tips and advice. PowerPoint files
and videos of all presentations will be
available by the end of June on the DOMAINfest.com
website.
"
Attendees
stayed busy taking notes and asking questions
during business sessions.
A
live Moniker/SnapNames domain auction had
been scheduled to close the Wednesday business
schedule but technical difficulties forced
organizers to scrap the live event and convert
it into a week-long premium online
auction that closes tomorrow
(Wednesday, June 15) at 3:15pm U.S. Eastern
time. An extended
online auction will follow and run
until 3:15pm (again U.S. Eastern time) on June
22.
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On
Wednesday night attendees were treated
to a networking dinner party that
left them well fueled for the full day
of networking and relationship-building excursions
that closed the conference Thursday
(June 9, 2011), along with a farewell
dinner that night.
The
dinner parties introduced attendees to
authentic local cuisine. Kvitek
said,
"A wide range of Spanish tapas
(small appetizers) were offered, giving
everyone a chance to taste gourmet
bite-sized creations that can’t be
found anywhere outside of Spain. Excellent
local Catalonian wines and cavas
(sparkling wine) were also prominently
featured."
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Good
food, wine and networking helped make
DOMAINfest Europe 2011 a
memorable event. |
Networking
and relationship-building activities are always
a big part of DOMAINfest events and the
Barcelona event continued the tradition. On
Thursday attendees
made their choices from an attractive list of
excursion options and headed out to explore
Barcelona. "It was a great way for
attendees to form relationships around common
interests other than domain names and PPC
advertising trends," Kvitek said.
He
noted that the most popular morning excursion
ended up being the “backstage tour”
of 4-time European Cup winner FC
Barcelona’s soccer stadium Camp Nou.
In the afternoon, the Tapas Bar Crawl was
just slightly more popular than the
Montserrat excursion and the Old Town
walking tour.
If
you would like information on upcoming
DOMAINfest events, visit DOMAINfest.com
for the latest updates on their show calendar.
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