In 2010, at least a dozen large scale events are on the show docket including 6 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences, 2 DOMAINfest events, a Domain Roundtable (dates and location still to be announced), a GeoDomain Expo, a Domainer Mardi Gras and the recently announced DNCruise - which will be the first domain show to be held on a cruise ship (can the final frontier - space - be far away now?!).

Still more events may be announced before the year ends...and we're not even counting the regional events held around the world, popular company specific events like the annual SedoPro Forum, local domainer meet-ups or shows (many of them bigger than domain industry conferences) that attract domain owner/developers interested in related topics like affiliate programs, web publishing, search engine optimization, tapping the local advertising market or specific sectors like adult. Whew!

That is a question we are going to explore further in this article, but to better understand where we are going, it is important to know where we have been. The full story of how the domain conference business got started is one that only a handful of industry pioneers have been familiar with - until now.

Also in attendance were Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu. The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founders liked what they saw at DeanFest and after a few more small group meetings in 2003 and 2004, they decided the time was right for a large scale conference for domainers that would bring people from around the world together to meet face to face and discuss ways to grow their young businesses. 

Industry conferences played a huge role in getting their attention and spurring the growth we have seen since 2004. They also played a huge role in permanently changing relationships between domainers. Instead of being limited to online messaging between between screen names people from all over the world were now meeting face to face, producing new business partnerships and life long personal friendships. 

Fresh off their initial show's success in South Florida where both men reside , Schwartz and Neu decided it was time to take the show on the road. They formulated plans to hold the a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in Las Vegas in May 2005. However a problem cropped up. One of the attendees at their debut show, Jay Westerdal (who at the time owned and operated Name Intelligence Inc. - the parent company of DomainTools.com), announced he was starting a show of his own to be called Domain Roundtable that would debut in Seattle - also in May 2005. 

Oversee.net's DomainSponsor division, who had been T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s lead sponsor, would end up going into the show promotion business themselves with a pair of regional DOMAINfest shows in 2006 - the first in Barcelona, Spain in July of that year and the second one in Oversee's hometown - Los Angeles - in September 2006. 

2006 was a year of strong growth for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference. They started the ball rolling for everyone with that initial show in 2004, then expanded to two events in 2005 - the Las Vegas conference I mentioned above and another back in Delray Beach in October 2005 that drew twice as many people as their debut show had attracted in the same location the year before.

In 2006, T.R.A.F.F.I.C expanded yet again - moving to three annual shows - Silicon Valley in January, Las Vegas in May and Hollywood, Florida in October. The Silicon Valley show was the first one designed to get the attention of high tech investors by putting the event in their own backyard. 

Part of the crowd that turned out for the 2006 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley conference

This strategy worked extremely well and as that year progressed investments involving tens of millions of dollars started pouring into the domain industry to form or purchase companies, bur large portfolios or both. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas and Florida shows both doubled their attendance from the previous year as each event set records by signing in more than 500 people.

Domain Roundtable, sticking to its one a year format, returned for its sophomore outing in April 2006, this time moving across Lake Washington from Seattle to Bellevue, Washington. That was my first Roundtable conference and the event produced by Jothan Frakes made a big impression on me. There was not just one - but four keynote speakers, including Internet pioneer Vint Cerf and  then ICANN President and CEO Dr. Paul Twomey. The conference also had a unique four-track format which had multiple seminars all going on at the same time. You could pick and choose from the menu to design the "curriculum" that best suited your business.

If there has been one golden year in the domain conference business, 2007 was it. Business was booming in just about every corner of the industry and the growth at the shows reflected that. The year got underway in January with Oversee's first DOMAINfest Global conference in Hollywood, California. 

Jeff Kupietzky (then Oversee.net's General Manager, now their President and CEO) 
welcoming guests to the first DOMAINfest Global conference in Hollywood, CA (January 2007) 

Oversee obviously learned well from the two smaller regional shows they had run in 2006. A combination of a very low $395 registration fee, great content and entertaining social events staged in the entertainment capital of the world served notice that Oversee intended to aggressively compete  for leadership in this space.

Crowd at DOMAINfest Global 2007 listening to keynote 
speech from TechCrunch.com founder Michael Arrington.

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. rose to the challenge with a trio of spectacular shows in 2007 beginning with T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in Las Vegas that March.  I still have a vivid memory of walking into the ballroom on the first day of that show and having my jaw literally drop when I saw how big the crowd was. Over 600 people were in the room at the Venetan Hotel. 

Just part of the record-breaking crowd at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West 2007 in Las Vegas  

Above and below: Scenes from Moniker's record-breaking $12 million
live domain auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York 2007.

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. closed out their golden year when they returned to Hollywood, Florida in October 2007 when a former U.S. presidential candidate, Steve Forbes (of Forbes Magazine), as their keynote speaker! Forbes expressed admiration for domain investor/entrepreneurs and that in itself was probably more important than any other single thing he said in his speech. 

Domain Roundtable and the GeoDomain Expo also moved forward in 2007. The Expo with the San Francisco show I mentioned earlier and Roundtable with a return to Seattle in in August 2007. Stephen Douglas took over as producer of this show which introduced some impressive high tech twists including a new Internet auction platform that allowed people at home to bid online in real time along with those in the auction hall. That system helped generate close to $4 million in sales. 

DOMAINfest Global again kicked off the new year in 2008 with their second Hollywood event, one that helped them move the ball further down the field as a crowd of 600 flocked to the Renaissance Hotel for the show. The many highlights of this conference included a Town Hall meeting with Frank Schilling who answered the audience's domain related questions and a keynote address from Wired Magazine co-founder John Batelle. 

Frank Schilling answers audience questions at DOMAINfest Global 2008

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. grew yet again in 2008 by adding their first international show, a event in Australia that closed the year after three U.S. conferences. They kicked off 2008 with a February return to Las Vegas, then in May took their road show to Disney World in Orlando for the first time. Attendance was off for this show with most speculating that Disney's family atmosphere didn't appeal to the many young men who make up such a large part of the industry demographic. The general economy and PPC payouts were noticeably starting to slip by this time which also had to play a role. Whatever the reason for the lower turnout, those who were there agreed this was one of the most fun shows in the entire T.R.A.F.F.I.C. series - one that presented an overall experience they would gladly do again.

Brandishing a sword, Dr. Chris Hartnett gets into character for the 
Pirates of the Caribbean ride at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Orlando 2008 in Disney World.

In November 2008, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. made their first big overseas leap with a show on Australia's Gold Coast that was staged by Fabulous.com under a licensing agreement with Schwartz and Neu. Fabulous pulled out all of the stops and many show regulars told me they thought this was the best show they had ever attended. They loved the exotic locale and flipped over the unique adventures Fabulous took them on during the week. Even so, Fabulous lost money on the event and that is a perfect illustration of the problem all show promoters currently face. With fewer attendees to go around, how do you continue to produce a big budget world class event without losing your shirt? That is something I'll talk more about in a moment because it is a problem that other show promoters have also had to deal with since 2008. 

Several domainers accepted an invitation from an Aborigine dance troupe to show off 
their moves at the November 2008 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under conference in Australia.

With so many great shows dotting the calendar in 2008 it was becoming clear to promoters that they had to go out of their way to offer something fresh and compelling in order to retain or build their share of the market. Domain Roundtable hoped a change of venue from Seattle to San Francisco for their 2008 show would help them stem the tide. Even though the conference was held in the fabulous Palace Hotel, attendance stalled near the 200 mark.  

For the GeoDomain Expo, 2008 brought a July return to Chicago where the conference had been born two years earlier. This was a superb show that cinched my belief that the geodomain community is doing some of the most important work in our industry by showing the rest of us a path to success through development that can free domain owners from the whims of the search engines giants, Google and Yahoo, who sit at the top of the PPC pyramid. Most mainstream conferences have borrowed from the geo community's theme and incorporated a greater emphasis on development in their own shows. 

Despite softening attendance at many shows, still another competitor entered the conference ring in 2009. Domainer Mardi Gras debuted with a well received show in New Orleans in February 2009 - right in the middle of the world famous Mardi Gras celebration. Though there were some content sessions the emphasis was clearly on social networking for this event and that was fine by DMG guests. There is no better place for a party that New Orleans during Mardi Gras and that combination served as a differentiator that helped DMG carve out their own niche in a crowded field. 

Guests at the 2009 Domainer Mardi Gras conference in New Orleans got a birds eye view 
of the Mardi Gras celebration on Bourbon Street from their own private balcony.

2009 was also a breakout year for DOMAINfest Global (DFG) who made some huge waves with a little party of their own - at the Playboy Mansion. That helped boost both their turnout and the buzz for DFG in general. Our show review article's headline "Triumph in Tinseltown: DOMAINfest Global 2009 Raises the Conference Bar" summed things up pretty well. 

Guests begin arriving at the Playboy Mansion party staged 
by DomainSponsor at the 2009 DOMAINfest Global conference

Inside the DomainSponsor tent at the Playboy Mansion 

This show looked like a million dollars, largely because that's how much it cost to produce. Which brings us back to the question I asked a few paragraphs back, "how do you produce a big budget world class event without losing your shirt?" Well, it helps to have a lot of shirts (as DOMAINfest parent Oversee.net has) and to be able to allocate the loss of some of those shirts to your marketing budget. 

Revenues at the gate may not cover the show expenses, but the promotional value that Oversee gets for their DomainSponsor, Moniker and SnapNames units more than makes up the difference. They are going spend that money on one form or advertising, marketing and promotion or another.  Spending it on an unforgettable conference where you get to interact face to face with your current and potential future customers is a smart play on their part.

This is where T.R.A.F.F.I.C. was at a disadvantage in 2009. They had no other businesses to promote, so they had to make their money at the door or through auction commissions and sponsorships (this situation changed when Rick Latona became a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. partner for the 2010 shows - more on that in a moment). 

In June 2009 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. went to Europe for the first time with a ccTLD themed show in Amsterdam staged under license by Rick Latona and his team. I thought this was a great show as it gave everyone a chance to make dozens of new contacts from the other side of the pond while enjoying the many attractions in one of Europe's most popular cities. 

Cocktail party in the courtyard at the historic West Indies House in Amsterdam 
during the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. cccTLDS conference in June 2009.

Just days after this successful show, Latona and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founders announced a new partnership starting in 2010 that would have Latona running four more shows outside the U.S., plus one in the States while Schwartz and Neu handled just one mega show set for Miami's South Beach October 17-20, 2010. 

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. closed out its 2009 schedule with an October return to New York that was accompanied by a good crowd of about 300 even though an ICANN meeting was running in Seoul, Korea at the same time, pulling away many people who would have been at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Otherwise. It was a good way for Schwartz and Neu to end a non-stop five year run before taking a well deserved year off before they saddle back up, renewed and refreshed, for that South Beach show next fall. 

The 2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas show held at the Hard Rock Hotel was the first U.S. conference staged by Rick Latona under his new partnership agreement with Rick Schwartz at Howard Neu (Latona will produce four more T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows this year - all outside the U.S.). Like all T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows this one proved to be a crowd pleaser, but attendance stayed the same range as the 2009 shows other than New York where a considerably larger crowd turned out.

With a year to prepare and talented staff that runs their show with military precisions, Oversee's DomainSponsor unit drew a record crowd (in the 650-700 range) to the 2010 DOMAINfest Global conference that moved across town from Hollywood to Santa Monica. 

The 2010 DOMAINfest Global conference drew the show's biggest crowd yet.

Oversee will now try to duplicate the success they have had with this show overseas through a recently announced DOMAINfest Europe conference that will be held in Prague, Czech Republic October 6-7, 2010.

The 2010 Domainer Mardi Gras conference served notice that it intends to be more than just a massive party. Under the direction of new Executive Producer Michael Ward, DMG had some great seminars this year giving this event a double barreled agenda that gave attendees a great week in terms of both business and pleasure. This show, backed by Parked.com, will remain an annual event that, with its unique Mardi Gras setting and strong post-show word-of-mouth buzz, should continue to attract an audience despite the strong competition.

The 2010 Domainer Mardi Gras conference expertly combined business and pleasure.

As we move forward from here, the next two shows on the schedule illustrate the problem promoters now have finding an open spot on the calendar.  The 2010 GeoDomain Expo locked in April 28-30 dates in New Orleans long ago. With six T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows to fit into the calendar, Latona wound up having to scheduled his upcoming Milan, Italy show on conflicting dates - April 27-29. 

Since the two shows have completely different themes (T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Milan will focus on ccTLDs, the GeoDomain Expo on .com development), have a relatively small amount of crossover between their audiences and sponsors, and will be held on separate continents, the conflict shouldn't have a huge impact on either show. Still, it is not the ideal situation as the industry's focus will have to be divided between two events going on at the same time.

October 2010 will be another partticularly busy month with three shows scheduled to run consecutively; DOMAINfest Europe (Oct. 6-7), DNCruise (October 11-15) and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. South Beach (October 20-23). 

Some, especially those who can't draw funds from a marketing budget to underwrite the high cost of show production, will, sooner or later, have to trim some expenses (perhaps food bills, opening night cocktail hours or extravagant parties) to keep their costs in line with revenues. 

In the past sponsors have helped underwrite a lot of those expenses but with so many shows in operation, the sponsors - despite having a desire to be wherever domainers gather - have only so much money they can allocate to promotion at conferences. 

So, going forward, I don't expect every conference to be a mind blowing extravaganza (though we will certainly continue to see some of those). Those that are not like the Super Bowl, World Series and March Madness all rolled into one will still offer plenty of value - especially in the area attendees say is most important to them - networking opportunities.