| By
Ron Jackson
The 2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami conference was
hailed by many as the best show in the six-year history of
the ground-breaking series. The event, the only 2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference produced by the show's co-founders, Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu, was held October
17-20 at the perfectly located Loews Hotel on
Miami's world famous South Beach.
The fabulous venue had a lot to do with the conference's
rave reviews, prompting Schwartz and Neu to say there is a
good chance the Loews Hotel will become the permanent
home for their South Florida shows.
At right: The Loews
South Beach Hotel, site of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami 2010.
Below: The
oceanfront swimming pool at the lavish Loews Hotel on
Miami's South Beach.
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Below:
View of the Atlantic Ocean beach, just steps away
from the Loews Hotel pool.
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While the conference was going on I published daily show photos and highlights
from Miami in these posts in our Lowdown section:
So, you
may ask, with those posts on the record, what is the purpose of this
article? While those daily posts provided an inside look at some
of what was going on as the show
unfolded, the busy schedule while the event was underway didn't
leave enough time to tell you about all of the activities that
deserved attention. This comprehensive review will allow me to do
that (while including many previously unseen photographs) and also
organize all of the landmark show's highlights in this one
convenient place for posterity. It will also give me a chance to put
into perspective how this show impacts the overall conference
space.
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One
reason this was a landmark event, aside from the
overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, is that it finally
brought some clarity to a domain conference picture that had
become muddled over the past couple of years by an explosion
of shows that came with varying themes, lengths and locations around
the globe. Equally important, it brought T.R.A.F.F.I.C.s high end
brand back into sharp focus.
The show
tsunami has caused the ground to shift under the feet of most conference
promoters. While the sudden wealth of options has made it much
easier for people to find more affordable events located closer to
their homes, having the pie cut so many ways left promoters with a
quandary. With revenues driven down as a finite number of conference
goers were spread across more events, what kind of product could
they deliver that would draw a crowd and also keep them out of the
red?
Schwartz
and Neu decided to
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T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders Rick Schwartz & Howard Neu |
| turn all of their 2010 shows, except Miami, over
to Rick
Latona to promote under a licensing agreement with the
founders. Latona simultaneously trimmed expenses and took the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. brand to new locations outside the U.S., including Milan,
Italy, Vancouver, Canada and Dublin, Ireland.
However, the ambitious gambit did not pay off with profits so he
cancelled the final show he had planned (for November 2010 in Hong
Kong) and decided to exit the conference battlefield. |
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With a
full year to re-think their strategy while Latona's experiences in
the field gave them more |
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Scene
from the .CO Registry's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami Party
at
the Versace Mansion on South Beach (Mon. Oct.
18, 2010) |
insight, Schwartz and Neu decided to go
back
to their roots and polish up T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s luxury mark for
their return to the show wars in Miami. They would pull put all the
stops - a world famous high end oceanfront venue, a fresh approach
to programming, great food and drink and unforgettable parties
led by a night at the spectacular Versace Mansion sponsored
by the .CO Registry. Recession or no recession, it worked. A
sizeable crowd returned and enjoyed an experience that will bring
them back, along with a lot of people that will hear about it from
them.
With
T.R.A.F.F.I.C., the pioneer in the conference space, now clearly
back in high end mode it is easier to make sense of the show
landscape. How each show fits into the overall picture is more
apparent and it is good to see the various events forming a clear
identity that makes it much easier for a conference goer to pick an
event that best suits their interests and budget.
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At the
top end you have two giants. In one corner, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. with its
focus on the interested and needs of individual domain investors and
a reputation as the place where major deals get done. In the other, DOMAINfest
Global that has become a key matchmaker between domain investors
and developers and the mainstream business world. The two
events now have clear differences and their own identities and that
is a good thing. Domain Roundtable is also ready to re-enter
the heavyweight ring. After sitting out 2010 to, like T.R.A.F.F.I.C.,
re-calibrate their sites, Roundtable, run by Thought Convergence,
will return in March 2011, staking out a piece of high end
ground for themselves with a show at the Atlantis Resort in
the Bahamas. How they will position themselves vs.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and DOMAINfest Global will be revealed next spring.
One step
removed from the mega shows are a series of well run special
interest and regional events like - to name just a few - the
GeoDomain Expo, the recent IDN Event in New York City,
DOMAINfest Europe and DOMAINfest's new Power Networking
Days, one day events held at least a couple of times a year at
varying locations in the U.S. I think this is a very positive
development as it takes the domain story far and wide and opens up
affordable networking opportunities within traveling distance of
just about anyone that is interested in meeting industry leaders and
fellow domainers while learning more about the business. Some will
get their feet wet at a local show and as their businesses bloom,
eventually migrate to the biggest events that attract the heaviest
hitters.
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With
interest in domains still growing and the aftermarket holding up
well despite the recession and a downturn in traditional monetization
revenues, the conference field should benefit. With their Miami
show, Schwartz and Neu replanted the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. flag on the
mountain top, marking it as a can't miss event for those who
want to meet and do business with the industry's biggest players.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Miami actually opened two days ahead of the regular schedule.
Schwartz and Neu telegraphed their intention to give guests the
royal treatment throughout the day Friday and Saturday (Oct. 15th
and 16th) by hosting early Miami arrivals at a string of private
cabanas they had rented along the south side of the sparkling
Loews pool for the exclusive use of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendees. To
monitor the entry points and serve their guests, they also brought
in a bevy of lovely models from Miami's ModelStore.com
(owned by Bianka Krausch, the fiancé of veteran domain
investor Chad Folkening who was profiled in our October
Cover Story).
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Throughout
the conference guests could lounge
with friends at the private poolside cabanas
reserved for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendees. |
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Bianka
Krausch (center) with six of her models from the ModelStore.com.
(photos above courtesy of Barbara Neu) |
The
conference officially got underway Sunday evening (Oct. 17) with one
of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s most popular traditional events - the
opening night cocktail party that gave friends old and new a chance
to get acquainted or re-connect and set the stage for a busy week
ahead.
Above:
Part of the wall to wall crowd at the opening night cocktail
party.
Below:
Faces in the crowd included (L to R) Divyank Truakhia (Directi),
Rob Grant (RealEstateDirectory.com) and Rob Sequin (HavanaJournal.com)
After the
cocktail party several private events were held at various locations
around South Beach. In two of the biggest, Chad Folkening's new
company, Domain Holdings LLC, held a launch party at the Yuca
Restaurant and and Thought Convergence's new domain sales
platform - Aftermarket.com - previewed their service with a
dinner party at Devito (the South Beach restaurant owned by
actor Danny Devito).
Above:
Guests at Aftermarket.com's dinner party at Devito on
South Beach Sun. night (Oct. 17)
Below:
Guests at the Domain Holdings LLC launch party at the Yuca
Restaurant the same night included (L to R): Natalie Lambert,
David Castello, Alina Schwartz and Michael Castello.
Early the
next morning (Monday, Oct. 18), it was time to get down to business
with an 8:30am speed networking session that was staged under an
entirely new format. Participants
registered in advance so they could be matched up with people who
worked in the areas that they were most interested in. That allowed
show organizers to set up six extended one-on-one meetings
(each lasting just under 10 minutes) for each participant. As you
entered the room you were given a personal schedule that
directed you to numbered pre-assigned seats for each of your
sessions. In the case of no shows people who were left without
a partner were quickly paired up with others in the same situation
allowing things to proceed smoothly throughout the hour. I liked the
format and additional time available to spend with each assigned
partner (almost 10 minutes with each person compared to just two in
the old format). I think this format will be a keeper.
At
the brunch that followed, Schwartz and Neu gave their official
welcoming remarks. Schwartz made the show's theme clear, saying that
much of the agenda had been shaped by the need for domain owners to retake
control of their assets by seeking new ways to maximize their
traffic-generated revenue streams. Like many, Schwartz believes that
domain owners are being short-changed by their upstream
"partners", particularly those at the top of the pyramid -
Google and Yahoo (Yahoo has since outsourced their
search business to Microsoft's Bing). There is widespread
discontent among domain owners who have seen their PPC revenues
decimated at the same time Google is reporting record profits. With
no transparency in the PPC chain, no one knows where the money has
gone and the lack of accountability has led to a lot of mistrust and
interest in new solutions.
At
11:15am, keynote speaker Simon T. Bailey took the microphone
for an inspirational talk on unleashing your inner brilliance.
Bailey believes that each of us is born brilliant. Then we spend the
rest of our lives having our brilliance buried by people,
circumstances, and experiences. He says that eventually we forget
that we ever had genius and special talents, and our brilliance is
locked away in a vault deep within. So we settle for who we are,
instead of striving for who we were meant to be. He details
how to change all of that in his latest book, Release
Your Brilliance, that is available on Amazon
and can also be purchased for immediate download to iPads and
iPhones. I sat with Simon at brunch prior to his talk and found him
to a very impressive person. The way he rose from poverty to become
an internationally celebrated speaker, author, and consultant
underscores that anything is possible if you set your mind to
it.
-photo-
In the
next session, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. scored a coup by getting U.S.
Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-Florida) to speak - the highest ranking
U.S. government official ever to address a domain industry
conference. Stearns was also accompanied by former Congressman Mike
Ferguson. Stearns is in line to become Chairman of a powerful
House committee that oversees Internet issues. He expressed support
for domain owner's rights and urged attendees to get involved
in the political process to make sure those rights are not taken
away by those who want to grab assets they did not have the
foresight to acquire years ago when they were available to anyone
who wanted to put their capital at risk. Stearns said generic domain
investors who bet on Internet real estate to appreciate in value
should be called homesteaders not cybersquatters.
Ferguson
emphasized that it was crucial for domainers to join
forces because they are battling giants in this fight.
Unfortunately, as an industry we have a poor track record of working
together, so whether or not Stearns and Ferguson's sage advice will
be heeded remains to be seen.
The
show's first three seminar sessions followed Congressman Stearns's
talk. These were all conducted under a new open discussion format
unveiled for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami. The usual Powerpoint
presentations were banned. Instead moderator Howard Neu led the five
or six experts on the dais for each session through a wide ranging
discussion of the topic at hand.
-photos
from each with captions on what they were about -
The first
fill day of business closed with Test Track, a feature that
has become a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. feature. It allows pre-selected
entrepreneurs to to make a pitch for investment capital needed to
grow their current enterprises. A panel of judges/potential
investors listened to the presentations then offered their views on
the merits of the businesses and decided whether or not they would
be interested in investing in them. Only two presentations were made
at this edition of Test Track and no funding was secured but it is
always interesting to see new business ideas detailed and dissected
with the kind of hard questions entrepreneurs have to be ready to
answer if they hope to secure additional funding.
-photos-
With
business out of the way it was time for attendees to shift into
party mode Monday night (Oct. 18) and the gala event's sponsor, the
.CO Registry, threw a soiree at the opulent Versace Mansion
that guests will never forget.
-photos-
TUESDAY
(page break?)
After a
late night out at the Versace Mansion Monday night (Oct. 18),
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. waited until 10am Tuesday morning to resume with
another one of the conference's signature events - the annual T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Awards brunch. Awards were presented in seven categories and two
new members were also inducted into the T.R.A.F.F.I.C Hall of
Fame. The winners were:
-photos-
After the
awards were handed out, any attendee who had a new service or
product they wanted to tell the crowd about was given a chance to
take the stage and deliver their best 2-minute elevator pitch.
-pitch
photo-
Next up
was a bonus guest speaker - legendary boxing promoter Don King,
a local Miami resident, who was a surprise late addition to the show
agenda. King was a controversial choice as some questioned his
relevance to a domain industry audience as well as incidents in his
past that led to time in prison. While his meandering speech was
hard for some to follow several worthwhile nuggets emerged from a
question and answer session with King that followed and brought the
topic back to domains.
Rick
Schwartz asked King what he would do if he owned domain traffic but
received only a miniscule share of the proceeds from selling
that traffic via upstream "partners" Google and Yahoo.
King said he had run into almost exactly the same situation in his
business career. He said that he essentially "made"
the HBO and Showtime cable networks with his
exceptionally popular boxing cards, however he was paid a pittance
compared to the profits he generated for those companies. He said
the answer was to find a way around them, perhaps by creating
your own distribution channels to sell traffic directly to
advertisers. He said he is planning to do something similar with a
new People's Network to distribute his shows and
promotions.
King said
domain owners are currently like "tenant farmers"
who produce the crops but get a meager share of the profits from
their landlords. "The boss decides what your cut will be,"
King said. He encouraged domainers to educate themselves so
they can create new avenues from which to sell their product.
While
there were people who had reservations about King it was obvious
that many others did not. A big crowd gathered around him to take
pictures and get autographs when the session ended. King accommodated
every request and wound up staying over for two hours to chat with
those who had questions for him.
The
afternoon schedule included another round of three seminar session,
conducted under the same open format that was introduced Monday.
-Session
photos -
Tuesday's
business schedule closed with a live domain auction conducted by Rick
Latona Auctions. Winning bids totaled close to $500,000,
however a week after the sale Latona announced that the winning
bidders in what would have the two biggest sales; Shock.com
($200,000) and BVI.com/BVI.co ($110,000) did not pay.
That left Idle.com ($20,000), MZH.com + MZH.co
($15,000) and Coches.co ($15,000) as the largest sales.
auction
photo
Tuesday
evening NameMedia hosted a three-hour cocktail reception/buffet
dinner in beautiful weather on the outdoor terrace at
the Loews Hotel. It was the perfect way to spend the final evening
in Miami.
Photos
When the
NameMedia event wrapped up new Domainer of the Year award winner
Gregg McNair opened his suite at the Loews for an open to all party
for those who wanted to stay up late (judging form the crowd in
Gregg's suite, that was just about everyone)!
McNair
party-
The big
show wrapped up Wednesday morning (Oct. 20) with a farewell
breakfast and an Epik.com
Swapfest
- a domain sale, involving thousands of names, conducted
under a Dutch auction format (prices start high and fall
until they hit a price a bidder likes - or reach the minimum bid
level without selling). Several things make Swapfest a unique
sale. For one, all domains include a website developed on the
Epik platform and for another, you can pay for winning bids with
either cash of Epik
bucks, a new form of currency invented by the company to
bring added liquidity to the market. For more on that event,
check out this
post on the Epik blog that includes a big slide show
that covers all of the action.
epik
swapfest
When the
current came down on T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami 2010, Rick Schwartz,
Howard Neu and their tremendous family support team of Barbara
Neu, Ray Neu and Alina Schwartz could take pride
in successfully pulling off the kind of transcendent event they had
envisioned after 12 months of careful planning. In doing so they
have also ffollowed the late great Walt Disney's golden rule
of show business, "Always leave them wanting more." Anyone
who was there wants more and they are hopeful that will lead to a
2011 South Beach encore.
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Coming
Up on Page 2 |
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Day
2 Photos & Highlights
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A
fireside chat with John Demco, the godfather of .CA
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Oh
Canada! An inside look at Canada's country code
featuring CIRA officials.
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Two
live domain auctions and a sky-high evening social
event.
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Day
3 Photos & Highlights
Go
to Page 2 |
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