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In
a bold move
to take industry conferences beyond
what we've become accustomed to, two
of the most seasoned veterans in the
business, Jothan
Frakes and Ray
Dillman Neu, have joined
forces to create an innovative
new event called MERGE! that
will make its maiden voyage October
14-18, 2017 at the massive Orlando
Marriott World Resort in
Florida (the largest Marriott
hotel in the world).
Unless
you are new to the industry you
already know that Frakes was Co-Founder of
the enormously popular NamesCon conference (that
was sold to World Hosting Days
last year) and was also instrumental in
running DOMAINfest and Domain
Roundtable conferences dating
back to more than a decade ago.
Ray
Dillman Neu co-founded THE Domain
Conference with Howard and
Barbara Neu and ran that event
with them the past two years in
Fort Lauderdale. Before that he
spent a decade helping run the
historic T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conferences that were
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Merge!
Co-Founders Jothan Frakes and Ray
Dillman Neu
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staged
in South Florida
and other U.S. and international
locations (including Amsterdam,
Dublin, Milan and Vancouver) from 2004 through 2014.
After 12 straight years of putting
on shows, Howard and Barbara decided
to step back from their leadership
role but I've been told THE Domain
Conference will continue as the
domain branch on the MERGE!
tree.
MERGE!
will be made up of many events
in one location - a concept
that will give attendees shared
access to multiple networking and educational
opportunities in a variety of
related fields in addition to domains.
The sessions, speakers (including
common keynotes), panels,
networking, sponsors, and
inter-active events will all be
focused on fusing ideas,
businesses and people. With MERGE!
the founders aim to combine
the best of Domain Roundtable,
DomainFest and THE Domain Conference
along with Legal panels, Digital
Branding professionals, Website Development,
End User Experience, Domain Name
Investment and Appraisal, New
Business Startups, IP Technology,
SEO Design, Security, Hosting and
more.
More
detailed information on all of the
speakers and events available under
the single MERGE! ticket will
be released in the weeks ahead but
I'm told several are already in
place including a China Bootcamp, a
Hispanic business day, an event
devoted to StartUps, a Job Fair and
much more.
Above:
The Orlando Marriott Word Resort
where the 1st MERGE!
conference will be held October
14-18, 2017.
Below:
An aerial view of the world renowned
Orlando Marriott World Resort.
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The
Orlando Marriott World
Resort also has many
restaurants to choose from
on site and the hotel is
located just a mile and a
half from Disney World
(with shuttle service to the
park available). MERGE! has
secured a remarkably low
conference rate for rooms at
this world class facility -
just $129 a night
(about half of what
they normally cost).
Registration
has just opened and if you
act quickly you can grab one
of the limited number of $199
early bird tickets (plus
$11.94 service fee) before
the discounted Spring Rate
of $349 (plus $20.19
service fee) goes into
effect (ending June 1). The
price will rise to $499
(plus $28.44 service fee)
this summer (ending
September 1) and will be $899
plus service fee at the
door. |
Lobby
at the Orlando Marriott
World Resort |
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With
Jothan and Ray at the helm
and a outstanding world
class resort venue secured
for the event, MERGE!
has positioned itself to be
a can't miss event for
years to come. |
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