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The
day's next session featured Domainer
Success Stories from four panelists who
had many of them to relate
Above:
The Domainer Success Stories panel
discussion featured (left to right) Braden
Pollock (LegalBrandMarketing.com),
moderator Howard Neu (standing), Ari
Goldberger (ESQwire.com), Gregg
Ostrick and Adam Dicker (DNForum.com).
Below:
After trhe Domainer Success Stories session,
attendees enjoyed a networking luncheon
in the adjacent food and beverage ballrooom.
After
lunch it was time to Meet the Bloggers
in a 75-minute session that featured seven
of the industry's leading bloggers and
writers who offered their opinions on
industry trends and also fielded questions
from the audience.
The
Meet the Bloggers panel Monday
afternoon featured (left to right) moderator
Howard Neu, Ron Jackson (DNJournal.com),
Michael Berkens (TheDomains.com), Michael
Cyger (DomainSherpa.com), Andrew
Allemann (DomainNameWire.com), Owen
Frager (The Frager Factor), Elliot
Silver (DomainInvesting.com) and Adam
Dicker (TheArtOfTheName.com).
Monday's
business day closed with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s
live domain auction.
DomainNameNews.com live blogged the auction
results as they came in.
A
scene from the live domain auction
Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 with auctioneer Joel
Langbaum
(who also filled that role in the first
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auctions nearly a decade ago)
at the podium.
With
business out of the way Monday, attendees
were able to take a break for a few hours
before heading out to the official
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party that ran from 9pm
to 1am this morning at the Atlantic Surf
Club, located next door to the Ritz.
Above:
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. hostess with the mostest Barbara
Neu (leaning on table) with guests
at the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party
at the Atlantic Surf Club on Fort
Lauderdale Beach.
(Monday night, October 21, 2013).
Below:
Another group at the Monday night party is
book ended by
Germany's Christoph Grüneberg at
the far left and Ammar Kubba at far
right.
The
final day of business at the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
East conference got underway Tuesday
morning (October 23) got with a 9am
breakfast at the Ritz, followed by Two-Minute
Elevator Pitches - a session that gave
attendees a chance to take the stage and
promote their latest enterprises. I then
took the podium to present a report on 3Q-2013
domain sales that were up
dramatically from both the previous
quarter (37.5% higher dollar volume
across all extensions) and the same quarter
a year ago (up 47%)! The details are
in our October 2013 newsletter.
At
10:30am it was time for the day's big event
- presentation of the
annual T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards
recognizing excellence in various
industry categories (as chosen by domain
industry voters). The 2013 winners
(accompanied by photos of those who were
present to accept their awards) were:
Best
New Monetizing Solution: Frank
Schilling's InternetTraffic.com
Best
Overall Domain Solution: Sedo
Sedo's
Brad Lemire (center) accepts the Best
Overall Domain Solution Award from
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Howard Neu
and Rick Schwartz.
"We
Get It" Award:
Amazon
Developer
of the Year:
Michael
Cyger
DomainSherpa.com's
Michael Cyger (at right)
accepts the Developer of the Year Award.
Broker
of the Year:
Negar
Hajikhani, Sedo.com
Sedo's
Negar Hajikhani (4th from left)
accepting the Broker of the Year Award
(the first female to win the honor).
Best
Domain Blog:
DNJournal.com
(Ron Jackson)
DNJournal.com's
Ron Jackson (2nd from left)
accepts the Best Domain Blog Award.
Sponsor
of The Year:
Go
Daddy
Domainer
of the Year:
Frank
Schilling
Bandit
Berkens Goodwill Ambassador Award:
Gregg
McNair
PPX
International Chairman Gregg McNair (2nd
from left) accepts the Bandit Berkens
Goodwill Ambassador Award with the owner
of the beloved late Yorkie the award
is named for, Judi and Michael Berkens
at his side (Bandit was a frequent visitor
to domain conferences who showed unconditional
love to everyone he encountered). The
annual award recognizes the person who
voters feel has been the industry's best
goodwill ambassador over the past year.
Domain
Hall of Fame: (two
new members are voted in each year):
Jeff
Gabriel (The broker in the
record-setting $13 million sale of Sex.com
who is now with DomainNameSales.com and was
previously with Igloo.com (when the company
was known as DomainAdvisors) and Sedo.com).
Jeff had a good reason for missing
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East this year - he was with
his wife Melissa who gave
birth to their son Richard the
same day Jeff was named to the Hall of Fame!
C
Igal
Lichtman (the late great domain
investor/developer and entrepreneur who
was profiled in the first ever DN Journal
Cover Story back in 2003
and was featured again in our February
2012 Cover Story). Mr. Lichtman
passed away in February 2013.
Members
of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domain Hall of Fame
that were in attendance at this year's show
took the stage for the induction of two
new members that were named Tuesday - Jeff
Gabriel and the late Igal Lichtman.
Two of Igal's close friends, Hall of Fame
member Adam Dicker and leading
industry attorney Ari Goldberger (2nd
and 3rd from left, respectively) accepted
Mr. Lichtman's Award and will present it to
his widow, Michal Lichtman. T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
also commissioned noted Florida sculptor Bradley
Arthur to create a unique metal
menorah (held by Ari in the photo above)
that was also presented to honor Igal.
The
other current Hall of Fame members in
attendance were Ron Jackson (far left
in the photo above) and, to the right of Mr.
Goldberger, Howard Neu, Rick
Schwartz, Michael Berkens, Monte
Cahn and Chad Folkening.
After the
awards it was the time for the first of
three business sessions held Tuesday - a Domainer
and Broker View of the State of the Industry.
The
State of the Industry panel
featured (left to right) John Ferber (DomainHoldings.com),
Bill McClure (Coffee.org), Ammar
Kubba (ThoughtConvergence,.com), Lonnie
Borck (B52.com), Gregg Ostrick
(domain investor) and Tessa Holcomb (Igloo.com).
In
the session that followed, Kubba (still in a
bathrobe after turning up a bit late
for his sessions!) joined Adam Dicker,
Rick Schwartz and Michael Berkens
for The DomainSherpa.com Five Live! program.
The fifth member of the quintet was
interviewer Michael Cyger (DomainSherpa.com)
who had the four veteran domain investors
evaluate and appraise domains submitted by
audience members. It was an extremely useful
educational exercise that later
morphed into a highly entertaining
"registered or unregistered?"
competition in the second part of the
program.
The
DomainSherpa.com Five Live! session
featured (L to R) Adam Dicker,
Michael Cyger, Ammar Kubba, Rick
Schwartz and Michael Berkens.
The
latter portion of this session required the
panelists to guess whether or not certain
domain names Cyger came up with were available
or already registered. Perhaps aided by
his distracting attire, Kubba wound up
winning the contest by getting 5 of the 6
domains right.
The
final day of business concluded with a
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. staple - the Meeting of
the Chiefs - in which leaders from nine
well-known companies took the stage to offer
their thoughts on current industry affairs
and answer questions from the audience.
The
Meeting of the Chiefs panel featured
(L to R): Paul Nicks (Go Daddy), Adam
Dicker (DNForum.com), Andee Hill
(Escrow.com), Gregg McNair (PPX
International), Michael Gilmour (ParkLogic.com),
moderator Howard Neu (standing), Donny
Simonton (Voodoo.com), Victor Pitts
(Above.com), Ammar Kubba (ThoughtConvergence.com
- and back in normal clothing!) and Joe
Higgins (RookMedia.net).
The
Meeting of the Chiefs concluded the
business portion of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East 2013
but there was still more networking and
socializing to come. At 8:30 Tuesday night
guests were welcomed to the traditional Closing
Night Party at the Ritz with dessert,
coffee, beer and wine.
Above:
Jon Hewitt (Protrada.com) and T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s
Danny Pryor (right)
at the closing night Dessert Party.
Below:
Alina Schwartz and Karen Bernstein
(right) also took the opportunity to chat.
Toasting
another successful event (left to right) are
Barbara Neu, Michael from
TrafficCaptain.com, Sedo's Negar
Hajikhani, Judi Berkens and
Michael Berkens (TheDomains.com).
Above:
After the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Closing Night Party
many accepted Gregg McNair's
nightly
invitation to drop by his suite for some late
night networking at his Igloo.com
party.
Below:
Earlier I mentioned that Ammar Kubba
showed up at his Tuesday panel
discussions in a bathrobe.
That seemed to trigger a new fashion
trend. At the McNair/Igloo.com party
more than a few guests showed up in
bathrobes, including host Gregg
McNair (in the red bowtie) and
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Rick Schwartz.
The
curtain came down on the 25th edition of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Wednesday morning (October 23, 2013) when
the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East
conference closed with the show's
traditional Farewell Breakfast at the
Ritz Carlton.
Above:
A scene from the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East
Farewell Breakfast Wednesday morning
(Oct. 23)
Below:
At one breakfast table Wednesday morning
(left to right) Bob Olea, Alan
Hack, Lonnie Borck, Freddie
Schiwek, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu, and Bill
Sweetman enjoyed comparing notes before
saying goodbye until next time.
Next
time will be May 28-31, 2014 (with
two days of pre-show cabana networking May
27 & 28) when T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
reconvenes at the Bellagio Hotel in
Las Vegas for T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
West 2014. Once again we will be
there to cover it all for you but, better
yet, come out and join everyone in person. Registration
is open now.
Until
then, thanks to the entire T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
team - Rick & Alina Schwartz,
Howard & Barbara Neu, Ray Neu,
Kimberly Howard and Danny Pryor
for all of their hard work in making
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East 2013 such a
memorable and productive event.
*****
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