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2008 Domain Roundtable Wrap Up: Networking Opportunities in Stunning San Francisco Setting Helped This Show Rise Above Auction Woes 
Page 2

By Ron Jackson 

The Sunday (April 20) schedule got underway at 10am with a Marketing and Advertising Tips seminar featuring the Castello Brothers (Michael and David) from Castello Cities Internet Network (owners of PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com and many others), Michelle Miller (Name.com) and Dr. Chris Hartnett (founder of USA Global Link). Canadian magician/comedian turned domainer Randy Charach served as the moderator.  

 

Marketing panel members Michael and David Castello (top), 
Dr. Chris Hartnett (bottom left) and Michelle Miller (bottom right).

Hartnett, who started his former company with three employees in rural Iowa and grew it into a firm with offices in 192 countries around the world, said he was drawn to domains because “This is such a virgin area – we are the pioneers and the opportunities are unbounded.” Harnett added, “The world is at our feet now. A guy sitting in a hotel room in Alaska with a notebook computer can create millions of dollars worth of wealth. The only thing stopping people is their own fear and negativity!”

The Castellos (who were profiled in our December 2006 Cover Story)  concurred with Hartnett advising attendees to “get your own piece of land – it doesn’t even have to be a great name. Just get a good name, listen to your audience and give them what they want.”  David added “Just find a name or a concept that you are passionate about. If you are passionate about something, all that content you have to write and the things you have to do – it’s not work. It becomes an extension of yourself, your personality and your creativity. If you pick something you are passionate about you are already 90% of the way there.  

Next up we heard the keynote address from former Sex.com owner Gary Kremen (whose story was told in our March 2006 Cover Story). Kremen is a very bright guy and is exceptionally open with anyone who shares a love of domains (he invited attendees to email him or even look him up in Google and give him a call if they wanted to talk about the business). 

Kremen, who has been online since 1983 (even before there was a world wide web) was also one of the founders of Match.com, a pioneering dating site he said he conceived to help find himself a wife. Kremen sold the site before locating a mate but he told attendees he just got married for the first time last month (drawing a warm round of applause from the audience).  

Kremen said the talking points for his speech were scribbled down on his ride in to the hotel. With the life he has led, a lot of preparation 



Gary Kremen
giving his keynote speech

isn’t necessary to come up with an unending string of interesting observations and anecdotes. After selling Sex.com for an estimated $12-$14 million (believed to be an all-time record for a single domain name), Kremen has been looking for a new challenge. He said it might involve rolling out a new kind of parking service because he thinks he can do it better that today’s practitioners.  

GoDaddy's Tim Ruiz introduced .me

The new .me registry sponsored the luncheon that followed. Partners Afilias, GoDaddy and ME-net are taking over administration of Montenegro's .me ccTLD and opening it up for global registrations.  GoDaddy's VP of Corporate Development, Tim Ruiz, was on hand to talk about the upcoming rollout for the extension and was also joined by .me board member Desiree Miloshevic. The land rush starts June 6 with general registration set to open July 17.

The final three seminars of this year’s Roundtable conference followed lunch. First up was Updating Your Legal Mind, featuring a panel of leading domain and IP attorneys. Moderator Derek Newman introduced included Jeremiah Johnston (Sedo), Karen Bernstein, Paul McGrady (Greenberg Tausig LLP) and the always erudite and entertaining Dr. John Berryhill

While there are over reaching trademark holders who try to claim rights beyond those 

they are entitled to, Johnston said most TM holders who contact domain owners are willing to listen. “They have legitimate concerns,” Johnston said, “but if you take time to explain to them why you have a legitimate right to a domain and they don’t, they will usually go away.” 

Johnston also said that no matter what happens with the current Snowe bill being considerd by the U.S. Congress, that will be just the first shot of many that will be fired at domain owners in the years ahead. As the current President of the Internet Commerce Association, Johnston emphasized how important it is for people in the industry to come together and help the non-profit trade association protect domain owner's rights.  

Legal Mind panel members (left to right): Jeremiah Johnston, Karen Bernstein
Paul McGrady, and in photo below, Dr. John Berryhill.

Berryhill said the whole industry needs to keep an eye on the cybersquatting suit recently filed by Vulcan Golf and others that names Google as one of the parties they are seeking damages from. “If Google loses this case, there could be a rush for the exits by people in the domain channel,” Berryhill said. A loss that would open up Google to large financial damages could prompt them to severely curtail or even eliminate their domain monetization program. 

The previous day, Fabulous.com COO Dan Warner had said that the entire domain channel only represents about 3% of Google’s revenue so they could decide to walk away from the whole sector if TM issues create too many headaches for them. Still another good reason to develop domains or seek alternate revenue streams now.  

DNZoom’s Sean Stafford moderated the next session Advanced Domain Valuation, welcoming John Tompkins (Trellian), Jay Finnan (Sedo), Lucas Ehrbar (NameDrive) and Adam Strong (DomainNameNews and DomainConsultant.com) to the podium. The panelists provided

Adam Strong
DomainConsultant.com

some insight into the arcane process of appraising domains, something they described as part art/part science. 

Strong works with a group of noted domainers, including Frank Schilling (the subject of our December 2007 Cover Story) who have started a new appraisal service at DomainConsultant.com.That firm was engaged to help select domains for the Domain Roundtable live auction that followed the next day, but a bit of a falling out developed after the auction produced lower results than many expected. An article on the DomainConsultant site claimed part of the problem was that show organizers wound up ignoring most of their recommendations. We’ll talk more about the auction in a moment.  

The educational agenda for this conference ended with a final seminar on Portfolio Management featuring Dan Warner, Sean Stafford, Jay Finnan and Jamie McMillan (LinkShare). Unfortunately, with the late Sunday start (5pm) less than 30 people 

were still in the room to hear this discussion. No formal events had been placed on the Sunday evening schedule, so many show goers took the opportunity to spend the afternoon and evening seeing the sights around San Francisco. You certainly can’t blame them for that as it is certainly one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
The final day of the conference Monday (April 21) was devoted entirely to the live auction. Hopes were high going in as $3.8 million in sales had been made at the first Roundtable live auction in August of last year. This one was plagued with problems though. Last year’s event was a technological breakthrough that effectively combined live onsite bidding with online bidding via the Internet. This year, the technology sputtered causing numerous delays and some confusion about who had the high bid (an bidder onsite or a bidder online). 

In the end the sales total reached just $400,000. Aside from the technical issues some felt the better names on the block failed to move because the reserves were too high, others cited the slowdown in the general economy and still others, as I noted earlier, said there were too many low quality domains in the mix. All of those factors probably contributed. 

Auctioneer David O'Shaughnessy
conducting the DRT live auction.

I also noted that less than 50 bidders were in the room most of the day, even though show organizers charged no admission to attend the auction and the room set-up was extremely comfortable with free food and beverage service throughout the day. Despite a first class environment, the small crowd resulted in few onsite bidder wars. There were over 800 people online when the auction began but some in that group said they were impacted by the technical glitches so their participation was muted to at least some degree as well. 

When you try to be on the cutting edge of technology, sometimes you end up getting nicked and sometimes you score a clear cut win (as last year’s DRT auction did). I can’t criticize anyone for pushing the envelope and trying to perfect a better way to do things, especially when their first trial went so well in 2007.  

Name Intelligence team members (L to R) Charissa McCuen, Carl Taylor and 
CEO Jay Westerdal track the auction while David O'Shaughnessy solicits bids.

Auction view from the audience Monday (April 21)

Though live auctions have become a hallmark of domain conferences they are just one of several elements that define the overall show experience. Anyone who has been to one, including this one, will tell you that the most important element, by a mile, is the opportunity to network with your peers. From that standpoint – in fact from every standpoint except the auction results – this show was well worth attending and I will certainly be back.

The promoters cut no corners in giving attendees their money’s worth. After the event was over they even booked an evening after show party at a local club, The Cellar, where the men and women still in town were treated to casual snacks and an open bar in an entertaining casual atmosphere. 

Freddy Schiwek (EuroDNS), Kindha Gorman (Rebel.com) and Jonathon Boswell 
(LeaseThis.com) chat with friends at the after show party April 21 at The Cellar.

Seth Coman (Modern Domainer Magazine) looks on as his opponent lines up a shot.

Unwinding in The Cellar - (L to R): Michael Robertson (Fabulous.com), 
Greg Manriquez (NameDrive), Jakob Loska (NameDrive) and Dan Kimball (DNZoom).

It was another good networking opportunity - a chance to make new friends and get to know old ones even better. Thanks to Jay Westerdal, Susan Prosser, Ray Bero, Charissa McCuen and everyone else on the Name Intelligence team for again being great hosts and delivering another invaluable conference experience.  

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