Here I am once again back in the Qantas club in LAX after attending DomainFest. I find it disconcerting that I was greeted by name by the staff prior to showing them my boarding pass. It really causes you to think whether you’re travelling too much when this sort of thing happens.
As far as a conference is concerned, DomainFest was outstandingly well run and has really raised the bar for all the other conferences. The staff of Oversee.Net should be congratulated for the standard of excellence and professionalism that they attained. Despite the enormous pressure associated with running an event like DomainFest all the staff maintained a high level of enthusiasm that set the whole tone for the conference. Nothing was too much to ask of any of them.So what was DomainFest like? To put it simply I’m really worn out. I’ve never had so many meetings and conducted so much business at any past domain conference to date. What was really good was that the meetings went beyond a pleasant discussion and moved into real engagement mode.
This makes me consider that maybe the global financial crisis is causing domain owners to start making business decisions about their portfolios of domains rather then play the waiting game. In the past the waiting game made a lot of sense but now I think that most people are moving into deal mode. If you aren’t in a deal stream now then you may want to review your existing strategy as there are a lot of deals being done right across the gamut of domain business models.
The day prior to the conference was the Domainer’s Bootcamp that was supposed to be assisting new comers to the industry. I must admit that I really enjoyed the “fireside” chat presentation format and I learnt a lot from my fellow bloggers in the session that I was involved in......so much for only be for newbies! My impression was that there were a lot people attending each session and this reflected the high standard of the content.
Another highlight for me was seeing Steve Wozniak who is a real icon of the computer industry talk about some of his experiences in the founding of Apple. There were a lot of stories shared and not just a few of them had the audience in stitches. For me personally, I found that I was transported down memory lane as he talked about all the difference computer systems through the years.
That night we were bussed to Universal Studios where everyone had the opportunity to get to know each other in a more social setting. Yes, I did get nervous when I was handed a poncho for the Jurassic Park ride..... A few of us ended up going on the “Mummy Returns” ride four times....the acceleration upwards in that ride just has to be experienced.
The following day was once again filled with meetings and also the Domain auction. Due to other commitments I’m not really sure of the end result from the auction.
That night was a highlight for many attendees as we experienced the Playboy Mansion and a few even got to see Hugh (the man). It was a great night and I called it quits around midnight as a poker game was beckoning back at the hotel.
After buying presents for the family it brings me to here.....the Qantas Club at LAX. Come to think of it....I think that my flight got called 10 minutes ago! Cheers!
Source: Posted on WhizzBangsBlog by Michael Gilmour -- Reprinted with permission -- February 1, 2009