poll Should Domain Conferences Change It Up?

[Internet.Domains]

Should domain conferences change it up?

Today, going through the blog roll there was a post on an upcoming domain conference. In the comment section there was a very interesting post that defines what domain conferences have become. Realistically, domain conferences consist of paid advertisers lecturing to paid attendees. In other words, attendees pay to get spammed. Is it time to change it up?

In addition, is it time to change up other domain conference attractions such as auctions and events?

Comment and be constructive. Possibly organizers can learn from this and grow from it, which in return helps all domain investors.

 

[equity78]

Some good points brought up, some are too broad and in my opinion not easily to bring about.

Here would be my first thing, I have had these conversations with friends regarding information and blogging in domaining.

Domaining is not that interesting, it's not, when someone makes a big sale people love it and people get really excited when they make their own sales. Setting landers and getting called a low life bottom feeder when doing outbound is not that fun.

But there is only so many times people can say at a conference,

Dot com is king
New gtld's have an uphill batte, ( in private they say, they are trash)
The registry reps saying the opposite how they are the future
List your names with a buy it now to increase your sales rate
Parking is dead, so develop, that's like saying for most oh you own the hospital real estate, well you should also go to medical school to benefit from all angles.
Only so many times you can auction off good names for great reserves or great domains for hope I get lucky once in a lifetime prices.

Who are these end users you speak of?

I kid, but seriously, an end user is potentially every person on the planet. Other people don't care enough about domain names to drop $1,000 or $2,000 to attend a conference. If I am the CMO at a Fortune 500 you don't think I know that if our name is Orange Tech it would be great to own Orange.com?

What if a bunch of "end users" start saying "you are all a bunch of squatters that create nothing and the government should have put an end to you years ago" or "Oh so that's what you paid for that name? I am not paying 1,000 times that so please stop emailing me."

Only in domaining do people believe no one else gets domain names, the conversations I have read for 20 years basically all go something like, These companies are stupid, they pay $10,000 a month for rent but won't buy my domain name for $50,000" or "Companies need to wake up I emailed Microsoft and they just don't get it, to which their friend say "Bro they own over 70,000 domain names, they understand domain names.

The live auction is looked at as who wants to be a millionaire? Or could be called who wants to waste a lot of people's time with outrageous reserves?

The auction could switch it up and say, this year no reserve, you list it it will sell no bids just under the reserve to feign interest, no nothing just names selling.

Now look before anyone owning a premium name yells, "You think I am auctioning off my prize LL.com for no reserve? FU!"

No and I wouldn't, that's why the auction should switch it up and make it all no reserve, people are paying 25% commission, let's put on a show.

FREE

The conferences are never going to be free, Rick is not putting on his meet up for free, (nor should he in my opinion) he is not looking to make money but he ain't saying, "y'all come to Asheville and I will show you some Southern hospitality" I remember I got a text when Rick added a couple activities sponsored by GoDaddy and the person was like why isn't everything free? Because GoDaddy not going to make that big an investment, where three people told me they are only going to get facetime with Rick and hopefully shake Mike Berkens' hand. GoDaddy knows everyone there already a client, why would we pay for the whole meet up?

For a sponsor they will pay some money at a conference but the juice would never be worth the squeeze to pay for the whole thing.

Like @biggie said people can always start their own, but it's a big job. One most don't want.

 

[Internet.Domains]

Some good points brought up, some are too broad and in my opinion not easily to bring about.

Here would be my first thing, I have had these conversations with friends regarding information and blogging in domaining.

Domaining is not that interesting, it's not, when someone makes a big sale people love it and people get really excited when they make their own sales. Setting landers and getting called a low life bottom feeder when doing outbound is not that fun.

But there is only so many times people can say at a conference,

Dot com is king
New gtld's have an uphill batte, ( in private they say, they are trash)
The registry reps saying the opposite how they are the future
List your names with a buy it now to increase your sales rate
Parking is dead, so develop, that's like saying for most oh you own the hospital real estate, well you should also go to medical school to benefit from all angles.
Only so many times you can auction off good names for great reserves or great domains for hope I get lucky once in a lifetime prices.

Who are these end users you speak of?

I kid, but seriously, an end user is potentially every person on the planet. Other people don't care enough about domain names to drop $1,000 or $2,000 to attend a conference. If I am the CMO at a Fortune 500 you don't think I know that if our name is Orange Tech it would be great to own Orange.com?

What if a bunch of "end users" start saying "you are all a bunch of squatters that create nothing and the government should have put an end to you years ago" or "Oh so that's what you paid for that name? I am not paying 1,000 times that so please stop emailing me."

Only in domaining do people believe no one else gets domain names, the conversations I have read for 20 years basically all go something like, These companies are stupid, they pay $10,000 a month for rent but won't buy my domain name for $50,000" or "Companies need to wake up I emailed Microsoft and they just don't get it, to which their friend say "Bro they own over 70,000 domain names, they understand domain names.

The live auction is looked at as who wants to be a millionaire? Or could be called who wants to waste a lot of people's time with outrageous reserves?

The auction could switch it up and say, this year no reserve, you list it it will sell no bids just under the reserve to feign interest, no nothing just names selling.

Now look before anyone owning a premium name yells, "You think I am auctioning off my prize LL.com for no reserve? FU!"

No and I wouldn't, that's why the auction should switch it up and make it all no reserve, people are paying 25% commission, let's put on a show.

FREE

The conferences are never going to be free, Rick is not putting on his meet up for free, (nor should he in my opinion) he is not looking to make money but he ain't saying, "y'all come to Asheville and I will show you some Southern hospitality" I remember I got a text when Rick added a couple activities sponsored by GoDaddy and the person was like why isn't everything free? Because GoDaddy not going to make that big in an investment, where three people told me they are only going to get facetime with Rick and hopefully shake Mike Berkens' hand. GoDaddy knows everyone there already a client, why would we pay for the whole meet up?

For a sponsor they will pay some money at a conference but the juice would never be worth the squeeze to pay for the whole thing.

Like @biggie said people can always start their own, but it's a big job. One most don't want.

The target could be all entrepreneurs and anyone interested in an investment vehicle. Sure, domain investing has a negative stigma, but that is what needs to change. Conferences could focus on taking that negative stigma away. Conferences could, at least try, to legitimize domain investing.

As domain investors we already know there is a market, there is a product, and it's desirable. If domain investing could be legitimized, there would be a larger market, more sales and larger profits.

Although, I understand many domain investors wish to keep the industry small and under the radar. Quite possibly this is why nothing changes and domain assets are considered "cybersquatting" by the general public.

 

[equity78]

The target could be all entrepreneurs and anyone interested in an investment vehicle. Sure, domain investing has a negative stigma, but that is what needs to change. Conferences could focus on taking that negative stigma away. Conferences could, at least try, to legitimize domain investing.

As domain investors we already know there is a market, there is a product, and it's desirable. If domain investing could be legitimized, there would be a larger market, more sales and larger profits.

Although, I understand many domain investors wish to keep the industry small and under the radar. Quite possibly this is why nothing changes and domain assets are considered "cybersquatting" by the general public.

Oh I agree and like I said partially I kid, with who are these end users you speak of? But I think where you made a valid point, there is also a lot of bad blood. Sure we love the startup that buys Close.com for big money and woohoo. But there are more startups that won't and despise domainers, I wrote an article a couple years ago where I was at a friend's company and his CEO referred to pigs? And i said who are the pigs? He said "Oh you" I said, "Me?" Well not you specifically but domain investors that's what he calls them.

Domaining is legitimate, and I don't know if there is a desire to keep it small but rather an over estimate in the number of people who think domaining is cool. Most people would never be up for the poor liquidity that exists in domaining, I remember when talking to a CPA years ago about them being an accepted asset class, he said he would advise every client he had to avoid them at all costs.

Look you don't even have universal acceptance for domains as property, and as John Berryhilll once wrote that might not be a good thing for them to be property.

https://www.thedomains.com/2013/12/...some-courts-do-not-consider-domains-property/

On the flipside being considered property might have hurt Grandma Heidi Powell

https://www.thedomains.com/2017/03/03/will-domains-property-come-back-bite-heidipowell-com/

 

[Internet.Domains]

Agreed and points taken as you have analyzed this subject from many angles. IMO, the poor liquidity is a problem that can be conquered by legitimizing domain investing. Although, legitimizing domain investing is a huge endeavor with minimal consensus and multiple hurdles. It's still my belief if legitimizing domains were to happen, it should be started at the conferences, collectively.

 

[biggie]

I understand many domain investors wish to keep the industry small and under the radar. Quite possibly this is why nothing changes

keeping endusers out, means that you have chance to buy at lower cost and resell to them for a profit
if endusers, ever become the majority of domainers, then costs and competition will rise

as for change I memba when there wasn't any conferences

at that time, there was no nb, no esibot, no flippo, no undev, no np, no da, no bp, no bb, no voodoo, no pc, and no gtld's, etc, etc

now there are several cons, and lots of tools and services to dig with, so change did come.
all of those changes, provide the nourishment that domainers now feed on.


the world of domaining is an evolutionary process .

but you have to know the past, to see the change, that came in the future.

 

[equity78]

keeping endusers out, means that you have chance to buy at lower cost and resell to them for a profit
if endusers, ever become the majority of domainers, then costs and competition will rise

as for change I memba when there wasn't any conferences

at that time, there was no nb, no esibot, no flippo, no undev, no np, no da, no bp, no bb, no voodoo, no pc, and no gtld's, etc, etc

now there are several cons, and lots of tools and services to dig with, so change did come.
all of those changes, provide the nourishment that domainers now feed on.


the world of domaining is an evolutionary process .

but you have to know the past, to see the change, that came in the future.

You do bring up a good point, there needs to be that perfect balance, if Amazon and Google and Microsoft decided "Hey these assets are incredible let's get our bots on GoDaddy and NameJet" The average domainer would need to find a new job.

 

[Internet.Domains]

keeping endusers out, means that you have chance to buy at lower cost and resell to them for a profit
if endusers, ever become the majority of domainers, then costs and competition will rise

as for change I memba when there wasn't any conferences

at that time, there was no nb, no esibot, no flippo, no undev, no np, no da, no bp, no bb, no voodoo, no pc, and no gtld's, etc, etc

now there are several cons, and lots of tools and services to dig with, so change did come.
all of those changes, provide the nourishment that domainers now feed on.


the world of domaining is an evolutionary process .

but you have to know the past, to see the change, that came in the future.

Real estate prices rise and when it does, it does not ruin the industry.

Gold prices rise and when it does, it does not ruin the industry.

But you have to know the past to see the change........

 

[biggie]

Real estate prices rise and when it does, it does not ruin the industry.

Gold prices rise and when it does, it does not ruin the industry.

Hi
about a decade ago, we had the biggest real estate market crash, after home prices rose.
many are still suffering because of those loses.

as for gold, rising prices are mainly due to politics and world events.

when the price of gold rises, you can bet that something negative has happened elsewhere, that stimulated the price increase.

domains are just domains, and really shouldn't be compared to tangible items like homes, property, gold and other metals.

imo....

 

[Internet.Domains]

Hi
about a decade ago, we had the biggest real estate market crash, after home prices rose.
many are still suffering because of those loses.

as for gold, rising prices are mainly due to politics and world events.

when the price of gold rises, you can bet that something negative has happened elsewhere, that stimulated the price increase.

domains are just domains, and really shouldn't be compared to tangible items like homes, property, gold and other metals.

imo....

I was making the point that higher acquisitions costs can help liquidity and profit margins. This was in response to you mentioning higher prices and competition.

 

[Soofi]

As a Domain Name Conference organiser and going in to 6th annual edition this year, we have pretty much survived with minimum sponsors participation at DOMAINX each year. Of course, we have to offer paid tickets to (partially) support the event while at the same time, offering free attendee participation in order to maintain balance of spreading domain name awareness in the country (read India).

I have voted YES above to your question; Should Domain Conferences Change it Up, because I personally feel that attendees definitely deserve something new and worth their time, every time they participate in an event, doesn't matter if its paid/free since their participation adds up to attendee numbers which in turn rings up cash registers in sponsored events.

But there is NO innovation being done now a days due to very limited options left with an event organiser, to produce some thing new or fresh every year.

Ideas and suggestions are always welcome to make it fruitful for everyone

 

[Chris Wright]

Ironically, conferences have been changing it up.

NamesCon blew the doors off industry conferences. Made it more affordable, more democratic, and less elitist.

Mike Cyger's DNSeattle events brought huge personalitites to dirt cheap meetups. With DJ, free beer, and free food.

The MERGE! Show gave amazing actionable insights and revelations. And the highest caliber networking. But you weren't there...

We have an embarassment of riches compared to 6 or 7 years ago.

But you can't win if you don't play...

 

[equity78]

I think the one thing that's hard to accomplish is the individual purpose for attending. It will never be universal. I remember Morgan Linton years ago telling me he went to give his talk and he had meetings lined up with companies in the business. He wasn't going to learn how to sell better.

Other people truly just want to meet who they perceive as the "rockstars" of the business, don't care about talks, just wanted to eat great food and drink with Mike Berkens or Frank Schilling.

I agree with @Chris Wright there are a lot of things going on and you just have to pick what you want and focus on that.

I do believe some want to go to a conference that costs them nothing, just pay to get there of course and their room. But they want free admission, champagne and lobster tail. I don't think on a big level that's ever going to happen.

You can do city meetups on the cheap, maybe get a sponsor that will pay for the bar tab and bar food, but they certainly are looking for business, they are just not sponsoring to sponsor.

Again I would love to know what content people think is missing, imo this is the most repetitive industry I have ever participated or worked in.

Again you can only repeat the same tropes over and over and then hope to go to the casino and hit a slot machine jackpot.

 

[equity78]

Real estate prices rise and when it does, it does not ruin the industry.

Gold prices rise and when it does, it does not ruin the industry.

But you have to know the past to see the change........

There is truth to what you say, there are flippers that get priced out of a hot real estate market and can never participate.

If Google,Microsoft, Amazon had focused on domaining the way some wish they had they would have gotten all the good names, the great names forget about it, long gone. So the person who came into domaining 5 years ago to present I think would have little chance of doing anything really.

I just think to most people domaining is boring, some believe it's wrong, you can explain to them the legitimacy over and over. In a world of short attention spans it's hard to get past boring for many.

 

[MSN-Domains]

imo this is the most repetitive industry I have ever participated or worked in.

Amen.

 

[TCK]

You will not find end-users at domain conferences.

If you have tech-related domains, you need to attend tech conferences. Or some other niche that your domains fall into.

Or attend business and startup related conferences.

Domain conferences should only be about improving your portfolio’s quality, how to sell more domains, how to diversify revenue streams, and tools/services to help you manage/sell/monetize domains. These sound like repetitive topics but there needs to be more innovation in the domaining space.

We are looking to fill that need. Contact me if you are interested in learning more.

 

[equity78]

You will not find end-users at domain conferences.

If you have tech-related domains, you need to attend tech conferences. Or some other niche that your domains fall into.

Or attend business and startup related conferences.

Domain conferences should only be about improving your portfolio’s quality, how to sell more domains, how to diversify revenue streams, and tools/services to help you manage/sell/monetize domains. These sound like repetitive topics but there needs to be more innovation in the domaining space.

We are looking to fill that need. Contact me if you are interested in learning more.

I agree Domainers need to go to where the end users have their conference, started saying that like 8 years ago, people's replies were like, "yeah I'm doing that."

Domain conference's do become repetitive and there is only so many ways to say the same thing with a bit of a different nuance.

 

[TCK]

There’s no doubt that it is a challenge for con coordinators to get speakers with new ideas and advice. But they were able to do so in the past.

For example, at this year’s NamesCon @Kate Buckley had a great session about using storytelling in domain sales. I missed the session due to a coinciding meeting but she was kind enough to email me her talk outline. I requested it because I sensed it was going to be something unique and it was.

Couple years back, Steve Kaziyev of New York Media had a very good session about bundling services with a domain name and also on offering monthly subscriptions. He used the real estate market in his example.

Innovative stuff.

Q&A’s, fireside chats, and round tables are good bets. Keynote speakers are hit and miss. For example, in 2018, the Megadeth bassist, Dave Ellefson, was a surprise hit with good advice on how he is using domains in marketing his brands. Whereas in 2017, Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress) was mostly promoting the .blog TLD and really offered nothing of substance.

There are so many experienced and talented domainers that we don’t know about, but I have the amazing opportunity to work with them through the Domain Market Pro platform. However, at the domain cons we only hear from the same ones year after year, with a few exceptions.