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Domain RoundTable Review

As some of you know, I’m the Director of Product Development for dnZoom. Dan Kimball and I recently visited Seattle for the 2007 Domain RoundTable (DRT) conference. The Seattle Sheraton was a great pick for DRT – the staff was helpful and the location near the waterfront was incredible as there were plenty of things to do within walking distance, including some great restaurants.

Jay Westerdal and Stephen Douglas did a great job with the show. I only got a few moments alone to speak with each of them, but they were very approachable and you could tell they really enjoyed putting on the show. They were down in the trenches the entire time, going the extra mile to make sure everyone was happy. It’s people like this that make you want to come back next year.

Following is a brief overview of the companies that attended and some of the talks that I was able to witness and participate in.

Fabulous.com

Andrew Wright, “Fabulous” Mike Robertson, and CEO Richard Moore were nice enough to sit down and demo the new drag and drop tool they are preparing to roll out to their customers. They call it “Fabulous+”.

The features of the tool make customizing landing pages a breeze and take advantage of localization so geo-targeted traffic can be easily directed to spot-on pictures. (As an example, I searched their picture database for “Louisville Kentucky,” which returned three pictures of downtown Louisville. Pretty impressive for a company based out of Australia!) Couple this with the auto-optimization they have coming and the excellent landers, I would say that this is going to be a great hit in the monetization industry.

NameDrive.com

On day 2 of the conference, NameDrive had a poker room where attendees could come in and play for traffic domains while having some gourmet coffee that was offered to all of the poker attendees.

Earlier in the conference I was able to sit in on the parking panel talk and see some of the new features being presented by NameDrive. Jakob, their US VP, outlined all of the new functionality that they have brought about in their Park and Sell program.

The small entry revenue per month mark that you have to hit (only 1 dollar), makes it easy for small revenue names to get some attention on their front page to be sold. This is great because it costs nothing to list them and there are no brokerage charges either.

I want to commend Matthias Mueller on his answers and presentation that he gave on the Domains 101 panel, on which I was also a panelist. Many in the audience gravitated towards his answers because they were extremely honest, precise, and not at all self guided.

eNom.com / Demand Media

eNom/Demand Media had a booth setup both days and their reps John Kane, Juliet Morris, and Chris Sheridan spoke with many potential clients about their domain name and hosting service platform.

On day 2 of the conference they hosted a party at a sushi club near the hotel. I was impressed by Frank Roh and the rest of the crew from eNom who made sure that everyone felt at home and had a great time.

TrafficZ Party

On the first night of the conference was the TrafficZ party held at Sugar and held a “model painting” contest to help raise funds for the Grassroots.org organization. It was a great success and everyone had a fun time.

A special thanks to TrafficZ for ponying up and helping out such a great organization. While I was unable to speak with anyone from TrafficZ this time around, I hope to in the future as they have shown themselves to be a very gracious organization.

Name Media / Buy Domains

Tom Murphy from BuyDomains spoke on the Aftermarket 101 panel which I was not able to attend but I heard he did a fantastic job. This comes to no surprise as he blows me away with domain info every time I hear from him.

BuyDomains/Name Media sponsored lunch on the second day. Brian Carr spoke and gave a wonderful overview of all the products encompassed under the Name Media/Buy Domains brands (Active Audience, Goldkey, Buy Domains, etc.). His presentation was very well prepared, and on a personal note, he is a great public speaker.

DomainNameNews.com

As expected, Frank Michlick and Adam Strong from Domain Name News were there covering the show. Both of these guys can be found snapping pictures or having a good time anywhere you find a domain event. I always enjoy reading their posts as they give a fair perspective of the industry while stating personal opinion as such (personal opinion instead of passing it off as fact). Even during the show I could not help but sit down at a computer to see what they were writing about the event.

Recall Media Group / Sahar Sarid

Sahar Sarid, of Recall Media Group, is an amazing individual. Dan Kimball and I had the chance to sit down with Sahar at eNom’s meet and greet party and hear his own personal domaining story (see the DNJournal cover story on Sahar). The amount of domain knowledge he shared, along with his own personal history, goes to show you that a lot of hard work coupled with business sense can really shoot a person to the moon. Dan and I were thrilled that he took as much time to speak with us that he did. We cannot wait to see him again.

Wrap-Up

As you can undoubtedly tell, we had a WONDERFUL time! This was my first trip to Seattle and I was thoroughly impressed with the city and the people. Dan and I got to meet some of the nicest and most hard working individuals in the domain name industry. From the food at the show, to the panels, to the people on the floor…it all made for one excellent time. Dan and I were sad to leave Seattle, DRT, and all of our old and new friends, but we will both be in Miami for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. We hope to see everyone there, and cannot wait until the next DRT.

Regards!

Sean Stafford
Director of Product Development
dnZoom.com