Recapping DOMAINfest 2011.
DOMAINfest Global 2011 attracted nearly 700 people affiliated with the domain name industry.
There was a lot of business and a lot of fun. Here’s my recap.
Monday
I arrived in Santa Monica Monday afternoon and traveled to the Fairmont. Shortly after arriving I headed over to lunch with a few domain investors. Then it was time to set up the BigJumbo exhibition booth.
Monday evening I attended the Southern California Domainers’ meetup held at the penthouse of Mike Mann’s new apartment.
Tuesday
Tuesday afternoon Oversee.net CEO Jeff Kupietzky delivered a “State of the Industry” presentation. Many of his 10 prophecies were bigger than the domain industry but could all shape it in the years to come.
His talk was immediately followed by the main event — Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons.
Parsons’ talk was well received by the crowd. His first few jokes fell flat, but then the standing-room only crowd started to warm up to his story of ups and downs. It was inspiring.
After his talk I got to sit down with Parsons for a while. I’ve talked to him on the phone a couple times but it was nice to meet him in person. I tried to get the scoop on who the GoDaddy.co girl was, but he wasn’t about to spill the beans.
Speaking of .co, that evening .co hosted a Polynesian Paradise Party at the Fairmont’s pool. This was followed by two unofficial parties: one hosted by Demand Media at the Huntley across the street and one at Mike Mann’s apartment.
Wednesday
I had a busy day full of meetings before the Golden Era of Hollywood party at SkyBar sponsored by VeriSign. The party was fun and featured synchronized swimmers and a mermaid.
TrafficZ co-founder Ammar Kubba has a new condo just down the road from The Viper Room. In an apparent bid to piss off his new neighbors, he decided to invite 40 rowdy people to the roof top deck after midnight.
Thursday
In the morning I caught a workshop titled “Tips and Strategies for Buying and Selling Domains” moderated by Oversee.net’s Lisa Box. That was followed by numerous meetings and then Moniker’s live auction. No major domains sold during the auction, but that has been the reality of late. I’ll have more thoughts on this in a later post.
Then it was time to head the the Playboy Mansion. I have to admit that, after three years at this party, it’s getting a little old for me. It’s lost its edge. Perhaps I’m in a minority, and I’m certainly not complaining.
There was also an unfortunate incident on one of the buses on the way back to the hotel. Once I saw the aftermath of the scuffle I sobered up quickly. There were lots of after parties, but at that point I just wanted to crash.
Friday
After a long week of fun and business it was finally time to head home.
As a veteran DOMAINfest attendee, I urge you to not book an early morning flight after four days of DOMAINfest.
Daniel Dryzek says
I agree with you Andrew. It was my first Playboy Mansion party but have to say that wasn’t that funny after all. I would like to see next DFG main party in some nice club rather than Playboy Mansion again.
But parties are not the most important part of DFG – the conference itself was very good and I am more than happy that I attended!
Mountain says
Andrew – or maybe your just getting too old for that stuff 😉
Andrew Allemann says
@ Mountain – very likely 🙂
The Original Domainer says
As a precaution, all those domainers stricken with the mysterious Domain Fest illness, should send me all their logins.
Steve James says
Don’t want to seem judgmental but IRRESPONSIBLY mixing GOD’s created technology with the DEVIL’s sin on earth like at the Playboy Mansion is NOT a good idea!! Bad SPIRIT and KARMA there and against the word of the Lord Jesus Christ! John: 3:16 You must be born again!
Joe says
Didn’t know (and think) Sam Aidun was a band leader. He looks so different 🙂