Latona will add needed spark to domain conference franchise.
TRAFFIC was the first big domain name industry conference. It was also the first to do many innovative things, such as offer a compelling live domain auction. But lately its star has faded. Attendance is down, and don’t just blame the economy. When I asked people before the last TRAFFIC if they were going, a common response was “It’s not relevant anymore”. They blamed lackluster programming as a big fault. As TRAFFIC sputtered, other domain conferences such as Oversee.net’s DomainFest rose to stardom.
But adding Rick Latona to the bill is sure to add a spark. Here are 5 things Latona, Rick Schwartz, and Howard Neu can do to improve TRAFFIC, two of which have already been done.
1. Make it inclusive – Invitations? Banning people from attending? Latona has already said that’s out the window. It was immature and cast a negative light on the industry. Good riddance.
2. Lower the price – Again, Latona has already said this will happen. The irony here is that Schwartz has been opposed to dropping the price in the past because he felt the quality of attendee would drop. Latona has turned this on its head, saying that small time players can become big ones later. It’s a 180 from the old line of thinking.
3. Improve programming – Publish the agenda well ahead of time, get new speakers, and think up fresh panel topics. It sounds like next year’s shows will feature more themed topics. Much like the ccTLDs conference, new topics means learning something.
4. Don’t oversell it – This will be hard given that both Schwartz and Latona are the consummate salesmen. They’re both good at it, too. But you can only read “this is the most important conference ever” so many times before you start to call B.S.
5. Play nice – It puts a black mark on our industry when competitors try to boost their own position to the detriment of the industry. Don’t be scared of other conferences and when they take place. Work with them to pick the best time for all conferences to be held. Compete by providing a superior product, not by trying to shove our your competition with timing and dates.
I would just like to take this opportunity to straighten out some facts which were not reported accurately.
First, Rick Schwartz and I are thrilled with our new relationship with Rick Latona which we believe will strengthen the entire domain industry.
2nd- we eliminated the “invitation only” requirement months ago when we changed our web site thanks to our relationship with SKENZO.
3rd – We lowered the price for the New York show 3 weeks before we entered into discussions with Latona though we all liked the idea and adopted it under our new agreement.
4th- we try to keep our programming as relavent as possible to what is going on in the industry at the moment. That is why we wait to finalize the agenda. However, if you look at our web site, you will find that a preliminary agenda has already been published for New York.
Thank you for pointing out what we can do to further improve the show. We will enthusiastically accept any suggestions and criticisms in order to stay the best in the industry. like Rick Schwartz always says, this is your show and we simply try to provide what you want and need in a domain conference and expo. Remeber, we have nothing to sell except the industry itself.
Howard – Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about the changes.
Great to see some people ramping up their investments rather than winding them down.
This partnership and expansion says a lot about where these guys want to invest their money and that’s good for all of us.
Since #5 wasn’t addressed I guess this means “the fight is on!” grab some popcorn
I’ve never gone to a TRAFFIC show because I am a tight wad. If it was $300 I would have gone.
I’m an old school domainer….95′ era, so it’s not just noobs that have not gone. I know other old school domainers that have never gone to one either.
Everything you need to know about making money with domains can be found online (from the ego-free comfort of your own home.)
R.I. P. T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Face to face networking with high quality people cannot be beat by technology.
If TRAFFIC needed saving I wouldn’t be investing time and money into it.
It was a strategic decision to partner with the best in the business.
That doesn’t mean we don’t want to make it better and grow it to a global level.
@ Jamie
While you can do very well online only and you may be doing very well, like Rob said, face-to-face can’t be beat.
What worries me is the trend domaining stuff I see on the major message boards. You won’t go to a trade show and hear people talking about llll.com domains and the like.
They are real businesspeople sharing real experiences in a real environment.
It really can’t be compared.
The lessons are learned at dinners and in small conversations with people where stories are shared that would never be put on a public message board. The inside information is shared in person.
That said, I respect your opinion. We can’t win everyone over.
I’m agreeing with Rick on the power of face-to-face.
I’ll 2nd that Andrew.
There is absolutely no substitute for networking at these conferences and I believe it’s an essential part of being a successful domainer. 70% of the deals my brother and I have done in the past year have been initiated at these shows.
Plus, sometimes David and his brother will buy you dinner during a conference. Great seeing you in D.C.
David, aren’t 87% of statistics made up on the fly? 😉
This is the most innovative move in the domain meeting business in a long time.
There is no comparison of Traffic compared to the others. Once again, Rick S. is pushing the envelope. My hat is off to Rick S. and Howard for moving the domain meeting industry international.
Rick:
Mine was easy. I simply counted our last 10 deals and 7 were done between this year’s DomainFest, GeoExpo, TRAFFIC San Jose and this week’s Domain Roundtable.
Andrew:
Yeah, that dinner at Central was a blast. Michael and I need to do more of those. Great seeing you, too.
What makes each TRAFFIC conference different from the last?
Sorry, I was at 2. The first was ok. The second I thought I’d shoot myself. It was same thing, same people.
I’d understand if it were cheaper or free (AdTech). But $1000-2000 just to get in every 3 months for the same stuff is just not something I am for.
I’d understand if these conferences would be made to help out the industry itself, because the domaining industry is in need of desperate help at this point.
But I see it as a conference for the owners to make money off of entrance tickets and auction sales. That is all there is. A lot of greed in my opinion. Sorry for the negativety. but this is how I see things. But I don’t believe that you guys believe in .mobi, .cm, .eu, and all the other new TLDs that you guys push into your own auctions just to get % off your own domain sales (which you guys get ahead of time for prices probably much lower).
I do NOT believe you guys are doing this for the industry. I hear the .EU, .MOBI, and all this other TLD BS all the time it makes me sick.
Some really good points Andrew. Lower prices for tickets, get some new speakers, compete but play nice with competitors. They are good for the domain industry – not bad.
I would also add from myself: choose new locations for the show, so the places are also interesting to come. We love domaining but we love to travel and see new places too 🙂
Be open for newcomers and domain newbies – as Rick Latona said – they can grow big in the future.
I believe they do so many shows over the world so everyone can pick one or two. I know lot’s of people can’t wait for the Hongkong show including me.
I’m sure the Hong Kong domain meeting will be well attended.
I use to travel to Hong Kong often in my former career. It is one of my favorite cities.
Even though, it is 1/2 way around the world, I might use it as an excuse to visit Hong Kong again.
A tip for the live auction…List only quality domains…and make sure the one picking them knows what a quality domain is.
Then make sure its being listed by someone who really wants to sell it, not someone putting in some sky high reserve hoping to retire.
Low reserves on good domains creates bidding wars.
This is an auction I would like to see.
Make it happen Rick.
If you cant find quality domains for sale by people that really want to sell them then dont have a live auction.
List domains for sale somewhere else…but dont waste everyones time having an auction as well as cast doubt on the industry as a whole when an auction does not do well.
Just my opinion 😉
@wq
deal
It’s real simple. Whether you charge 100 or 500 or 1500, it does not matter, it’s a matter of supply and demand. And the demand is not very good right now. You need to understand that ppc earning are so down it makes watermelon look like apples in June
The vibe at Traffic CCTLDs was already markedly different from a “regular” traffic show, according to many of the attendees I met there who’d been to both. That signposts the way forward, and I think Rick^2 and Howard have taken that on board very well in planning the global Traffic show expansion.
I’d second the above comments about the auction. For me that was the one weak point of the Traffic CCTLD show, and again it was the weakest element of Traffic Down Under last year.
It’s better to have an auction with just 100 great domains than 300-400 names, half of which or more are basically average-to-poor, in really wacky extensions, etc.
But a reasonable compromise might be to have an auction with a couple of hundred great names *even if some subset of those are at “unrealistic” reserves*. That way, there’s no jarring moment when you’re reading down the auction list thinking “how the &%(($%! did that get on the list, what were they thinking?” And that in turn may be more likely to attract outside buyers and press interest.
Sure, you have to open to domain game to small wannabee to support the domain market with fresh money.
We have spent a small fortune attending TRAFFIC conferences and we do not regret spending the money except fir this past time. I was VERY disappointed on conference aspects relating to the agenda, amount of vendors and the lack of happiness and interest of other veteran attendees. The networking aspect is alwats wirth it’s weught in gold. However, listening to a parking expert continuoulsy hog the floor about development and having ZERO experience in the area us infuriating. There are a lot of attendees with a vast wealth of information who have the knowledge,credentials and intestinal fortitude for thinking outside the domain box and moving to the future. I was also very upset that after all this time, the portfolio and experience we gave, not ONCE have either Rick S. Or Howard EVER shaken our hands or introduced themselves to us or to a lot of other individuals. Having said that Rick Latona was the professional by having the courtesy abd manners to do both.
If the subject material does not change to different individuals with applicable knowledge, vendors given better placement of their booths (dont put them in the same place where the food is served- it is classless, demeaning and a professional insult), and STOP charging the guest speakers to come…(That is just
rude) we refuse to go back no matter where it is being held.
I am hoping Rick L’s crew will bring some class, professionalism and valuable information to TRAFFIC. I want him to succeed.
Please pardon the typos. Using an iphone in a moving car is like typing with boxing gloves on a roller coaster. I also hope i did nit abger too many people as that was not my intent.