Answering last week’s questions.
Last week I posed five questions that would be answered at the TRAFFIC conference in Las Vegas. We now have the answers:
1. Is Latona’s ready for primetime? Unfortunately not. Although I’m not sure why it didn’t work, I know there were internet connectivity issues with the hotel. It also appears that the web application got slammed with traffic and couldn’t handle the load. I’m sure Rick Latona will fill us in when he knows.
This was unfortunate. Latona did a good job driving attention to the auction, and the room was packed when the auction began. But I give him credit for making the call to postpone the auction.
2. What were the ten worst UDRPs of 2010? It hasn’t been posted online at UDRPWallofShame.com yet, so I’ll write about it when that’s live. I explained to the audience why I thought OpenDental.com was the worst. But really, I also believe Versa.com was equally deserving.
3. Will a focus on networking pay off? I’m not fully qualified to answer this question. Thanks to a flight booking error, along with bad weather, I arrived after the initial two networking sessions. But I talked to a couple people who gave the networking sessions high marks. The crowd definitely seemed to gel throughout the conference.
4. Will Rick Latona’s team rise to the challenge? Let me break it down a little.
My big complaint is that it rained more in Vegas the week of TRAFFIC than it usually does all year. I guess Rick forgot to call in a favor on that 🙂 Seriously though, other than the airport backing up the rain went away by Thursday evening.
I personally got a lot out of the show from individual meetings, and enjoyed the parties. Attendance was light, mostly due to scheduling the conference immediately before DOMAINfest. But I’ve been to smaller domain conferences in the past, and I do my best to take advantage of the size. It’s much easier to network at small shows.
The auction snafu (see #1) put a damper on the conference’s momentum Friday, but within a couple hours most people had shrugged it off and were enjoying drinks at Gold in City Center.
I also commend Rick Silver for doing a good job leading sessions.
All-in-all I’d say a lot of effort was put into this conference, it had a lot of high points, was a lot of fun, and I suspect any kinks will be worked out quickly.
5. How will Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu handle sitting on the sidelines? I had a chance to briefly chat with both Rick and Howard. I suppose the biggest change was Howard, since he is usually charged with leading all of the sessions — a big undertaking. I chatted with Howard and his wife Barbara Friday evening at Gold, and they both seemed relaxed and were having a great time.
If Ricks online auction didnt fail it would have probably been the best live domain auction yet.
The interface he had set up was really nice and the chemistry just felt right.
The domain inventory could have been a little better though.
I personally think his auction was sabotaged.
Sabotaged? How? It would take someone cutting the lines or something at the hotel to do that, right? That would come out it would seem, unless the hotel was embarrassed and hid it to protect them from liability and for reputation.
The only other way would be to sabotage the company he was using for the bidding, unless I am missing something.
I do think the domains in this auction were pretty poor and with high reserves, so it is amazing they turned the cash they did, considering everything.
I give credit to Latona for pulling this off in the midst of lots of shows, tech problems, and a mediocre domain list. He should work on improving that list for sure.
Nah, I doubt it was sabotaged. I suspect more people jumped on the live auction than they load tested for, and it hurt that they didn’t get a static IP at the hotel.
I’d just like to be on record that I DO NOT think there was foul play involved. I take full responsibility.
“Thanks to a flight booking error…”
Andrew, would you like to borrow my Domain Dunce Award?
@ John – yeah, I deserve one for that.
See you in L.A.
Sabatoge? No Way.
I hate to say it but after 35 years in computers developing software I see one flaw in Rick’s process.
It appears to me from the outside that marketing is setting development deadlines. I always pay attention to marketing. But it does NOT drive the development timeline since that produces disasters.
In Rick’s case it appears the developer’s saying “I can do it” is applied to impossible to meet deadlines. AEIOU and now the auction.
Quality Assurance standards demand load tesing before an event like an auction. I would never walk into the action or start a development company with not ready for prime time software. I would be embarassed and loose my reputation in software development.
A lot of auction momentum was lost with the broken system and could not be restarted the next day. Very expensibve for the domainer’s with names in the auction and the event promoter.
I love you Rick and appreciate your efforts and successes in the domain industry. But you should probably expand your development to include a seasoned software project manager.
2 cents worth
I am glad the attendees had a good time and had positive vibes networking. However, as one who had a domain name for sale at that event it was less than a stellar performance. I asked myself “How many people are going to be rising early (at least early Vegas time)to bid on domain names?” Also, who is going to hang around their computer in the middle of the day Saturday to bid on a domain name? The subsequent quality of the bidding answered that question. No one.
I will not go the domain auction route again.
Jonathan,
I have heard that apparently the hotel did not have the technical staff or committment to make things happen on the dedicated IP.
Maybe the software can handle the load but without connectivity is useless.
The lost momentum in the auction was a disaster. I think Rick made the decision to postpone very reluctantly.
Don’t judge Rick on his first big outing. The bugs can be worked out.
BTW, auctions do not work well except for very visible domains with direct traffic. I have tried it and gone back to direct marketing for less than premium names.
what ever became of Rick’s challenge to sell the domain name ” Domain.com” at traffic?
@ Bruce – don’t recall the exact circumstances, but I don’t think he planned to sell it at TRAFFIC…just to be able to sell it within a certain period of time.
straight from rick’s blog – quote
“Give me a huge name, a $100,000 to $10,000,000 name to sell for you at TRAFFIC Las Vegas. I am looking for a challenge.”
posted on ricks blog December 23, 2009
http://www.ricklatona.com/2009/12/23/give-me-a-huge-name-to-sell-for-you-i-am-looking-for-a-challenge/
“
It was indeed unfortunate to see what happened over there… But the domain market also seems slower and quiter than ever… I’m sure moving it to the following day just made matters that much worse as far as bidding. I was also wondering how many actually there may have had a flight out planened for Saturday morning or online bidders who had only budgeted time for Friday for whatever reason. Still looking forward to Ricks next event though. He did the best he could with what he had to work with at the hotel I’m sure.
No matter what happened at TRAFFIC and whether or not Rick’s auction system is ready for primetime, or whether I have issues with Rick’s style of business, I give him total Swords Up and Crossed in respect for his post here:
“I take full responsibility.”
That, my friends, is a MAN’s way of doing business. Rick Latona is special and will get it sorted out, and come back strong.
But I will continue to bug him about his mistakes and I hope he doesn’t have time to bug me about mine.
Kudos La-Rick for being a true man in this business.
Amen Stephen. No matter what the problem, saying he takes full responbility means he is a man of good character.
I too take full responsibility for in my business. After all “the buck stops here”.
Rick, keep pushing but expect your friends to keep helping with some friendly critisim AND support.
BYW, I think the domain market is a little down right now. Tax season you know.