Here are some sessions and events you won’t want to miss.
This year’s NamesCon event, taking place January 28-January 31 at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, has a slightly different structure than prior years. There’s more activity on Sunday and the conference ends earlier on Wednesday, which is followed by an “Unconference” Wednesday afternoon.
I’ve reviewed the agenda to look for sessions that you won’t want to miss. I’m particularly excited to see so many speakers I’m unfamiliar with. NamesCon has brought in new faces, so it won’t be “oh yeah, I saw this same panel the past three years!”
One quick tip before getting to the sessions: there’s a new restaurant (Robert Irvine’s Public House) at the Tropicana where the sportsbook used to be. This should alleviate a big problem with the Trop–a lack of food.
Also, if you don’t have tickets yet, you can get them for half off.
Women in Domaining Dinner – There are many more women in the domain name industry than five years ago, but it’s still a male-dominated industry. I highly recommend all women attending NamesCon to attend this event. RSVP required. Sunday 5-7pm.
Megadeth’s David Ellefson – You can wake up by 10 am on Monday to see a rock star, right? I am not a rock star, but I will be interviewing Grammy Award-winning Megadeth bassist David Ellefson Monday morning. Ellefson and Megadeth were leveraging the internet to connect with their fan base well before there was such as thing as Facebook or Twitter. In fact, Megadeth was the first band to create a website. Learn about how Ellefson connects with fans on social media and how you can apply these concepts to your business. Monday 10-10:45am.
An actual blockchain use case – There’s plenty of hype around blockchain. I’ve heard many stories about how it can change industries, but these have been light on details. So a session between Donuts’ Tim Favia and Netki’s Justin Newton about how Netki is leveraging DNS for blockchain should be interesting. Monday 12-12:45pm.
Thinking about generations – WPEngine’s Lisa Box discusses how younger generations want their habits to be anticipated. Based on research undertaken by The Center for Generational Kinetics, an awesome company here in Austin. Monday 2-2:45pm.
WaterNight Charity Dinner – Waternight has a different format this year, and tickets are required. Monday 6:30-10:30pm.
Lessons from a big domainer – GoDaddy has become a big domainer, and you can find out what GoDaddy GM Paul Nicks has learned now that the company owns so many domains. Or, listen to my podcast about it. Tuesday 11-11:45am.
Top domain brokers – Last year Escrow.com presented awards to the top ten individual brokers based on transactions facilitated by Escrow.com. It will be interesting to see who wins this year. Tuesday 3:30-4pm.
Going once, going twice – It’s always worth stepping in for the domain name auction. Just don’t plan on it starting on time…they never do. Tuesday 4pm-7pm.
ICA Dinner – You should go. Tickets are still available. Tuesday 6-9pm.
Page Howe says
ill add
1- Sat NITE – the networking starts right away, you’ll probably meet others in line and not even want to go up to the check-in desk when called……oh BTW rooms arent always ready… and EXPERT TIP – skip the Honors line, regular one moves faster.
2. get to the lobby – saturday night and sunday always remind me of a reunion, get downstairs , meet and greet – get out of your room , stash the bags – of course this assumes you made it to your room, past the lobby, the BAR Corner, the River Nile (the skybtidge on the way back to your club tower room), the chairs, the desk and the elevator lobby – all places where a HI can become 20 minutes
3. Trop or others, man gotta plan this out where your having dinner – walkways mean 30 degrees or colder last year, i want 70’s !!
4. for 2018 only, we are right next to Concert venue where shooting occurred. Stop, a say a prayer, hold a thought for those who perished in the shooting tragedy next door, and on a positive note try remember and pay forward the amazing help others gave, inlcuding those who were it by bullets trying to help others.
5. SUNDAY – used to be a night party, and a newbie seminar, NOW its a one of the best content days without a main stage, so brunch could be a new “party for 12″event, grab some others – either the restaurant at end of wing where starbucks is, or the ala carte CAFE right after starbucks.
and sunday content is terrific, plsu group slowly grows as taxi/uber drop off
attendee after attendee,
SIDENOTE – 6 AM always fun to see the early workout folks, and bodyclock adjusters up early, walking past those just coming in from a late saturday night – i see you Ammar.
numbers 6 10 – coming soon