The 10th anniversary of the TRAFFIC conference is now in the books, and I am glad that I attended. As usual, the networking was good, and I had some productive meetings. I also met some people I had not met before, and that is one of the most valuable aspects of the conference. I shared some additional thoughts about the conference below.
If you called me or emailed me at some point during the last two weeks, I will try to reply to you soon. My wife and I spent a few days in Florida prior to the conference, and that was followed by several nights in Punta Cana, which was then followed by the TRAFFIC conference. Although I’ve been working, I have a few emails and phone calls to return.
Here are some thoughts and updates:
- I thought the TRAFFIC conference venue was excellent. The Fontainebleau Hotel is chic, and it is home to some great restaurants and fun night spots. The venue is large enough to hold private meetings away from the group, but it doesn’t feel too large. The conference rooms were the perfect size for the audience, and it worked out very well.
- Speaking of Ren Warmuz, I thought conference organizers put together a thoughtful memorial video and presentation after his passing, which happened following the last TRAFFIC east conference.
- Here’s an update from Hilco Streambank on the Bidz.com sale: “The rights to Bids.com (which is under UDRP) are now being added to the list of domains in the Bidz.com deal. The domains with the most intrinsic value now consist of Bidz.com, Buyz.com, JWL.com, and Bids.com all available individually if the right bidders come along. The community might want to step in and grab some of these as there is no minimum bid and only a $10k deposit required to enter the auction. The pricing is competitive as most of the interest in the acquisition has been directed toward other assets, which may present a possibility for some serious players to come in and grab this at a major discount.“
- There’s a new gTLD domain name conference in China this coming week, and I would imagine there will be many registries in attendance. It looks like a neat set up with consecutive meetings in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Xiamen.
- Brokers should confirm that they have an exclusive listing before pitching the domain name to buyers. There were two names shared with me by brokers from different companies this week as their own listings. I presume both companies believe the listings are exclusive in each case, but apparently they are not.
- Obviously, it’s great to get additional traffic from Google searches. The only downside is that it sometimes brings a wider audience that might be hostile towards domain investors. Although I do not tend to censor comments, when someone visits and posts abusive comments towards other commenters, I tend to moderate when I see them.
- If you are looking for a great place to stay in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and want an all-inclusive resort, we liked the Iberostar Grand Bavaro. The people were very nice, the food was better than decent, and the grounds were well kept. Ordinarily, I would rather stay at a beautiful resort and pay for my own drinks and dinners outside of the hotel, but that’s not really an option in Punta Cana. I think you will want to pay for the Grand Bavaro upgrade rather than the Iberostar Bavaro Suites, unless you go with the kids.
