Name Intelligence show leaves the Seattle area for fourth show.
For its fourth Domain Roundtable (DRT) conference, Name Intelligence (parent company of Domain Tools) is moving the conference to San Franciso. The event will take place at The Palace Hotel April 18-21.
I caught up with Name Intelligence’s Jay Westerdal and Susan Prosser to get a preview of the upcoming event. Prosser is organizing the conference.
What will be the overriding theme of the next Domain Roundtable?
Understanding that conference attendees gain the most with networking and from what they learn and earn, the theme is Network, Learn and Earn. There are roundtables of SEO understanding and methods, domain valuation, DomainTools education, portfolio management, and others. All of these are geared for the audience to learn how to earn more. The facility itself is ideal for networking. The exhibit area has been designed with networking alcoves and lounge areas for everyone to gather and mingle -and network. Thus, our theme: Network, Learn and Earn.
DRT 2008 is scheduled to start on a Friday and end on Monday. Most domain conferences, including your previous ones, took place during the work week. Why did you make this decision?
We knew we wanted to hold a DRT in the springtime and in a location outside of Seattle. Finding the location was the first priority considering time of year and attraction for host cities. San Francisco seemed a natural fit. The city is very tech savvy which opens up the local attendee base; it hosts a lot of events however not many Domain industry events; and, is a very
attractive city to explore. Finding a time then that would work with current events already set on the calendar, in a facility that was attractive for hosting, the best option available was a weekend. There are two major conferences being held in San Francisco surrounding ours. AdTech is prior and Web 2.0 is following our DRT conference dates. Both of these conferences draw similar audiences. We have already had feedback from attendees of either AdTech or Web2.0 stating they will extend their stay to attend DRT.
[Editor’s note: here’s a tip for those attending. I’ve stayed at The Palace Hotel. Nice ambience, fairly good (if dated) rooms, but the parking is a whopping $48 per night. There are public garages in the area that charge only $20, so look them up before you go or take a cab. On the plus side, by holding this event on the weekend the hotel rates are cheaper than normal.]
What do you have in store for the auction at DRT?
After setting the bar high with the first simultaneous Live and Online Auction, we need to continue to be the leader in this area. We are making improvements to the interface for customers in submitting and managing their domains in auction. The auction will have 250 domains. Plus, we are adding a new option in the DomainTools Auction system for DRT attendees a guaranteed submission into the auction. This submission will also have no reserve restrictions. There are a couple of other pieces being added that will be disclosed later.
[Editor’s note: I’ve received an update that the 250 domains do not include the guaranteed submissions from attendees. DRT hopes to get over 500 attendees. ]
Who is managing the show for Name Intelligence this year?
Susan Prosser is now managing the Domain Roundtable. She has been in production and operations for twelve years. Susan worked with Ray Bero and Jay Westerdal, founders of Name Intelligence, at the internet company Interland. At Interland, Inc. (now Website Pros), she was Site Manager and Director of Production and Operations for their data centers located throughout the U.S.
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