Domain Conferences
Domain conferences are the place to be to establish contacts with other domainers. Pioneer of all conferences was the Traffic conference at the Marriott Delray Beach in 2004. Nowadays conferences or more informal meetings are held throughout the world, although the US is still the main country for these events. Not all conferences are open to the public, some are by invitation only. Some of these conferences are intended for more experienced domainers while others also cover the basics. It is advisable to check out the agenda of the meeting you want to attend to see if it is for you. Soon you will discover that these meetings are rather a place to network than to gather too many new insights from the discussion panels, of course if you are new to the business you’ll be overwhelmed with new information.
There are a couple of established domain conferences around the globe that have regular meetings
Domain Convergence
After several Domainer Dinners it was time for a bigger domaining event in Canada, so this conference debuted in October 2008 at the Niagara Falls Marriott. It also marked the first domain auction by the Domain Stock Exchange Fusu.
Last conference: May 12-13, 2011 in Montreal (Canada)
Next conference: tba
Domainer Mardi Gras
The premier conference took place in New Orleans in February 2009. This first domain conference in Louisiana was organized by the Modern Domainer publication and packed with fun, sessions and an auction. In addition you will be able to enjoy the Mardi Gras celebrations.
Last conference: Febuary 11-13, 2010 in New Orleans
Next conference: tba
Domainermeeting / Domainfest Europe
The follow-up event to the previous European Domainfest conferences had its first meeting in June 2008 in Paris that attracted visitors and speakers from all around the world.
Last conference: Oct 6-7, 2013 in Prague, Czech Republic
Next conference: tba
Domainfest
Established by the domain parking company Domainsponsor in 2006 with a gathering in Los Angeles it is one of the premier events. The Domainfest Global is an annual event held at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, California from 2007 to 2009. In 2010 it moved to Santa Monica. There were also 2 European events, 2006 in Barcelona and 2007 in Amsterdam. The 2009 event included a bootcamp one day before the official start to teach newcomers some of the domaining basics and a party at the famous playboy mansion. From 2010 the conference moved to a great location at the beach of Santa Monica. Domainfest was turned into Webfest 2013. In 2014 Domainfest was back on the domaining calendar. Since then Domainfest is integrated with other huge events like NamesCon (Las Vegas in January 2016).
Last conference: March 31 - April 2, 2014 in Hollywood (Loews Hotel)
Next conference: tba
Doaminfest Asia
The agenda of this domain conference is covering global domaining topics aswell as more local Asian topics. So it aims to connect the Asian domain community with the main global players.
Last conference: Sept 4-7, 2015 in Macau
Next conference: September 19-22, 2016 in Hong Kong
Domain Pulse
An event that is held once a year since 2004. It is co-hosted by the registries of Austria (nic.at), Germany (DENIC) and Switzerland (SWITCH). Attendance is free of charge, the conference language is german.
Last conference: 2015 in Berlin (Germany)
Next conference: Febuary 1-2 in Lausanne (Switzerland)
Domain Roundtable
Founded by Name Intelligence which is the well known developer of Domaintools in 2005. In addition to networking and having an appealing agenda the focus of Domain Roundtable is to bring in professionals that do not show up at other conferences.
Last conference: March 1-4, 2011 Paradise Island, Bahamas
Next conference: tba
DomainvermarkterForum
This German event was attracting also visitors from outside of Germany. Founded in 2006 it bought together the most important German speaking domainers every year. An essential part of the conference was the only live auction of domains in Germany. The event was held at least once a year and had its final meeting in 2012.
Last conference: September 8-9, 2012 in Düsseldorf
Next conference: cancelled
Encuentros Domaining / Domaining Spain / Domaining 2013
Spain’s leading domain conference emerged in 2008. The top domainers from Spain now meet once a year at this domaining event. The organizers are doing a good job in getting more particiapnts and speakers from all over the world.
Last conference: April 25-27, 2013 in Valencia (Sorolla Palace Hotel)
Next conference: tba
GeoDomain Expo
This domaining conference is the premier event for domainers with geographical domains. It is organized by Associated Cities a network of domain owners with the best .com geo domain names. Their first gathering was in June 2006.
Last conference: April 28-30, 2010 New Orleans
Next conference: tba
MeetDomainers
Polands main annual domaining event attracts domainers from all over the world. The main focus is a good combination of networking and domaining. Its premier conference was held in October 2008 in Cracow. The live auctions have proven to be very successful with sales of €66.000 (2008) and €80.000 (2009). The most prestigious sale was lekarze.pl (doctors in Polish). In 2010 the first MeetDomainers conference outside Poland was held in Manchester (UK).
Last conferences: October 14, 2011 in Warsaw
Next conferences: tba
Namescon
This domain conference had its first meeting in 2014 in Las Vegas. There was a strong focus on ways to monetize domains.
Last conferences: January 13-15, 2011 in Las Vegas
Next conferences: tba
Punta Demene
The biggest Hispanic domain conference takes place in Punta del Este (Uruguay) once a year. The first conference took place in Febuary 2009 and was staged as a two day event. A focus is set on topics surrounding domaining in South America - that is also where the vast majority of attendees come from.
Last conference: Febuary 2011 in Punta del Este, Uruguay
Next conference: tba
SedoPro World Tour (former: SedoPro Partner Forum)
SedoPro Partner Forum used to be an exclusive yearly by invitation only event for Sedos best clients. It started in 2006 in Maastricht, it has since been held at Lake Mohonk (2007), in Nice (2008) and in Key West (2009). In 2010 the concept was changed, involving a great variety of destinations to make it easier for a greater number of SedoPros to attend.
Last conference: Cologne (March 2011)
Next conferences: tba
Traffic
The mother of all conferences was cancelled in 2014 after 10 years with its 28 conferences. After the organizers (Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu) started their first conference in October 2004 (Delray Beach Marriott) they have been setting up 3 further shows each year. The event is by invitation only, you can apply for one on their website. To enable a high standard with the highest quality of attendees the attendance prices are kept at a high level. Often a certain topic is highlighted with a specific show that is of interest to domainers, like making wall street aware of domains, transparency in the industry, development of domains or other topics that give domainers a chance to earn more money. The first Traffic outside the US was held in 2008 in Australia (Gold Coast). In June 2009 the first Traffic conference in Europe took place in Amsterdam. Later it was a once a year event in Florida.
Last conference: October 30- November 2, 2014 in Miami Beach, Florida
Next conferences: tba
Webfest
The fomer Domainfest became Webfest with its opening meeting in Febuary 2013. The topics were still mainly focused on domaining and attracted a lot of the domain industry from the big players to newbies. After one season Webfest turned back into Domainfest.
Last conference: Febuary 5 - Febuary 7, 2013 in Santa Monica (Fairmont Miramar Hotel)
Next conference: tba
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