Do at NamesCon 2018 — What to
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 fresh faces, so it won’t be “oh yeah, I saw this same panel the past three years!”
One quick tip ahead of getting to the sessions: there’s a fresh restaurant (Robert Irvine’s Public House) at the Tropicana where the sportsbook used to be. This ought to 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 ahead of there was such as thing as Facebook or Twitter. In fact, Megadeth was the first band to create a website. Learn regarding 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 regarding how it can change industries, but these have been light on details. So a session between Donuts’ Tim Favia and Netki’s Justin Newton regarding how Netki is leveraging DNS for blockchain ought to be interesting. Monday 12-12:45pm.
Thinking regarding 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 firm 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 firm owns so many domains. Or, listen to my podcast regarding 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 ought to go. Tickets are still available. Tuesday 6-9pm.
