Well yesterday flew by and while I thought it would be hard to pack more meetings into a single day than I did yesterday, I think I’ve managed to do that today. I left this morning open so I could whip up a quick blog post and of course shoot my Monday Morning Walks with Morgan, then from 11AM onwards I am booked until, well all day, in 30 minute increments.
That being said, as you all know, I’m a pretty reflective guy and I like sharing my reflections with all of you so I thought I’d take a few minutes to reflect on yesterday, Day One of NamesCon 2019. To make it easier to read I’ll be sharing a reflection, followed by a photo, then another reflection, another photo – you get the idea. Let’s start with a photo, this one is of me, the one and only Braden Pollock, and James, one of Braden’s close friends who I’ve also become good friends with over the years.
First and foremost – damn are we lucky to be in an industry with so many incredibly people. It was amazing catching up with everyone yesterday and so interesting to share what each of us is doing, what’s working for us, what isn’t, and what we’re learning as we go. I learn something from every conversation I have whether it’s with a veteran or a brand new Domainer. Keep an open mind when you have a conversation at a conference like NamesCon and you’ll be amazed at what you find.
Yesterday I also had the chance to catch-up with Doron the founder of Efty, one of my favorite solutions for generating really nice landing pages on my domains and keeping track of and responding to inbound offers. This made me reflect on how far the domain name industry has come over the last decade when it comes to software and tools. When I started back in 2007 you had to build a lot of things yourself, now newcomers and veterans alike have unparalleled access to some pretty amazing solutions to help them sell and monetize domain names. I realized there are still a lot of tools I’m not leveraging myself so I plan to spend some time on Tuesday walking around the tradeshow floor and learning more about what’s out there that isn’t on my radar yet.
I had the chance to meet and talk with Matthias Conrad, the new CEO of Sedo and was really impressed with his energy and enthusiasm, it’s contagious and I think he’s got a lot of great ideas that are going to really take Sedo to the next level. Dave Evanson, who is also in the photo is another example of one of the incredibly nice and open people we’re lucky to have in the domain industry. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that Dave had an amazing year last year brokering some monster names and it sounds like 2019 is going to be even better. This really made me reflect on how the domain industry is always changing and evolving and it’s great to see new faces in companies that we all know and love.
I brought a handful of my new #Domainer shirts to NamesCon to give to some of my blog readers who have been reading MorganLinton.com for years. Above is a photo of me with Matt “Handshaking” Holmes and Kevin McKim, two long-time readers and now proud owners of a #Domainer shirt. I also threw a little VIP event for some of my blog readers who were in town for NamesCon at the Foundation Room at the top of Mandalay Bay last night. It was a blast and I am always so honored and humbled to get a chance to meet you – the people who read my blog, and the reason why I continue to write, 11 years and counting.
If you read my blog and are coming to NamesCon Europe later this year, let me know, I’m planning a VIP event there as well and would love to make sure you’re a part of it. The Foundation Room is one of my favorite places in Vegas, not only is the inside eclectic and cool, but it has, IMHO, the best view of the Vegas strip.
Okay, well now it’s time to put on my #Domainer shirt and head into a busy day of meetings – NamesCon 2019 Day 2, here I come!
