Was NamesCon Worth All the Hype?

NamesCon 2018 has ended, attendees are on their way home and the exhibit hall is now all packed up. So was the conference really worth it? Did it deliver for me what I was hoping it would? Most importantly will I fork out my hard-earned cash to journey across the Pacific to attend next year?

NamesCon 2018 would have to have been the best conference I have attended in……well…..since NamesCon 2017. The attendance was about the same as 2017 but appeared a little lighter due to the number of meetings being held in suites. This brings up a really important point.

I judge conferences on not the number of attendees but whether the right people are in attendance. In this case, NamesCon really delivered as I found myself surrounded by people that I was wanting to catch-up with…..in fact, I ran out of time so my apologies to all those people that I didn’t manage to say "hi" to.

To give you an idea of my schedule, I had an average of 16+ scheduled meetings per day. This didn’t include the impromptu meetings you have at any of the parties, walking down the long hallway or just bumping into someone in the exhibit hall. The right people attended NamesCon and this meant a huge, and I really mean HUGE amount of business was getting done.

At any one time about half the attendees or more were huddled in meetings as they bought or sold domains, did other deals or developed closer relationships that can only be made face to face. The other half were in some excellent sessions as they gained a greater appreciation of just how flexible domains could be or how cryptocurrency and the blockchain will impact their businesses.

I had the privilege of moderating the Tool Talks on the Sunday afternoon where around 15 different speakers spoke about what they were doing with domains or the blockchain. Each brief “TED” like presentation was packed full of insights, brilliant ideas and thoughts on future developments.

The parties were great opportunities to build new business relationships and get to know people you hadn’t met before. My one criticism would be that it was really difficult to have a chat with someone at the MMX party due to the loud music…..but that was a minor issue in the scheme of things.

A really good innovation this year was the VIP room. I used the room a lot for meetings and having lunch provided each day just made it so much easier than trying to find somewhere to eat in the casino.

Clearly NamesCon delivered and I can’t wait until NamesCon 2019 comes along. In between there will be numerous other conferences and even a NamesCon in India……when you talk to the various people from India this conference sounds amazing!

Soren and the entire NamesCon team should be congratulated for running such an outstanding event. Like a duck on a pond, I’m sure there was a lot of furious paddling going on under the water but on top everything appeared to be calm and relaxed.

I will definitely be attending NamesCon Global 2019 and I hope you will be there too. If you were there and we didn’t connect then please accept my apologies…..you can always reach out to me here. If you were in attendance and have a few photos then I’d encourage you to post them in the “Domainers Network”.

All I have to do now is prepare for the long flight home…….