20200106_world Around the world in 15 days.

A few months ago, I had a stroke of genius. Rather than head from Melbourne across the Pacific to NamesCon I would prove all the "flat earthers" wrong and travel to Austin via the Atlantic Ocean. This would mean that I could then drop into Europe and the east coast of the USA prior to NamesCon and then exit out the west afterwards.

Escrow.com

On paper this was all made perfectly logical sense but that was before I started putting the itinerary together. To give you an idea, the around the world journey will mean flying in seven different planes for fifty-six hours and this doesn’t include waiting times at airports etc. Oh, the joys of international travel….not!

Just of special note is the fact that I’m away for fifteen days but with only eleven days of accommodation booked. What does this mean? Pretty much that I’ll be the bleary-eyed guy in seat 74D that’s twisted into a pretzel as he tries and sleep in whatever airplane seat, he finds himself in.

So where am I headed?
Melbourne - > Frankfurt -> Cologne -> London -> Washington - > Austin -> San Francisco - > Melbourne

If you happen to be in any of those cities and would like to catch-up then don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You never know, we may be able to grab a drink together!

Why on earth am I planning to put my body through this excruciating torture? In a nutshell, because it’s worth it! I can honestly say that there is something special about meeting with domain investors and partners on their home turf. To me, the domain industry is all about relationships, forming new friendships and strengthening existing ones is the absolute highlight of my job.

When I finally hit Austin I'll of course be headed to NamesCon 2020. I think that this year’s NamesCon will be one of the most impactful the industry has ever experienced. As well as being a smart marketing ploy, the change of the tagline to “The Domain Economic Forum” is positioning the conference as THE business event for the entire domain industry.

NamesCon has always been a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity and now this is being combined with a focus on business savvy. I wouldn’t be surprised if this combination will launch a host of new companies soon the event.

I must admit that I’m VERY excited about presenting the first keynote address after the opening welcome comments from Soren. Not giving too much away, I plan on looking at the domain industry from the past, present and where the value will be in the future. As you might expect, I’m already pulling data together to unpack what has happened over the last decade or so.

As I mentioned in a previous article, Matt Herbert has recently joined the ParkLogic team and will be joining me at NamesCon. He’s a great guy and is fast becoming as fanatical about domains as the rest of us so make sure you’re not a stranger and say “hi” to him as he attends his first NamesCon.

If you haven’t booked your NamesCon ticket, then make sure you click on the above banner as you’ll get a 20% discount. Matt and I would love to meet with anyone wanting to get more from their domain traffic so make sure you reach out to us.

In the meantime, I now need to work out where I'll be staying for eleven nights in all the different cities!