I had a really good night last night. At 3am in the morning I was doing some development (yes….I am one of those founders that still does programming) and I’d finally wrangled a report to display exactly what I wanted it to show. Sounds pretty boring but trust me when I say that it was nothing short of euphoric!

Programming is one of those strange disciplines where often a huge amount of work goes into something with nothing to show for the effort. Suddenly, at the end of it all a real breakthrough is achieved as the myriad of bits and pieces suddenly come together to make something beautiful.

It’s like an artist that starts painting a masterpiece from the edges and slowly works towards the centre. No one knows what he has in his mind until the finished result is hung on the wall but once it’s up everyone smiles and sees the brilliance of it.....so I thought!

So the next day I proudly showed my wife and daughters my programming Picasso. “Hey look at this report and what these buttons can do,” I proudly announced.

I don’t even think the ongoing conversation missed a beat as they glanced at my phone, smiled politely and continued on. That’s the thing about brilliance…..not many people see it as amazing, let alone as a monumental breakthrough.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to transport the current generation back in time to using DOS and a pager. None of this “user interface” stuff that takes forever to develop….let them feel the power that comes from remembering that “format c:” is probably a bad idea.

Eric Lyon from NamePros just sent through an interview that I did with Edward Zeiden at NamesCon 2017. It was great revisiting the 2017 interview to see what is still relevant in 2018 and whether any of the predictions came true.

The video also reminded me that in 2018 domain investors need to continue to focus on the outcomes for their investments. Before you buy a domain you should already know which of the four primary business models will be providing the return.

Is the investment a stock item, high value domain, development opportunity or are you going to earn money from the traffic.

I should say that Edward interviewed me again in 2018 and I look forward to seeing that video....I'll post it hear as soon as it's finished being produced. Many thanks to the great NamePros team for all the work they are doing in creating a historical video archive of our great industry.

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.

It’s not long until NamesCon and it looks like it’s shaping up to be bigger and better than ever! As well as all of the excellent sessions there are a host of networking events that will ensure that attendees will get the most out of the conference.

As well as being asked to be a moderator on the Sunday I also have the privilege of sharing in a session title, “Data Mining for Revenue with Registries and Registrars” on Monday at 11am in the .ASIA room. I must admit that I’ve pulled some great data together for this session and if you’re a registrar/hosting company or a registry then I hope that it will show you how you can tap into some significant opportunities in your business.

What really makes NamesCon a “not to be missed” conference is the quality of the attendees. Nine times out of ten, after speaking with a person you’ll find there is a large potential opportunity for you both just waiting to be unlocked. The challenge at the end of the conference is to work out which ones you will pursue first.

Yes, you read the above heading correctly. Whizzbangsblog has secured a 50% discount for readers wishing to attend NamesCon in Las Vegas at the end of January. This is a discount of up to $500 on a standard ticket and even more for VIP tickets.

NamesCon is being held at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas from the 28-31st January 2018. It is regarded as the premier domain conference in the world and if you are a domain investor or part of the domain industry it’s a not to be missed event.

As well as attending NamesCon I will moderating the first day’s proceedings and taking a session for titled “Data Mining For Revenue With Registries and Registrars”.

I took an early version of this topic last year and it was standing room only. Now that we are twelve months down the track I have a lot more data at my fingertips so I can assure you this will be a data filled practical session on how to increase your revenue.

So how do you get the discount code for buying a ticket? It’s really simple, just login to the Domainer’s Network here and message me (you may as well friend me in the process) that you would like a discount code. I’ll then send it on through to you. It's that easy!

Once you’re registered, don’t forget to check out the NamesCon event in the Domainer’s Network and let people know you’re attending. This will help you arrange meetings and get the most out of the conference.

See you there!