I'm sitting here at the airport in Queenstown, New Zealand after a great weeks vacation in a magnificent part of the world. Almost as a parting gesture I couldn't help noticing that one of the the networks available at the airport was called "whizbang". Shame about dropping a "z" but it made me feel right at home.

After the past week I feel energised and looking forward to the new year! This is going to start with heading to Vegas tomorrow for NamesCon where I've heard that over 1200 people will be in attendance. Seriously, if you aren't attending you will be really missing out.

As well as having around 30 scheduled meetings I will be speaking on Domain Monetisation for two sessions, an intro and also a masterclasss. I spent the week before Christmas researching some great case studies to illustrate the points in the sessions....it should be a lot of fun! If you are interested in monetising your domain traffic then make sure that you signup for the sessions online at the NamesCon website as they are filling up fast.

I'm also going to be doing a Q&A on Sunday where people can ask any question they would like about how to best monetise and manage their domains. I'll do my best to answer all the questions and help out as many people as possible.

ParkLogic has a table on the Sunday where we will be providing a new installment of a sneak preview of our new Next platform. We'll also have five of us at the conference....so make sure that you grab any of us if you have any questions about how we can help you with your portfolio.

One of the great things about this trip is that I'll have my wife, Rosely, with me. I know that everyone will make her feel more than welcome and I know that she's really looking forward to meeting everyone.

Anyway.....my flight is being called so I'd better get going now. Cheers!

---------------------------------------------------

Michael Gilmour has been in business for over 32 years and has both a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science and an MBA. He was the former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association in Australia and is in demand as a speaker at Internet conferences the world over. He has also recently published his first science fiction book, Battleframe.

Michael is passionate about working with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate their new ventures around the many pitfalls that all businesses face. Due to demands on his time, Michael may be contacted by clicking here for limited consulting assignments.

In 2015 the domain industry was launched with Namescon but there's a lot more on it's way. Domaining Europe, ICANN conferences and The Domain Conference being run by Howard, Barbara and Ray Neu are just a few of the topics discussed on this video.

So it’s about a week after Namescon and I’m sitting at my desk still feeling a little sorry for myself due to the jetlag. It’s always a mad scramble after returning from a conference.

Conferences are the place where an incredible amount of business is conducted in a very short time. I could be a bit rude and suggest that it’s similar to other activities in life but I think that I just won’t go there.

My typical Namescon day began at about 7:15am where I woke up with the sun on my face. I always sleep with the curtains wide open to help shove my body into my new time zone. It may sound stupid (my wife thinks it is anyway) but it seems to help me out.

My first meeting is usually for breakfast at around 8am and I end up with a meeting scheduled every hour until 8pm that night. On the last day the time slots typically dwindle down to 30 minutes. So when I say that it’s a hectic pace, it really is.

I had the strangest feeling when one of my meetings didn’t show up on the last day (they were delayed) and I had 30 minutes spare. I sat down a bit bewildered wondering what to do. It was if the heavens had opened up and blessed me with 30 minutes of my life back. So that I wasn’t letting my son down (he’s part of my team) I played a quick round of “Clash of Clans” on my phone. If any of you play the game then message me and feel free to join my clan. :-)

So what am I really saying about Namescon. It was crazy! There was so much business to do, people to meet and really interesting conversations to be had. I loved it!

A funny thing did happen on the second to last day when Scott Ross, a few other domainers and I saw a whole bunch of hotel security guys go to bust a domainer that tried to abscond with a bunch of donuts. I think that they were hungry….don’t blame them….so were we! I’ve never laughed so much in all my life….precious moments.

So what was it that made Namescon so good? Was it the hotel? The Tropicanna was actually pretty average but I’m happy as long as I have a clean bed and it ticked that box.

Was it the sessions? Perhaps, I heard some great reports from a number of the sessions….I just wished I could have attended more of them. There were some world class speakers presenting and multiple streams to choose from. My ParkLogic business partner attended quite a number of the sessions and on the whole the he thought that the ones he attended were outstanding.

What I found really made Namescon a great event were two things. The organisation was nothing short of superb. The whole Namescon team should be congratulated on their amazing effort….I would like to really thank Matt, Mark and Angie who all helped me get set for one of my sessions. Nothing like dealing with a speaker with special requirements…!

What I did notice was that nothing was too much trouble for any team member….including Jothan, Richard and Jodi. They all worked really hard to ensure that everything flowed as smoothly as possible for the attendees.

Which brings me to what makes a conferences great…..it’s the people that attend. Business is conducted between people and there was just so many great people to meet, get to know and then knock out deals with. I would like to thank everyone that took the time to attend Namescon as ultimately, it’s you that made it an awesome event.

So I’m looking at my calendar for the next 12 months and couldn’t help notice that there isn’t very much in the way of domaining events scheduled. With any luck TRAFFIC will be back in May…..I really hope that I didn’t miss the very last one. I would just love it, if there were three conferences per year that grew to have the impact of Namescon. It’s put the domain industry back on the map in a major way.

Below are a few shots from Namescon to give you an idea of the size and scope of the event.

---------------------------------------------------

Michael Gilmour has been in business for over 32 years and has both a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science and an MBA. He was the former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association in Australia and is in demand as a speaker at Internet conferences the world over. Michael is passionate about working with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate their new ventures around the many pitfalls that all businesses face.

It takes me a lot to journey across the Pacific Ocean and even more when it’s in the middle of my summer in Australia. It just so happens that Namescon ticks both of those boxes but I’m still making the journey….so why would I do that?

The first Namescon really took advantage of a gap between TRAFFIC in October and an overly delayed DomainFest. This opportunity, combined with a fantastic team of industry luminaries has powered Namescon from strength to strength.

To date there are over 800 registrants from all over the world attending this year’s conference. The sessions topics look incredible with speakers who are real experts in their fields sharing their incite and knowledge.

I was kindly invited to speak on a session which will involve building an online business from concept through to a 12 month cashflow and final implementation within 60 minutes! I’ll be inviting a person from the audience to share their business idea and then we’ll build the domain out in front of everyone. It’s going to be fast, furious and a LOT of fun!

What I’m really looking forward at Namescon is the fact that the who’s who of the industry will be in attendance. I’ve already found my diary filling up with appointments with people from all over the world. I’ve found that there’s just nothing like sitting across the table from someone to get business really happening.

So despite the beautiful Australian summer I couldn’t resist jumping on another 24 hour plane journey to attend Namescon. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to catch up for a few drinks :-)