It’s now weeks before the 2nd Annual MERGE! Conference — a digital asset conference event gathering a number of different conferences under a single roof and with a common access pass.

As a new conference bursting onto the domain conference scene in its inaugural debut last year, I wasn’t sure what to expect although I had attended insightful events, DNHouston and DNSeattle, leading up to it.

Little did I realize, MERGE! was perfect “next” event and stepping stone to have attended. I encourage all to consider attending MERGE! this year — especially domain investors — based on the following 5 reasons:

Face-to-Face Networking

Domain investing can be a lonely experience when you don’t have a community or support group to belong.

Outside of forums and local meet ups, one way to hedge against the lone-wolf experience in domain investing is breaking out of one’s shell to attend industry conferences.

Sure, conference experiences can be expensive, especially if you wait until the last minute to decide to attend. However, the face-to-face networking opportunities far outweigh the time and money invested long term.

In addition, my perception of someone’s online persona and who they are in the flesh are quite different — good, bad, and ugly.

What makes MERGE! special and unique are the various industries and conferences intersecting to bring a vast array of professionals under one roof.

It’s not simply domain investors, but professionals from web hosting, search marketing, legal, crypto, blockchain, developers and established entrepreneurs from a plethora of industries, verticals, and markets.

It’s great meeting other domain investors, but even better to meet, greet, and establish personal and professional relationships with those not familiar with domain investing.

Sharpen Your Knowledge

It’s easy to read books and blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and participate in forums. However, I’ve come to learn some of the greatest opportunities for personal and professional growth come from being in the room.

Whether eating a meal together, the impromptu or chance meeting or conversation, or the surprise release on expected breaking news, attending conferences puts you in the know long before others.

Even in my short tenure in attending conferences, I’ve discovered strategies, opportunities, and deals that never make it to see the light of day. I’ve realized impeccable course-correction advice from a number of industry vets in the areas of domain development, partner agreements and value-add pricing of domains.

Attending MERGE! swings the door of opportunity wide open to not only grow one’s business, but one’s breadth of knowledge and relational network.

Meet Development Partners

While there are countless investors buying domains daily, there are a fraction of the same domains sold, if ever. While flipping might not be your cup of tea, you may find the tide changes should you decide to develop a domain into a business.

If you don’t know where to begin, then consider attending MERGE! to learn and discover what it takes to establish and sustain profitable domain development opportunities.

Whether you bring development skills to the table, own a lucrative domain worthy of development or simply the mastermind of a well-thought out business idea and plan, MERGE! offers the opportunity to join forces with others professionals to bring ideas to life.

Discover New Tools

If you’re anything like me, then life can become routine and habit — especially when it involves perceiving and approaching life through a given lens.

Because MERGE! is more than domain investing, the’s a greater chance of exposure to a number of tools and services to realize greater efficiency in a number of areas.

Whether web development software and tools, web hosting, financing services, search marketing strategies, email marketing, automation and integration tools, customer relationship management (CRM) and lead generation, to name a few, MERGE! offers endless opportunities to streamline end-to-end business models for greater customer and revenue recognition.

Impromptu and Spontaneous Meetings

The most beneficial aspect of attending a conference like MERGE! is spontaneous meetings. It’s those “lightening in a bottle” meetings that draft on or are sparked from planned sessions, breakouts and keynotes.

These hallway or passerby encounters forever change the trajectory of one’s life. One of those moments I was fortunate to realize was meeting Andrew Allemann, founder and publisher of DomainNameWire.com.

There have been many opportunities I’ve been afforded through our relationship that came by way of MERGE! — crazy that we met in Orlando, yet we both live 15–20 minutes from one another in Austin.

Final Thoughts

It’s more to and in the world than domains. Yes, domains are an avenue to increasing the quality of life and an opportunity to create generational wealth and riches.

However, one must always remember at the core of every moment and transaction in life is the one driver that can never be replaced: relationship.

Although there is a saying that “money makes the world go around,” I’d argue that it’s a person’s ability to manage relationships well that is the sole driver to making the proverbial “money makes the world go around” a reality for all.

That said, the main reason to attend MERGE! Is for the relationship opportunities and relational networks to be had.

When a relationship is established, managed, and treated with care, everything else will fall in line, including domain investing too.

That’s all for now, I hope to see you at MERGE!

P.S. Be sure to take advantage of early registration pricing for tickets, lodging, and Disney.

Full Disclosure: I am attending and participating as the official MERGE! 2018 Moderator. MERGE! DID NOT pay, encourage, influence, mandate or suggest the publication of this content.

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Written by Alvin Brown
He's an experienced and passionate serial entrepreneur, founder and publisher of Kickstart Commerce. Alvin possesses a great love for startups dominating their market using profitable digital strategies for greater commerce.