1000+ attendees, sponsors, exhibitors and everyone in between descended upon the domain industry’s largest conference — NamesCon Global: The Domain Economic Forum — debuting a change of venue  at the Omni Downtown Hotel in Austin, Texas.

From the newest of new to the oldest of old, anticipation and excitement built as the Keynote Hall filled to standing room only awaiting the commencement of 7th Annual Welcome Keynote.

Excitement and anticipation greatly build, and could be felt on this beautiful 70 degree day here in Austin, Texas, home of NamesCon 2020.

I ventured downtown after a late lunch meeting to take full advantage of pre-registration — securing my conference badge and additional details, and getting acclimated with conference layout.

It’s been 2 years since I last attended NamesCon out in Las Vegas at the Tropicana.

Fast forward two years, and tick tock goes the clock as we count the weeks, days, and hours until NamesCon 2020 arrives here in my backyard, the growing metropolis of Austin, Texas.

There is a bit of everything under the sun here in Austin — the college boomtown known for TRAFFIC, LONGHORNS, tech, music, festivals, food, and sprawling fun for days that covers every square inch of Downtown Austin, from one block to the next.

Nevertheless, 1,000+ persons, not including locals, will descend upon Austin to connect and re-connect at the world’s biggest domain economic forum: NamesCon Global.

While there is much to anticipate and look forward to during this jam-packed 4 days of everything domains and more, below are a few sessions I’m keen to attend and learn from:

STAR Labs, also known as Samsung Technology & Advanced Research Labs, launched a mysterious product just weeks away from CES 2020 called NEON.

With a full day of activity ahead of us at the 1st Annual Asheville Domain Investor Meetup, Rick Schwartz picked up where left off from the Cocktail Party, and kicked off Friday with a generous and heartfelt welcome.

Unlike the typical conference bound by the constraints of structure and a time-based agenda down to the very second, Friday felt more like an unconference model as attendees filled the Skyline Room.

5 years after the last T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference, Rick Schwartz is back at it again with the 1st annual Asheville domain investing meetup held at the historic Grove Park Inn nestled away in the sleep-hollow town of Asheville, North Carolina.

With the holy grail of the conferences for domain investing industry is NamesCon, Schwartz took a chance to establish and facilitate a small gathering of domain investors to connect, share, and do business with one another.

In fact, Dr. Gregg McNair literally communicated the same thoughts — a smaller event with limited registration for a Who’s Who of Domain Investing at a higher admission cost — almost a year ago during MERGE! (now defunct).

So, in addition to ~80 fellow domain investors, I jumped at the opportunity to pay and book tickets, travel, and lodging to attend this event the very moment Schwartz went live with ticket registration.

It’s been one week since I boarded a plane from Orlando heading back to good ole’ Austin, Texas.

I thought I’d take a moment to share a few thoughts and interactions from my MERGE! 2018 experience.