Over $148,000 has been donated to LGBTQ Community Beneficiaries GLAAD and CenterLink from .gay domain name registration revenue, according to the .gay Impact Report released this week. The registry, Top Level Design, donates 20% of all .gay registration revenue to the LGBTQ organisations.
The Sunrise period for the new gTLD for Switzerland’s largest city and canton by population, Zürich, commences on 30 August, and will run until 29 October.
With NamesCon 360° now a virtual conference due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the organisers have renamed their first-ever all-digital conference NamesCon Online, and moving it onto namescon.online.
With the shutdown of conferences around the world, NamesCon has succumbed as well and is another that is going virtual. So now NamesCon is planning to host what they’re touting as what will be the largest-ever domain-industry conference, with content relevant to global and local markets: NamesCon 360°.
NamesCon Global has grown over the years to become the
largest annual domain-industry conference. Itâs gone from being a domain investor-centric
gathering to an event for everything domain-related, from channel providers and
software vendors to domain investors and end-customers. And now as part of that
growth theyâve moved to crowdsourcing for submissions for some of their
sessions for this yearâs theme: 360 Degrees Around the Dot.
The move from Las Vegas is also a reinvention of sorts: theyâre
going to Austin to establish the Domain Economic Forum,
taking a broader and deeper look at the ecosystem in which we work and strive
to innovate.
NamesCon is not looking for pitches of specific products or
solutions but rather they want to see an industry overview, surfacing potential
large-scale opportunities over the next decade. Successful submissions will
round out the current programme.
NamesCon explain theyâre looking for submissions in the
following three clusters:
Quantifying the Domain Ecosystem
What is the true size of the domain industry? They explain
that several parts of the ecosystem are not quantifiedâat least not yet. In
particular weâre thinking of the secondary domain market: the opacity here is
due to the fact that, for several reasons, most secondary-market transactions
are not reported.
Theyâre seeking session ideas that will help a broader
audience to understand the size and scope of the domain industry as a whole,
and specifically in the secondary marketâand the opportunities that lie within.
Big-Picture Market Opportunities
They want to dig more deeply into liquid domains as digital
assets or a store of value, such as long-tail registrations for brand
protection. They also want to explore the future of identity management, as
well as next-generation DNS services as a driver for the domain industry: Right
now, email and websites are based on domains, but what comes next?
The Buyerâs Perspective
NamesCon want as many buyers as possible at the Domain
Economic Forum, and this means a diversity of needs and use cases. Theyâre
looking for buyers from various backgrounds and industries to talk about the
experience buying domains from investors; as well as how they approach brand
protection. They want to learn more about real-life buying behaviour,
budgeting, and other factors that make or break a deal.
NamesCon Global have announced a slight change in the dates
for their 2020 event to be held in Austin, Texas, for the first time, from 29 January
to 1 February, a 3 day delay on the previously announced dates. And the reason
for the change, in part, is partly because of a day at the beach.
âOur NamesCon Europe 2019 Beach Day was such a huge success
that we knew we had to do a dedicated fun day in Austin,â said NamesCon CEO
Soeren von Varchmin. âSince our program for that day can only be done on a
weekend, weâve had to shift the event dates to 29-February 1. So it starts a
few days later than before.â (Also, they say they canât mess with Super Bowl
Sunday)
NamesCon will kick off on Wednesday the 29th with Beginner
and Expert tracks as well as the opening reception. Then NamesConGlobal moves
into two action-packed days of programming. These will include the exhibition
hall and the famous live domain auction. It will wrap up with a day of fun and networking
âout of the officeâ, so to speak.
âI canât tell you yet what the fun day will be,â said Head
of NamesCon Helga Neumer. âItâs still a surprise!â
âThe date change also allows us to better realise our vision
for NamesCon Global 2020, which weâre calling âThe Domain Economic Forumâ,â
says von Varchmin. âNamesCon has evolved from an investor-focused event into
the central event for everything domain-related. Weâre happy to bring in domain
name investors, registries, registrars, internet service providers, attorneys,
brand managers, affiliate marketing companies, domain marketplaces, parking
companies, financial service providers, and individual end-users. Weâre looking
beyond the right or left of the dot: now weâre taking you 360 degrees around
the dot!â
âOur team has been going back and forth between Cologne and Austin to get things ready, even though the event is six months away,â said Neumer. âItâs a lot of flying, but itâs worth it!â The team has scored a new partnership with the Omni Hotel Austin Downtown: itâs described as a cool, chic spot with a rooftop pool. The special NamesCon rate is $200 less than the OMNIâs average price per night.
Since its founding in 2013, NamesConâs flagship event has been held in Las Vegas.
This initiative is part of ICANNâs efforts to encourage effective
engagement from its stakeholders, and invite newcomers to participate in
ICANN. Speakers will include ICANN org members, as well as ICANN
community experts.
The announcement includes the following:
Who should attend: -DNS Industry professionals -IP right holders -Registrars, newly accredited by ICANN or interested in ICANN accreditation -Staff at ICANN contracted parties, particularly those involved in ICANNâs compliance processes and policy work
Panel:
Michaela Cruden, Afilias, Amadeu Abril i Abril, CORE
Hugo Barata, amen.pt
Moderator:
Gabriella Schittek, ICANN
12.30 â 13.15 Lunch Break
13.15 â 14.00 So, you were a Reseller â What now?
⢠How to become an ICANN accredited Registrar
⢠How to survive in the ICANN world as a newly accredited registrar
Presentation:
Aysegul Tekce, ICANN
Panel:
Michaela Cruden, Afilias
Kristian Ormen, Larsen Data
Moderator: Amadeu Abril i Abril COREhub
14.00 â 14.45
ICANNâs Contractual Compliance Approach and Processes
⢠Overall approach and processes
⢠Registrar-related compliance issues: What does it mean? How does it impact you?
⢠Abuse, domain renewal, transfer, data escrow and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP)
Presentation: Zuhra Salijanova
14.45 â 15.00 Coffee Break
15.00 â 15.45
Operational Issues:
Best Practices: UDRP, Transfers, Domain Renewals, Abuse – What works and what doesnât?
Panel:
Hugo Barrata, amen.pt
Amadeu Abril i Abril, COREhub
Moderator: Kristian Ormen, Larsen Data
15.45 â 16.00
Staying in Touch
Presentation:
Gabriella Schittek, ICANN
Kristian Ormen, Larsen Data
Region: EuropeEvent Type: Domain Name IndustryRegional EventTrip Report:
For 2 weeks in a row the top domain name sale on the Domain Name Journal chart only reached $50,000. And then this week there were 5 six-figure sales! The sales were all part of the NameJet and partner RightOfTheDot.com (ROTD) who had a live event staged at the 2019 NamesCon Global conference in Las Vegas in late January.
The top seller was ol.com which sold for $900,000 followed
by leads.com ($435,000), domainnames.com ($370,000), djs.com ($130,000) and
stop.com ($110,000). There were even 3 more that beat the biggest sales for each
of the past 2 weeks â boot.com and mywebsite.com (both selling for $70,000
through Sedo and the NameJet/ROTD/NamesCon Auction respectively while
investingmoney.com sold for $55,000 through Sedo.
There were 11 sales through the NameJet/ROTD/NamesCon
Auction in the top 20 reported sales for the week ending 10 March, another 2
through NameJet themselves and 6 through Sedo. In the top 20 there were 18 .com
sales and one each for .net and .de.
NamesCon took place and for those who couldnât make it, or for those who were busy socialising, the organisers have compiled a Trend Report that captures âevery actionable takeaway, tweetable phrase, and inspiring quote from the NamesCon keynote stage speakers.â
The report has about 20 pages of âvaluable insights gleaned from the many leading voicesâ from keynote presentations by Pinky Brand, Haseeb Tariq (Fox), Bhavin Turakhia (Radix), Paul Nicks (GoDaddy), Kate Buckley (Buckley Media), Paul Mockapetris, Elliot Noss and Toby Hall, Rolf Larsen, Bhavin Turakhia, Richard Merdinger and Akram Atallah, Rolf Larsen (.GLOBAL) and Erin Mckean (Wordnik.com).
RightOfTheDot and NameJet on Wednesday announced the release of the initial list of ultra-premium domain names up for pre-bidding before the live, in-person and online domain name auction at NamesCon Global 2019, the largest annual domain-industry conference.
The live domain auction takes place on January 28, 2019, from 4 pm â 7 pm PST at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pre-bidding and the extended auction will take place on the NameJet.com auction platform found at namejet.com/featuredauctions/liveauction.
The auction will feature some of the best domain names available, including âleads.com,â âgive.com,â âdrone.com,â âtexasholdem.com,â âcellularphones.com,â âqo.com,â âprize.com,â bride.com,â âsucks.com,â âbroker.com,â âdomainnames.com,â âtablets.comâ and many more, including several super-premium non-.com domains such as âmortgage.pro,â âchinese.restaurant,â âboater.clubâ and ânewyork.pizza.â There will be an estimated 400 names in the overall auction with an estimated 120 domains offered at the live auction.Last yearâs auction resulted in the highest sale in NameJetâs history with âsuper.comâ selling for a record-breaking $1.2 million, which has since been used to create a $50 million venture-capital fund for the video-game industry. Other notable sales from that auction include âgreat.comâ for $900,000, ârunner.com,â âfakenews.comâ and âtees.com.â
âRightOfTheDot and NameJet have generated millions in revenue for our
clients and sold domain names never before available to a wide array of
established companies, start-ups and individuals,â said Monte Cahn,
RightOfTheDotâs president and director. âContinuing to raise the overall
value for the domain industry is our joint mission, and we look to
further that effort with this yearâs list of fantastic domain names.â
“We are thrilled to once again partner with RightOfTheDot to support
the live domain auction at NamesCon,” said Jonathan Tenenbaum, general
manager of NameJet.
Many of the premium domains will be priced at no and low reserves to promote competitive bidding and true market prices. Additional domain names will be considered for inclusion by submitting names at rotd.com/auction-submission/. Only ultra-premium names will be considered. Â
A NameJet account is required to participate in the online and live
auctions. Bids for domains may be placed now on the NameJet website.
Accepted names will be added continually to pre-bidding before the start
of NamesCon so participants should check the auction page often for new
additions and bidding activity. Following the live auction, the online
auction will continue on the NameJet website for an additional 16 days,
closing on February 13.