Home NamesCon Page 16

NamesCon

5 With… Soeren von Varchmin President of WHD & NamesCon

1

NamesCon is the largest annual domain industry conference that regularly draws over 1,000 attendees to Las Vegas. At the end of the Summer last year, NamesCon was privately acquired by WorldHostingDays (WHD), a conference producer in the cloud and web hosting industry. In another acquisition at the end of last year, the parent company of WHD, Host Europe Group, was acquired by GoDaddy.

In light of all of these corporate changes involving NamesCon, and with the 2018 conference coming up in a few months, I interviewed Soeren von Varchmin to ask some questions about NamesCon 2018. Soeren serves as President of WorldHostingDays and NamesCon. He joined the company in 2014 after spending ten years in sales and business development roles in the cloud service industry. During this time, Soeren has lived and worked in the US, Europe, and Asia.

I asked Soeren five questions as a part of my long running “5 with…” interview series. Some of his responses were lightly edited for grammatical and punctuation reasons.

If you have additional questions for Soeren or the NamesCon team, I invite you to ask in the comment section.

NamesCon Offering Halloween Discount

Every once in awhile, NamesCon announces a special offer for conference passes. As the conference gets closer, the offers and discounts tend to disappear. If you have not bought your NamesCon ticket for January’s conference, now might be a good time.

In a tweet today, NamesCon announced a 50% off discount code: “HappyHalloween”

I can only assume the code will expire after Halloween, but you will need to check with the conference organizers to confirm. With this promo code, it looks like standard conference passes are little over $300 and VIP conference passes are around $500. The EventBrite page has all of the details about what each pass gets you.

NamesCon 2018 will take place January 28-31, 2018 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas.

NamesCon Seeking Speakers for 2018 Conference

NamesCon put a call out for speakers for the 2018 conference coming up in January in Las Vegas:

Since there are typically several topical tracks during the conference, the speaker positions are most likely not limited to people within the domain name business. In fact, I would imagine NamesCon organizers (and conference attendees) would be interested in welcoming speakers with expertise in tertiarily related businesses and industries. Having speakers discuss new and interesting topics helps keep people engaged and likely draws a wider audience. My guess is that we will see more speakers discuss

NamesCon China Conference Announced

In an email sent to newsletter subscribers, NamesCon organizers announced that NamesCon will be holding an event in China in October. The one-day conference will be held in Shanghai, China on October 12, 2017. The Andaz Shanghai Xintiandi hotel (part of the Hyatt chain) will play host to NamesCon China.

Here’s what was said about the event:

“NamesCon has partnered with Racënt to bring NamesCon to China for the first time, touching down in Shanghai’s Xintiandi entertainment district on October 12, 2017. We’ve got a full day of keynotes, panels, and sessions in the works; closing out the day with one of our legendary domain auctions.”

NamesCon recently held a successful event in India in conjunction with WHD India. I do not believe there is another industry-related event being held in China at the same time. Organizers are expecting between 300-500 attendees at NamesCon China.

Tickets to attend NamesCon China cost

Video: NamesCon India & WHD.India Recap

There were two related events held in India that were well attended by people in the domain industry. WHD.India and NamesCon India were held in Mumbai a couple of weeks ago. According to an email I received yesterday, there were 1,100 attendees at both events. NamesCon India was a conference I was hoping to attend, but I was away with my family in Florida for the week.

For those who missed these conferences and for those who attended and want to see some highlights, the conference organizers shared a video recap of both events. The video is pretty short, but you can get an idea of the size of the crowd in attendance by watching the video.

NamesCon India will definitely be on my list of events I want to attend next year if there is a 2018 event. Here’s the video embedded below:

Richard Lau Gives WaterSchool Update

Water SchoolThe WaterSchool is “a global non-profit organization with a mission to provide simple, safe, strategic, and sustainable clean water and sanitation solutions to the developing world.” The organization receives a considerable amount of funding from people within the domain name space, and I believe its largest individual fundraising event is the Water Night party held during NamesCon.

Domain industry veteran Richard Lau serves as the Executive Director of The WaterSchool. In an email sent this morning, Richard shared an update about the organization’s achievements last year. Here’s what Richard shared with newsletter subscribers about the organization’s 2016 activities and accomplishments:

Recent Posts

Have a Real Presence Online When Selling Domain Names

0
When it comes to selling domain names via outbound marketing, credibility is very important. If a prospective buyer receives an unsolicited and unexpected email...

2021 vs 2025 – % of .coms in my Portfolio

1
I don't closely track the percentage of domain extensions in my portfolio. I could have 75% .com or I could have 99% .com domain...

Nominations Open for 2026 ICA Awards

0
The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is now accepting nominations for two domain investing community awards. Domain investors may now submit their nominations for the...

Bodis Gives Performance Update After Google Parked Domain Opt-Out

3
Bodis sent an update to customers yesterday about recent performance impacts related to pay per click parking revenue. The company attributed the decline to...

Glad This Sale Wasn’t an LTO

0
Sometimes, the most obvious use for a particular domain name is in a manner that would either be offensive, controversial, or negative. This will...