It had been over 10 years since the last time I went to LA, but I made it out to Domainfest in Hollywood last week. It was quite the conference. It seemed about 50% larger than the last 2 TRAFFIC conferences I attended, but by the ‘official’ numbers it was probably twice the size. So let’s get down to my thoughts in the important areas: the hotel, the sessions, and the people / networking / parties.
The hotel lived up to or even exceeded my expectations. My standard room at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel was large and had a desk with a great view of the city. The location of the hotel was absolutely perfect – it is part of the Hollywood & Highlands center and adjacent to the Kodak Theatre and a mall with tons of restaurants and shops. I even went on a walk to the nearby Runyon Canyon Park and hiked up some of the mountains (well they technically were probably hills, but they seemed like mountains to a Floridian), and got a great view of the entire city all the way out to the coast. The exhibit hall was well-sized and had plenty of small couches and chairs to hang out around. The grand ballroom for the sessions was very long and narrow. The front 3 rows had tables and power outlets, but the rest of the room was filled with chairs. There were definitely not enough power outlets since noone outside the front 3 rows could plug in.
The sessions seemed pretty standard for domain conferences… well-known and accomplished speakers, but many just said the same types of things that you read on the blogs and forums. I did like the ‘fireside’ format with speakers sitting down and getting interviewed. The questions seemed well prepared, but I didn’t exactly go to Domainfest to learn a lot at the sessions; I went for the networking.
The people. I don’t know what the real count of attendees was- it seemed like about 400 to 500 people from my perspective. I heard from one exhibitor that there were really only 350 attendees (and that he was disappointed for paying so much to advertise for what was supposed to be an audience of 700), but I heard the 600 or 700 number from others. That part doesn’t really matter to me though. I met more straight up “domainers” at this conference than any other I had been to. Usually when I meet someone new and ask what they do at these events, about 2/3 of the people are parking company reps or exhibitors trying to get new business. However, I’d estimate that 1/2 of the people I met were actual domainers doing some of the same things I do- buy, sell, park, and develop. The parties were simply amazing. They made it really easy to connect with other attendees. I will definitely not forget those once in a lifetime opportunities.
I didn’t strike any big deals at the conference, but I laid the groundwork for some potential deals which I will pursue this week/month. Was this the show the best ever? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I am very glad I attended Domainfest and want to applaud the Oversee team for putting on such a great show.
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel
