Back from the Bahamas! Reflections on Domain Roundtable 2011

I am back from the Bahamas after a great week at Domain Roundtable! If you didn’t get a chance to read my daily recaps you can view them below:

Over the next few days I will be sorting through all the videos and sharing them with you to help you get a better feel for the experience. I always feel that while pictures capture a moment, video captures the experience and feeling of an event. As usual I took a ton of videos and a lot are in HD so you can watch them on laptop or television.

Now for some reflections on the event:

  • Pulling Domainers out of their element works. Getting Domainers together in the Bahamas was a brilliant move, it pulled everyone out of their day-to-day routines which meant more focus on networking and having fun with other Domainers.
  • The live domain auction process works – it just takes pricing domains properly. The Domain Roundtable auction offered some refreshingly reasonable prices which resulted in over 50% of the domains selling.
  • Facebook is the elephant in the room. I know we all hate to talk about it but you we can’t ignore it any more. Facebook is definitely going to have an impact but the general consensus at Domain Roundtable is that by no means would this ever replace domain names. I think all the experts agreed that Facebook is a complimentary feature that an online brand should have but in no means is it challenging the domain space.
  • Domain Development is hotter than ever. At every conference I go to Development seems to be an increasingly popular topic. At Domain Roundtable there was a ton of interest in development and lots of established Domainers doing some very exciting development projects.
  • The water slides at Atlantis rock! I love water slides and have to say the ones at Atlantis definitely take the cake for the coolest slides I’ve ever been on. My favorite is a slide where you plunge almost completely vertically and then coast through a clear tube going through a shark tank!
  • Thought Convergence puts on a great conference. From the moment I arrived in the Bahamas Domain Roundtable made it unbelievably easy to do everything so Domainers enjoy the conference and the setting. Domainers were met by transportation agents the moment they walked outside of the airport and staff members at the hotel were prepared every morning and evening to direct us to the events. I can’t imagine how much work went-into getting this all right but it’s always incredible to see some many complex pieces moving so smoothly!
  • The Domain resale market has a new sweet-spot. One of the most interesting panels I attended was about the Domain Marketplace and current trends. The trend I thought was most important to share is the sweet spot in the $500 – $5,000 range, most of the experts agreed this is where a good chunk of sales were happening.
  • Everything in the Bahamas airport closes at 5PM. Yesterday when we arrived at the airport everything was open, then by five just about everything was closed. Given how small the airport is this makes sense, the new airport is opening next week so I’d imagine they’d have a few more spots open in the evening.
  • There’s no place like home. While I had a blast at the conference, there really is no place like home. It’s always great coming back home to Daina and our wonderful cat Samsie!

Okay, those are the reflections I’ve had so far, heck – I’ve been home for less than 24-hours! Stay-tuned for some great videos from the Bahamas mon!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton