Another great Traffic East conference has passed and if you did not make it out, you really must make it out to Traffic West. We all might complain that it is expensive to get together and talk about the same things, but all kidding aside, it is still the one of the best conferences to meet and mingle with some of the best and brightest internet minds on the planet. No matter how many of the same familiar faces speak and show up, there is always a handful of new and interesting attendees at every show.

The hotel was pretty nice aside from the Dolce & Gabbana scent that was pumped through the HVAC system in the lobby and the broken escalator. Unfortunately the food fell short of the previous conferences. In all honesty the food was pretty bad.

But enough about the hotel and food. The conference was a huge success considering the attendance and the topics. There were a few new faces up on the stage that provided for some fresh opinions and styles, which always helps make the conference more interesting. It was nice to see Frank Schilling and the rest of panel that launched the Internet Commerce Association. I sincerely believe that this group needs a real politician and the woodworking internet expert from Canada should step forward to lead this group to victory. You know who you are, Governor.

Jordan Rohan, Ari Bayme, and Dan Warner, as always, dazzled us with expert opinions and valuable charts, tables, and colorful slides. Ari and Jordan both did a fantastic job answering the question that everyone has been asking for so long: "Why 10X, or any X?". Dan did an amazing job at breaking out and defining the sell to each particular type of buyer. No matter how often I see Dan speak he always has a few gems of information that make you come back each time he is up in front of the microphone. Each of them gave presentations that make the conference worth attending.

A new attendee worth mentioning is David K. He is working on a book about the domain space and the individuals and business models that exist. I think he really took advantage of the crowd at happy hour. :) I still think 20/20 needs to uncover the truth about .MOBI and how they managed to hold back the most valuable domains for auction. Maybe if David's book is successful enough he can break through as a journalist and writer as he unfolds the DOT MOBI boiler room.

Ari G. (not as funny as Ali G, but still a great guy) and Larry Fischer had fun with the first Domain game show. Ari, the host, called up 5 random crowd members and gave them each a huge panel that read, "AVAILABLE" on one side and "TAKEN" on the flip side. Ari would call out a domain and each contestant would have to decide what they thought was the correct answer. The winner received $2,000 and the runner up $500.00. Since we can only talk so much about when to sell, what to sell, how long to hold, who to sell to, why to sell, or when is the rest of the world going to get it, it was nice to see something new and interesting at the conference. The game show was very entertaining.

The main event, the live domain auction, was something to see in person - not something you want to read about. Adam, a well known poster on the board, had to leave the conference a day early to see the Cardinals win the world series. Some of us stuck around to be part of internet history. Although it was not the first "live" domain auction, it was a big deal. Who would have ever thought there would be a live auction for URLS. I cannot help but smile while sitting in the auction watching everyone with their paddles, bidding on domains like they are priceless paintings. We have seen companies like Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo, and Google take the world by storm but nothing is more interesting or hard to believe than sitting in a room with hundreds of people bidding on web sites with no content. Well, usually. There were a couple of domains with content and other forms of revenue, but for the most part they were just domains. It will be great to be in Hong Kong in 5 years for the first world wide domain conference with translators in every language as we bid on international real estate from around the world.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series and Cameras.com went for 1.5 million to Sigmund. Congratulations to both for winning!

Picked up some great shirts, met some more amazing people, bought a couple of domains, and had a great time catching up with all the veteran domain holders.