South Florida Domainers meeting last night totally rocked!

John Ferber, CEO of Domain Holdings, and now a TV star and philanthropic legend, hosted the event at his beach home in Boynton Beach. There were over 75 people in attendance, including some of the movers and shakers in this industry, as well as some lesser known but very smart folks who are making their mark in the world. It was evident to all that, as Chad Folkening so perfectly put it, “South Florida is the domaining capital of the world.”

And what a time it was. There were guests who came from as far away as Indianapolis and Tampa and as close as Miami. All were grateful to have the chance to mingle and enjoy the evening.

Another great meeting last night at Maggiano’s in Boca raton! This was sponsored by .CO Internet, the administrator for the .CO TLD. Lori Anne Wardi gave an interesting presentation which highlighted some of the compelling reasons to invest in .CO and offered insights into the rollout process. She graciously answered many questions from interested domainers and was a wonderful speaker to have featured.

We also held a no-commission domain auction. We had 24 names in the auction, and sold 3 names: EdibleFun.com, ShortTermLeave.com and BocaHomes.org. Luckily we had Rick Waters conducting the auction. Rick did research ahead of time and had some facts at his disposal to give bidders a bit of extra info, as well as some suggestions for possible uses and history of the domains. The headline domain, BOCA.NET did not sell, however we may try to auction it again at a future time!

We asked folks to give feedback on the recent meetings, the frequency of meetings, and the content and activities offered. We got plenty of feedback. Most people said they would like more frequent meetings, some mentioned going around the room and letting everyone take a minute to introduce themselves. Nobody ever complains about our sponsors or the venues!

Yes Maggiano’s in Boca Raton was our location for this meeting. We had a private banquet room in the back, with microphone and projector and it had just the right ambience we needed for a great meeting. The food was plentiful and tasty of course, and the service was good. It’s really a nice place to hold an event like this, we should try to make it back here for sure.

Our meeting tonight at Maggiano’s is generously sponsored by .CO Internet. I’d like to remind all that now is the perfect time to reserve that great .CO domain name before general registration begins. You can pre-register at any number of registrars including our friends at Moniker.com.

Lori Anne Wardi, Director of Marketing and Business Communications at .CO Internet will be filling us in on all the exciting activity taking place during the .CO launch. We’ll also be holdiong a no-commission domain auction. Current list of names for auction:

Yep, it’s time again for another South Florida Domainers meeting, here’s the scoop:

When: July 1st, 6:30 pm – RSVP absolutely required
Where: Maggiano’s in Boca Raton
What: Kickass meeting featuring a no-commission domain auction
Who: Sponsored by .CO Internet

We’re meeting in Maggiano’s Private banquet room in their Boca Raton location. Dinner and non-alcoholic beverages provided by our generous sponsor, .CO Internet. Stu is putting together plans for what should be an entertaining “lightning auction” with no commissions. We’ll feature a speaker from .CO Internet who will update us on the latest news and insights from the big .CO rollout now underway.

Stay tuned to upcoming posts to find out details on the lightning auction, and we’ll post the dinner menu as well. Suffice it to say, this should be an exciting meeting – don’t you dare miss it!

We just got word from Oversee.net that they are extending a special discount to the South Florida Domainers Group. Original price is $175, for us only $140!

If you haven’t already heard, DOMAINfest is coming to Ft Lauderdale for a one day only event which will be held at the beautiful W Hotel.

Here is the official information from Oversee.net:

DOMAINfest Power Networking Day – Ft. Lauderdale
Date: 13-May-2010
Times: 1:30pm to 10:30pm
Location: The W Hotel – Ft Lauderdale
Pricing: $140 includes 20% Discount for SFDG members and colleagues – must use promo code FLDOMAINER
Register: http://www.domainfest.com/FtLauderdale2010/register (use promo code FLDOMAINER)

Description: The DOMAINfest series of conferences are designed to help domain investors and online marketing professionals discuss and discover the most efficient and effective ways to generate revenue from their domains. At each conference, experts are invited to facilitate discussions around carefully selected topics. And cutting edge service providers are routinely present as exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees to share insights on the latest technologies available to buy, sell, develop, monetize, and drive traffic to domains. If you are in any way involved in buying, selling, developing, monetizing, or driving traffic to domain names, this is the conference series to attend.

Who Should Attend: domain investors, online marketing professionals, brand managers, seo/sem professionals, webmasters and developers, trademark/IP attorneys, venture capitalists, registrars, registries, media/journalists, hosting companies, affiliate networks

Domain Auction: Each DOMAINfest event features a Moniker Live Premium Domain Name Auction. The Fort Lauderdale auction includes category-defining domains that offer instant branding and traffic advantages, such as Dating.com, Karate.com, HardDrives.com, Detox.com, Wifi.com, Jeans.com, BoardGames.com, Therapists.com and hundreds more across all price points and categories. Bid in-person at the event, or from anywhere in the world in real-time using free software download. See auction details at http://www.domainfest.com/FtLauderdale2010/auction.

Agenda Topics for Ft Lauderdale Power Networking Day:

· Website Development Tips
· Keyword Tools and Tactics in Buying Domains and Acquiring Traffic
· Domain Buying, Selling & Valuation Trends
· Legal Q&A – Intellectual Property and Domain Names

See agenda details and invited expert bios (when available) at http://www.domainfest.com/FtLauderdale2010/agenda

South Florida Domainers recently had another great get together in Boca. About fifty domainers of all experience levels came to Kansai Sushi Thai for our March meeting. Lots of familiar faces, lots of new faces too; that’s exactly what we were striving for. They must have heard about our wonderful meeting in December.

The great folks at our favorite registrar, Moniker.com sponsored this one, providing us with a terrific spread of finger foods like crab rangoon, spring rolls, tuna rolls and more. Next time we’ll have to remember to get one of their banners, to promote their showcase auctions for example. Last time the fine folks at Moniker’s parent company, Oversee.net were gracious enough to sponsor our event. It’s an honor to be sponsored by the premier registrar in the industry today!

The event featured speed networking, where people were given 2 minutes each to get acquainted with whomever was currently sitting across the table from them. Some old relationships were strengthened, and many new ones were started. Two minutes, it turns out, can be a frustratingly short amount of time in which to forge a relationship. But many new acquaintances were formed despite the time constraints.

This event, as chaotic as it was, served to further our primary goal well. That is, to facilitate community building. There are so many domainers in South Florida, and only a few of them actually participate in nationwide events. We’re serving notice – you no longer need tot ravel to Las Vegas or Amsterdam to meet domainers in your own backyard!

Announcing another domainer meetup!

When: December 1st, 7:30pm
Where: Tempted Thai Sushi

21065 Powerline Road
Boca Raton, FL 33433
map: http://kl.am/26M

Featuring a Q & A session with Jeff Kupietsky, CEO of Oversee.net
Follow us on twitter: @sofladomainers

RSVP by sending email to: RSVP@SouthFloridaDomainers.com

Big news  with the South Florida Domainers we are meeting on August 13 at 6:30 PM in the lobby of Hyatt Place West Palm Beach with Patrick Ruddell of ChefPatrick.com and Bruce Marler of BruceMarler.com

Patrick is in town for some business and being from north Florida he would love to meet with us. Bruce will also be at the meeting and he has been up to some great stuff lately so it should be exiting to hear him chat. We are going to meet in his hotel lobby at 6:30 and then walk to a restaurant.

Hyatt Place West Palm Beach
295 Lakeview Avenue,
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
If you can make it please respond here or email me. How can you miss a meeting like this? I would like to have people talk about what they are doing right now with their names, parking, selling, developing etc.. And we would also like to know how it is working. Do you have any projects you need help or a partner on?  If you have any names or services for sale bring a list or paper and pass them out. This should be a time where we all learn, share and help each other out.
And one last thing tell your friends, blog about it, write a tweet, we all benefit if this grows so spread the word!
If you have anything you want to talk about or present please do so just tell me first
Thanks If you have any questions contact me Brian  Diener( Teendomainer.com ) at brian@southfloridadomainers.com

Slight change – only a couple miles away:

Tempted Thai Sushi
21065 Powerline Road
Boca Raton, FL   33433

map:  http://kl.am/26M

Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 PM

P.S. – somebody please donate some gas money to Chef Patrick, it’s a long way from home for him! Better yet, buy a domain from him….

I’d like to see some serious attempt at sharing info and strategies. Pimp your techniques baby!

To that end I think some short presentations would be great, like in some of the other meetups, where someone takes a narrow topic and explains it to the group. Brian you might, for example, explain what’s been workin for you with sending emails to potential end user. Stu you might fill us in on the domainer roundtable if you go. I can ramble on about IDNs, or DNS or various other acronyms. My point is everybody has some useful info in their heads – let’s share!