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Win free tickets to NamesCon Las Vegas (even if you’ve already paid)

Kevin Murphy, December 9, 2013, 22:57:24 (UTC), Domain Services

We’ve got five (FIVE!) free tickets to NamesCon to give away to lucky DI readers.
NamesCon is “a pro-new TLDs conference” happening at the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas from January 13 to 15, 2014.
It’s being organized by domain investor Richard Lau, Jothan Frakes (Domain Roundtable, DomainFest), and Jodi Chamberlain of 32Events (TRAFFIC, Domaining Europe)
NamesCon seems to be planning something a bit different when compared to new gTLD conferences held to date, judging by the speaker line-up, in that there’s more of a crossover between the ICANNer-heavy new gTLD industry and the traditional domainer community.
There’s a whole bunch of confirmed speakers and panelists (including yours truly) and the organizers tell us that over 300 people have so far registered to attend.
Tickets currently cost $399 (it’s $749 on the door) but we have five passes to give away to DI readers.
The organizers tell me that if any of the winners have already purchased a ticket, they’ll get a full refund.
To enter the draw, just leave an answer to the following question (set by NamesCon) in the comments section of this post.

What’s the best way to explain the benefits of new gTLDs to somebody from outside the domain industry?

Winners will be selected from comments using a random number generator at the weekend.
The prizes are 100% discount codes for full conference passes. You’ll still have to arrange and pay for your own travel and accommodation.
If you cannot or do not intend to attend, but still feel compelled to leave a comment, please say so, so I can be sure to exclude you from the draw.



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Comments (43)

  1. Not Com Tom says:

    Don’t start by trying to explain what a ‘domain’ is.

  2. Not Com Tom says:

    And don’t ever use ‘gTLD’ you lose them immediately.

  3. Not Com Tom says:

    Tell them to visit dotbigbang.org

    • Kevin Murphy says:

      For avoidance of doubt, Tom, you’re only getting one entry for multiple comments 😉

      • Not-Com Tom says:

        Sure yeah, I figured as much. I bought the early bird pass anyway at $199. Even at $399 would be money well spent, I’m sure. Look forward to a great conference. See you there.

  4. Mike says:

    From now on you are able to find quite easely the .website your are searching.

  5. JRS says:

    Think of it like “districts” in a major city. It allows groups to cluster together into districts, making it easier for people to locate them and patronize them.

  6. Reg says:

    Relate it to a domain they’d be interested in (“You can’t get [yourname].com or maybe even [yournamelaw].com, but you’ll be able to get [yourname].law!” works for all my lawyer-friends. Others are more intrigued by .garden, .restaurant, .shop, and the like): know your audience.

  7. JS says:

    Model T in red

  8. tom barrett says:

    “What’s the best way to explain the benefits of new gTLDs to somebody from outside the domain industry?”
    Just as the television broadcast industry evolved from three general purposes channels to hundreds of special interest channels for fishing, cooking and sports enthusiasts, the new domain extensions will allow businesses and people to secure an internet address that matches their special interest, industry or community affiliation.

  9. Bugs says:

    A “Pro-NEW TLD Conference”??? Really? No wonder they have so many extra tickets to give away!!! ROLF!!!

  10. Mike H says:

    Stage a puppet show?

  11. Jeff Sass says:

    Dare I chance to win again??? 🙂
    Instead of a .com or .biz or .org name, you can now choose from different extensions, such as .club, .wiki, .shop, etc. This will give you tremendous choice to find a domain name that best represents your company or interests.

  12. Peer says:

    Second chance to get the domain name they Wanted without breaking the bank.

  13. Markus says:

    1. you have to explain them the differnce between a domain and a website.
    2. let them try to register them a .com domain.
    in the most cases its alreadx taken.
    then they will understand why they will need newgtlds.

  14. Think of it like the 500 channel universe. Before the 500 new gTLDs came out we only had a few big players. It will dramitcially increase choice and unleash innovation not too dislike what we saw with the introduction of hundreds a specialty channels.
    Colin.club

  15. Tony C says:

    This gives latecomers a new opportunity to get a brand that can work for them.

  16. Instead of having a domain with three throwaway letters, every letter will have meaning.

  17. Neal says:

    Since we have run out most good .com domain names there will be an introduction of a new extension called a gTLD. These gTLDs will be branded towards their use, for example an attorney may use Divorce.law where they once had used divorcelaw.com.

  18. David Eccles says:

    GTLD’s will be the new TV Channels of the internet. Not all GTLD’s will do well, I am prediciting there will be maybe 10-25 out of the 1300 applied for that will win. The rest will be in sort of a internet graveyard.

  19. withheld says:

    With gtlds for a very long time a user will have the quietest business/website possible. Few to no visitors or sales…just my opinions here. The Maytag repairman will be much busier. It’s also called a fool’s errand. Save your money and time.

  20. DJ Chuang says:

    re: “What’s the best way to explain the benefits of new gTLDs to somebody from outside the domain industry?” my answer: there’s no one best way to explain the benefits, but one of the best benefits I’ve highlighted with others is = new gTLDs will mean shorter domain names, less typing, easier & more meaningful usage.
    Question to you: when will you be drawing the 5 winners?

  21. Andrew Brier says:

    -try to avoid industry language such as ‘gtld’ and ‘domain extensions’ but ‘website name’, ‘new domains’ etc., however wrong, seem to work well
    -Something like ‘There’s some new website names coming out, so instead of AngryChickens.com you could have AngryChickens.game or instead of Buymakeup.com you could have Makeup.shop’
    -Then get them a beer, works wonders.

  22. “What’s the best way to explain the benefits of new gTLDs to somebody from outside the domain industry?”
    Showcase a relevant TLD. If they are a plumber mention .plumbing. Into music? Mention .music, .tunes or ,audio. Fluent in Chinese? Check out these IDNs. Etc., etc., etc.
    The easiest way to explain the benefits of the program as a whole is to showcase the opportunities available to the specific individual(s) you are reaching out to. Otherwise it can sometimes seem too big and abstract to be relevant.

  23. Jagan says:

    It’s Easy
    To relate
    To remember
    To spell
    To say
    To buy
    To introduce
    To do business
    To focus
    To describe
    To market

  24. JL says:

    New domain choices that are coming available soon will give people new options to name their websites using both before the dot and after the dot to communicate to websurfers what their sites are about.
    Previously you could name your website in .com and you still can and .com is still the most popular with many of the good website names being already taken in .com but you can now register domains such as iamreally.sexy or beautiful.tattoo or designerjeans.shop or mikes.web or bathroomrenovation.build or reallyfast.host or toppartyschools.college or funnystuff.xyz

  25. Adam Strong says:

    The best way to explain the benefits of new TLDs to someone is to get them very drunk.
    PS. There are benefits ? 🙂

  26. Aron - HA.com says:

    The current name space is like Manhattan. Prime locations, high values but overcrowded.
    gTLD’s are similar to westward expansion. The location of all gTLD’s wont be as prime as NYC, but there will be nice locations that pop up.
    Many of the gTLD’s will be like isolated land in Montana and Wyoming, but there will be several solid locations pop up like Dallas, LA and Chicago.

  27. Jay Westerdal says:

    New TLDs are awesome. They make it easy for the blink effect.
    Something DOT Thing
    Much easier than Something DOT COM
    You know it is a Thing, bam.

  28. What’s the best way to explain the benefits of new gTLDs to somebody from outside the domain industry?
    It is a reset of the internet; When the .com is taken – get the .xyz
    FYI If I win; we will be giving away our ticket on twitter.com/xyz

  29. HERE IS WHY gTLDs WILL FAIL says:

    Many of the preceding comments are based on the erroneous assumption that the domain space is starting out fresh. I agree that gtld’s would have succeeded had this been the case. BUT, ALAS, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The horse has already left the barn. No need fixing the barn door with some silly ass naming proposal now. Like it or not, the namespace has already been clearly defined and established in stone. Anyone who is someone will insist on a .com. Those who do not get a .com will lose hits to the guy who was smart enough to insist on one.

  30. Pat says:

    The new TLDs represent a key component of the brand identity puzzle. Whether you operate a small cafe in London or a run a huge corporation , the new TLDs ‘mean business’ and opportunity for your business. Leverage the choice and selection of these new domain extensions and create more visibility for your company. Are you ready for the brave new.World ?

  31. Bill Hartzer says:

    With the new TLDs, you don’t have to worry about how the search engines will treat them for SEO purposes. In fact, it’s a confirmed (by Matt Cutts of Google), that all TLDs, even the new ones, will be treated equally. So, if you have a dot com, it doesn’t matter. The new TLDs could rank in the search results just as easily as any other domain name.

  32. Mick Jagger was wrong: You CAN always get what you want!

  33. Steven Newman says:

    I am still trying to understand GTLD’s which is why i want a free ticket. I don’t “get” it.

  34. Deepak Daftari says:

    Its the fabled bag of gold at the end of the rainbow

  35. Jordyn A. Buchanan says:

    Markus already took my answer, which is to simply let them try to register a .com website. The scarcity of unregistered names there and opaque, fragmented secondary market is incredibly frustrating for most users.
    Which isn’t to say that in the long run simply expanding namespace is the primary virtue of the program, but it’s relatable and easy to explain in the short term.