Momentum cancels dot-brand conference
Momentum Events has cancelled its planned new gTLD conference, which was due to take place in Amsterdam next month.
The Digital Strategy & DotOps Congress was designed primarily for potential dot-brand gTLD applicants — with free tickets on offer for eligible companies — but Momentum said there was not enough demand.
A Momentum rep tells me it was looking like fewer than 100 people were going to attend.
“[M]arket response to this event thus far has demonstrated that the use of TLDs by brands is still a developing area and at this time we are just a bit too ahead of the curve,” the company said in an email to participants. “As such and in consideration of your time, we decided to proceed with cancelling this event.”
The conference was to be held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands from September 18 to 19.
Momentum is tentatively thinking about rescheduling the show for the first quarter next year.
It’s not the first new gTLD conference to be cancelled due to the slow uptake of new gTLDs. The third .nxt conference was abandoned twice in 2012 due to lack of demand and delays in the ICANN process.
Unlike the .nxt situation, where some attendees said they did not get refunded for their event passes, Momentum tells me people who had already paid for tickets can be refunded.
They’ll also be offered access to other Momentum conferences — either the rescheduled spring conference or a more imminent brand-oriented show — as an alternative.
.nxt no refund issue persists until today.
It’s very difficult to recover from a cancellation like this.
Thanks Andrew. We do run a number of other gTLD related events but we failed to meet our own internal expectations on this Amsterdam one and didn’t want those attendees already registered t have a poor experience. Whether we revisit Amsterdam in future will depend on whether our research indicates it as a viable location for the topic
It’s not as if ICANN51 got cancelled. #hashtag 😉
This is why a grassroots movement for brands and gTLDs is needed, versus a pilot industry event that cannot locate and attract those that truly are interested in it.
Think of TEDx for the domain and marketing industries; eventually that will be the way of the future.
Thanks Acro – We agree with you. We need the brand conversation to move on. We run a very successful event called Pivot for digital strategists (www.pivotcon.com) and we hope to further mesh these audiences (the domain industry and the digital marketing industry) in future.
NamesCon is still on for January – we will be just 2 days after CES with their 160k attendees – and we are doing a lot with content to keep things fresh and innovative – plus the event will be affordable and accessible.
Sorry to hear about the Momentum event, they are a good team of people. Their pivotcon conference during ICANN looks promising.
Thanks Jothan – We appreciate it. We are big fans of yours and Namescon also.
Face it. The gtlds are practically dead. DOA, actually. They never really had a shot, but that should not have been a surprise to anyone paying attention, though.
I didn’t understand the point of this proposed conference in the first place. The “ladies night” pricing structure was all too transparent. The fact that there is no proposed TLD application round anytime in the near future renders it to be something of a mystery why anyone thought now was a good time for “TLD application and consulting experts” to line up sheep for a hypothetical future fleecing.