2009 GeoDomain Expo — San Diego, CA
Apr 23rd, 2009 - Apr 25th, 2009
Agenda
Schedule of Events
Thursday, April 23, 20096 - 8:30p.m.
The 2009 MojoPages Welcome Luau
On the white sands of San Diego's beautiful Mission Bay, hometown sponsor MojoPages will pull out the stops to welcome attendees to the 2009 GeoDomain Expo. Umbrella and fruit-decorated cocktails, hula dancers and locally caught tuna will kick off the conference with a memorable evening. Suggested attire: Hawaiian shirts, leis, hibiscus flowers, grass skirts, sandals.
Friday, April 24, 2009
8 - 9:15 a.m.
Power Breakfast
Networking gets underway as the owners and operators of the Internet’s leading local and destination properties enjoy a San Diego-style healthy breakfast!
9 a.m.
Exhibition opening
Technology and content exhibitors display the latest tools, services and techniques for acquiring, developing and monetizing premium geo addresses on the net.
9:15 - 9:30 a.m.
Welcome from the Mayor of San Diego
Jerry Sanders, the Mayor of San Diego, welcomes you to this beautiful city!
9:30 - 10:00 a.m.
State of the Industry
Associated Cities President Dan Pulcrano, who's both a newspaper publisher and the GeoDomain industry's first portfolio investor, will discuss the dramatic events transforming traditional media and creating unprecedented opportunities on the local web.
10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
GeoDomain Nuts and Bolts: Monetization
Elliot Silver (Lowell.com and Burbank.com), Joe Kosmin (Peoria.com and Kingwood.com), Michael Neu (Lahaina.com), Shaun Pilfold (Kelowna.com), and Becky Thielen (Scottsdale.com) detail the steps in converting a domain in to a full-featured site while staying mindful of future monetization strategies. Moderated by Barry Hodge of Boulevards New Media.
11:00 - Noon
Dailies: They’re gone, now what?
Now that the predicted disappearance of daily newspapers is occurring, who will rule the local space? If GeoDomains are going to be a successor to local newspapers, should they commit resources to news reporting and, if so, what's the business model? Does citizen journalism or aggregation fill the gap? Or should site operators commit resources to make their sites more relevant? Will citizen journalism sites, national brands, foundation-funded experiments, IYPs, hyper-local blogs and social networks take over where dailies left off? Or will the strongest local brand win? Panelist include Ron Donoho of SanDiego.com, Ron Jackson of DNJournal.com and Kery Murakami of Seattle Post Globe. Moderated by Dan Pulcrano of Boulevards New Media.
Noon - 1:15 p.m.
The Big Picture: Lunch with Topix's Chris Tolles
Topix CEO Chris Tolles has a unique perspective on the future of news and community as head of a leading news aggregation and comment community that more than 10 million people a month visit. He also worked with four giants of media - Gannet, McClatchy, Knight-Ridder and Tribune - as well as with Netscape and AOL in creating the world's largest human-edited directory.
1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
News Makers & Buzz Generators
The blogosphere and trade press have taken serious interest in an upstart industry, creating a market and expectations. Hear the latest updates, bulletins, sales reports and trends. With Elliot Silver from ElliotsBlog.com, Sean Stafford from Modern Domainer Magazine and Andrew Alleman from Domain Name Wire. Moderated by Ron Jackson from DN Journal.
2:45 - 4:00 p.m.
Business Directories
Business directories offer a way to become more than a destination portal and engage local businesses. Some GeoDomain operators have seen great financial returns as well. Learn from experts about acquiring data and launching a directory on your geo site. How to build, automate and sell a directory — or partner with a provider to create a geo-branded listings system for your city. Panelists include Elaine Screnci (Acxiom), Scott Paige (CEO, New Media Broadcasting), James Chubb, (CEO, eDirectory), Jon Carder (CEO, Mojopages), and David Bayer (CEO, Databanq). Moderated by Pete Ryan (CEO, Moon Valley).
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Building the Brand, Extending your Reach
As search engines, social media and mobile applications provide alternative paths to local information, a GeoDomain needs to be more than a convenient browser address. Improving content depth, creating personality and leveraging social media to extend the brand become imperative. Learn how not to just coexist with Facebook, Yelp, Twitter and socially-enabled IYPs. Use them - along with real world community-building activities like events, promotion and community outreach - to strengthen your geo-franchise. Engage writers to cover culture in your community. Integrate events feeds into your site and engage the community in posting information. Panelists include Truman Hedding (LosAngeles.com), James Earwicker (CEO, SanDiego.com), and Tim Breidigan (Eventful.com). Moderated by Kyu Kyung of SF Station.com.
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
The 2009 Geo Expo Feast!
Enjoy a sumptuous dinner and lively discussion with the leaders of the industry and special guests for a memorable San Diego-style feast!
8:00 p.m.
Hot Night in San Diego Geo Expo Party sponsored by HotelPlanner
HotelPlanner shows us how to cut loose in San Diego’s famous, historic nightlife district, the Gaslamp Quarter!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
8:30 - 10:15 a.m.
Breakfast and networking
9a.m. - 3 p.m.
Day 2, Trade show exhibition9:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Futurist David Brin
Celebrated futurist and science fiction author David Brin will peer into his crystal ball and shed perspective on the changes transforming society and our lives. This big picture overview will delve into issues of privacy, transparency and free expression and the social implications of life in a wired and connected world. David is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and many corporate and industry gatherings around the world and is sure to provide a provocative, enlightening and enjoyable talk.
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Travel industry Tips and Tricks
Despite the general slowdown in travel and an ultra-competitive online landscape for Real Estate, some geo sites are showing year-over-year growth in both. Find out how to leverage technologies, pricing, compelling content, conversion optimization and search marketing to get a bigger piece of the online travel spend. Panelists include Chad Montgomery (Expedia Affiliate Network), Jenn Roberts (Kayak.com), and Rob Kazmierski (Advanced Reservation Systems).
Noon - 1:15 p.m.
Lunch with Gordon Borrell Future of GeoDomains and new TLDs
The online environment is ripe with opportunity, and pure-play GeoDomain sites are poised to ride that crest. There’s a lot of competition out there, though, from legacy media companies with their own Web sites and a lot of promotional assets, content, and sales relationships. History has proven that the smaller upstarts -- the newcomers -- tend to win in these situations, but only if they act with relentless aggressiveness. Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, will deliver inspirational remarks and describe the opportunity and offer suggestions as to how GeoDomain operators can get big, fast, taking competitors by surprise.
1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Panelists include the Castello Brothers (David and Michael Castello) of Castello Cities Internet Network and the ICANN Business Constituency, Jothan Frakes of Minds + Machines and Phil Corwin, General Counsel for Internet Commerce Association. Moderator: Tim Cole, Chief Registrar Liaison at ICANN.
2:45 - 3:45 p.m.
GeoDomain Town Hall
Opinions? GeoDomainers have plenty! The legendary GeoDomain town hall features an open forum where passionate opinions fly fast and furious. This GeoDomain shootout moderated by Patrick Carleton, Executive Director of Associated Cities, promises to be one of the Expo's liveliest events.
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
GeoDomain Auction
The world's largest GeoDomain auction, organized by Associated Geos in association with Aftermarket.com and DomainConsultant.com, will exclusively feature more than 50 high-quality GeoDomains.
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Premium Cigar Networking Party sponsored by
Churchill’s Cigars and SanDiego.com
The GeoDomain Expo’s premium networking party sponsored by San Diego’s #1 cigar bar, Churchill’s Cigars and SanDiego.com. Tonight’s featured cigar will be “The Edge” by Rocky Patel.
7:00 p.m.
Local Flavor: Mix-and-Match Dinners
Enjoy small group dinner with fellow GeoDomainers at one of ten top San Diego restaurants. Sign up for quality face time with your GeoDomain colleagues!