Looking forward to see the results! Goodluck!

I'm shocked! Going to Australia with no .com.au names?

Boo - no .au's? C'mon, really.

how and where should I submit my names for it ?

Thanks - J

The .com.au names are definately going to be there. We haven't released all of our names!

Jay, we are almost full on submissions for TRAFFIC Down Under, but if you get your names over to us quickly, we will take a look at them.

To submit names, go to the Auctions tab at http://www.RickLatona.com, then select Submit your Domains.

Thank you for your interest in our auction!

Good luck Rick!

I beleive this TRAFFIC Down Under Auction is a FLOP how can you have a AUCTION in Australia with American .COM's DOMAIN NAMES, and only few Australian .com.au domain names

Pack up your bags and go back to AMERICA .We AUSTRALIANS ARENT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU YANKKKKYS.

Lucky I didnt book to come along to this flop of a seminar.

REGARDS
Steve

Steve, I am sorry to see that you are so negative about the TRAFFIC event and the opportunity that the event is giving to gain recognition for domaining and for .com.au names in the market place.

Domaining is an international business with .com.au names being just one piece of a much bigger picture. The .com market started in 1985 and really got into full swing in 1994, which is why the .com is still the most sought after asset. Don't take my word for it, just look at posted sales figures for these names. Of course, some other TLD's have grown strong, look at .co.uk and .de names. The bottom line here is that .com.au names really haven't reached their full potenital in the marketplace yet, and that is one thing that we are hoping to help change by broadcasting our auction via live video and audio feed to anyone who would like to watch and bid. Make no mistake, this is an excellent opportunity for the world community of domainers to watch Australia, and they WILL be watching.

To show support for Australia and TRAFFIC Down Under, we have hired an Australian auctioneer (Australian national champion), we have donated his time and ours along with a domain asset to the ICA Charity auction, and we are also going to have .com.au names in our sale (9 good names total all being offered with no reserve). This Conference will bring in millions of dollars into the Australian economy and the events and speakers that are scheduled are as good as any Conference held anywhere in the world. There are going to be top tier speakers discussing important events and trends in our world. I strongly encourage everyone in our industry to sign up and join us at the event.

So, our bags are packed, mate, and we are looking forward to coming to Australia to see old friends and to make new ones.

Regards,
David

That's a ridiculous argument...that just because the event is hosted in Australia, there should be a noticeable number of .Com.Au domain names

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...!

1) because the event is hosted in Australia there should indeed be a greater consideration given to .au domains. I would expect the same in any other country.
2) .au domains are showing a far, far better return on average than .com over the last 6 months. There is SO MUCH investment potential in .au compared to washed up, exhausted .com.

Steve, I'm sure the auction won't be a flop.... there are also going to be a bunch of .au's in the other auction so they will be fairly well represented (given the fact that the market is in its infancy).

Also I'd like to add that due to a deal between Netfleet & Fabulous, all netfleet members (who list at least 1 domain on the site) are entitled to a US$295 discount off the conference charge. This will hopefully soften the interest rate blow for the locals somewhat. For anyone coming from overseas, you'll be laughing as you change over your greenbacks so there's no excuse...

I wanted to go to the Traffic Downunder event but at the price in US dollars it now unaffordable for many people

If they are trying to stimulate sales and the industry why not be less greedy and charge $500 AUd for 2 days conferences.

I like many people have no time or wish to go there for paintball etc and Im not really intersted in the social side of things with people i dont know.

Its got too much social activities and not enough MEAT in the business area

Why not a business / expo only pass for $300 or $500 AUD. Even thats a lot!

The event will fail as its too expensive and the names are auction see to be VERY low quality.

Why pay money to go to the auction when there are millions of names for sale online already??

Save this event by announcing a day Only pass etc. Many people have no wish to go to a fancy dinner or the social activities

I agree with the above persons comments.

1. they need a 2 days ticket pass at a good price say $300 aud
2. Need better quality names and not just names sponsors want to sell or offload either!
3. You need some really high profile .com.au names to list at auction and you should do some press releases about why companies are buying .com.au names.

Here is one good story
http://www.domaintradingpost.com.au/aftermarket-news/21-gold-rush--why-the-worlds-largest-companies-are-investing-in-premium-generic-comau-domains/

Gold Rush - Why the worlds largest companies are investing in premium generic .com.au domains
20/08/2008 - 11:19 am | By Richard Green | Place Comment

Buying a domain name is an important step in building a successful online business and brand identity. The right domain name will:

Improve Your Marketing and Visibility. The right domain name allows customers an easy way to remember and find you. It’s your location on the web. It’s also your email address. The more descriptive and generic, the easier it is to remember. For example, a person looking for “bars” would remember the domain bars.com.au because it is what they are looking for and it describes the keyword search the user has in their mind entirely.
Build Your Credibility. The world recognises domain names and websites as Real-estate. The domain names we have listed for sale are like waterfront Property. Highly valuable. Not every person may know your brand name but everyone knows the generic term. So by using the generic domain name as well as your own brand you get far more sales enquiries and market share! That’s why all the largest companies who have spent billions promoting their own brands also now buy generic word domain names for added market coverage.
Protect Your Brand. Buy the domain name that best represents your business name and activities. Domains are very valuable online real estate that appreciates in value over time. Secure the right name and keep it out of the hands of your competitors. You may also find many attractive generic .com.au domains for your business. Securing more than one helps protect your brand and increases your reach.
Increase Traffic. Single-word generic .com.au domains already receive traffic. This traffic principally comes from direct type-in or referral traffic. Direct type-in is when an internet user types the domain directly into her browser, such as typing ‘www.bars.com.au’ instead of searching for the keyword “bars” in the search engines. Referral traffic typically comes from links on other websites. Furthermore, it helps increase your web search ranking in Google/Yahoo/MSN since a generic domain name already contains the keyword in the URL name.
Be a Sound Investment. Similar to real estate, generic .com.au domain names are investments. One-word .com.au domain names increase in value on a daily basis given their scarcity and free traffic they generate via direct type-ins. A .com.au name can also become more valuable if the site is developed and marketed.
Premium Domain Names (or “secondary market domains”) are domains that have already been registered, but may be available for sale from the current registrant. Although Premium .com.au Domains are generally more expensive than unregistered (or “primary market”) domains, they tend to be much higher quality.

The advantages of investing in a Premium .com.au Domain include:

Easier to remember: Shorter, catchier domain names will keep visitors coming back to your site.
Better Brand Image: Certain domains—such as single word generic .com.au domains automatically convey an image of prestige and added credibility. Users are much more likely to place an order with a generic site named, for example, realestate.com.au, than one named jonshousesforsale.net.au or sometimes even a brand name they don’t know. Successful companies know this, and many purchase multiple Premium generic .com.au Domains to complement their own brand names and own branded websites
Improved Search Engine Ranking: Domain names that contain search engine keywords are more likely to gain top search engine rankings for those keywords. Try it yourself: Search a keyword on Google and see how many of the top results contain that keyword as part of the domain name.
Traffic Generating: Despite the growth of search engines, a surprising number of people still “search” by typing in what they’re looking for and putting a .com.au on the end. Thus, many generic .com.au domain names receive hundreds or even thousands of visitors per day, perfectly targeted according to keyword. What is the value of this much targeted traffic to your business?
Investment Potential: A Premium generic .com.au Domain name is an asset that your business invests in and can later resell for a profit.
Recent .com sales include:

Israel.com - $5.88m USD
Sex.com - $12.5m USD
IRS.com - $12.5m USD
Fund.com - $9.9m USD
Porn.com - $9.5m USD
Diamond.com - $ 7.5m USD
Beer.com $7m USD
Vodka.com - $3m USD
Pizza.com - $ 2.6m USD
Premium .com.au domain owned by large Australian corporations include:
happybanking.com.au now owned by BANKWEST bankwest.com.au
bestbank.com.au now owned by St.George Bank stgeorge.com.au
smartbanking.com.au now owned by National Australia Bank nab.com.au
mortgage.com.au now owned by ING Bank ing.com.au
businessbank.com.au now owned by Macquarie Bank macquarie.com.au
privatebanking.com.au now owned by Commonwealth Bank cba.com.au
photocopier.com.au now owned by Fuji Xerox fujixerox.com.au
milk.com.au now owned by National Foods Milk natfoods.com.au
vodka.com.au now owned by CARLTON AND UNITED BEVERAGES fosters.com.au
rum.com.au now owned by Guinness United Distillers and Vintners Australia guinness.com.au
beer.com.au now owned by CARLTON AND UNITED BEVERAGES fosters.com.au
scotch.com.au now owned by 3M 3m.com.au
tennis.com.au now owned by Tennis Australia tennisaustralia.com.au
honey.com.au now owned by Honey Corp of Australia Ltd capilano.com.au
cows.com.au now owned by George Weston Foods georgewestonfoods.com.au
pigs.com.au now owned by George Weston Foods georgewestonfoods.com.au
ham.com.au now owned by George Weston Foods georgewestonfoods.com.au
itjobs.com.au now owned by FAIRFAX DIGITAL fxj.com.au
bikini.com.au now owned by Tiger Lily Swimwear tigerlily.com.au
kettles.com.au now owned by Sunbeam sunbeam.com.au
toasters.com.au now owned by Sunbeam sunbeam.com.au
oil.com.au now owned by Valvoline valvoline.com.au
drinks.com.au now owned by CADBURY SCHWEPPES cadburyschweppes.com
drink.com.au now owned by CADBURY SCHWEPPES cadburyschweppes.com
chocolate.com.au now owned by CADBURY SCHWEPPES cadburyschweppes.com
trucks.com.au now owned by Western Star Trucks westernstar.com
batteries.com.au now owned by Bob Jane T-Marts bobjane.com.au
actuaries.com.au now owned by KPMG kpmg.com.au
fuel.com.au now owned by Caltex Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd
Petrol.com.au now owned by Caltex Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd
steel.com.au now owned by BHP
metal.com.au now owned by Smorgon Steel Group Ltd
interestfree.com.au now owned by GE Consumer Finance
Further Reading:
http://www.melbourneit.com.au/successbox/online-marketing/important-dotau-land-boom-starts-1-june-2008/
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Blog/Paul-Wallbank/20080407-Beat-the-domain-name-gold-rush.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=domain+name+gold+rush&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/domain-name-gold-rush-hits-cyberland/2007/08/03/1185648143743.html

As David Clements wrote above, there are some premium .com.au domains on auction with no reserve. Curious why RickLatona.com haven't been promoting them, or even published them yet. There appears to be a lot of demand for .com.au domains at this event.

Hey guys there is a day pass available -

https://www.conferenceonline.com/index.cfm?page=booking&object=conference&id=10885&categorykey=7FA18906-00C0-4758-94C6-1C15BF1A9F6E&clear=1

at US$495.

I understand where you're coming from but it's not all that expensive compared to many business conferences in other industries. Sure the .au market is in it's infancy and as such many of a the participants do not have the budget for this sort of thing but remember it is an international event too with an international lineup & sponsors etc.

I'd urge all Aussies to get along if you can. The contacts made & information gleaned should more than make up for the cost even if you (especially?) are only starting out in domaining.

Also it's a hell of a lot cheaper than attending in New York for example!

I think the price is too high. $700 uad to attend and hear some speakers and see an auction is crazy!

Its worth $200 max. Organisers should focus on making money from a good auction and exhibiters. Not visitors

Think of a car show $20 to get in . All the car makers pay a lot to exhibit as they increase their car sales and brand awareness.

Imagine paying $1500 usd to go to a 3 day car show as a visitor! Crazy

Yeah but the big difference is that most people attending a car show are not making a business out of it or even making any money out of cars.

I guess TRAFFIC is not an event for people with 'an interest in domains' but more for people for whom domaining is a serious part of what they do.

Maybe though, as you suggest there's room for a more informal, low key & vastly cheaper get together. Some of the guys at DNTrade are keen for something like that too