I have a pretty big announcement today. Actually, this is the biggest announcement I have ever made in my years in the domain industry.
Yesterday I visited Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu in Boca Raton and agreed in principal to partner with them in the TRAFFIC shows for 2010 and beyond.
Together, as a team, we will be presenting six fantastic shows next year. Due to my investment of capital in new auction software (currently under development), sales people who will be working the end-user market and other auction related activities that will bring substantial additional income to domainers over time, I became convinced that the auction company and tradeshow company need to be closely aligned and essentially partners.
It is our intention to grow upon the brand which started the industry events we know and love today. For that reason, we are doubling the size of the company for maximum exposure on a global scale. As of today we are announcing the following 6 shows in 2010. Exact dates and locations will be announced quickly.
January/February – Las Vegas
March/April – Amsterdam
May/June – Toronto
July/August – Either Reykjavik, Barcelona, St Petersburg, Prague or Rome (help us decide please)
September/October – South Florida
November/December – Hong Kong
We are looking forward to making T.R.A.F.F.I.C. bigger and better in 2010 and a trade show and Expo that will alert the whole world to the profession of Domaining and the value of our investments.
© 2010
Congrats Rick, Rick and Howard! Glad to hear you are working on your own software as well for the auctions, which I think is a very wise move.
Barcelona – it’s easier to get there, and it has great hotels and transportation.
Congrats Rick, seems like a great marriage.
I’m excited you guys are coming back to Florida next year. I’ll be there for sure
Nice events that will be for sure great for the domains industry because of the effect it will do in the world…
This is good to hear BUT can there be somesort of promotions team who will market and explore “outside” of domaining? Seems year after year the same message is said AFTER the auction “people bidding were domainers NOT end users”….If we dont allow corporations, business big and small into the conference or at least the auction. As it stands now we are trading names like trading baseball cards. With 3 powerful people now making a team then we should see some direction towards end users….right???
The RHR unity…!
Congrats guys. That’s exciting news for the domaining industry.
…
Elliot, Barcelona is just at 3h30 from home, I use to go few times per year (pushed by my wife who find there is a great choice of boutiques there, my CC love less).
Sometimes I think that the domain industry doesn’t understand trade shows any better than Madison Avenue doesn’t understand the benefits of a generic domain name.
I propose two simple rules for admission:
1. Exhibitors pay.
2. End-users don’t.
And how about this little nugget: Invite domainers to submit the names and contact information of potential end- users to the show organizers who will prepare and send out invitations to the event.
Great news gentlemen!
@Ricky, you are spot on. I am sure Rick S., Howard and Rick L. have some of their collective grey matter all over it!
Rick Barcelona of course. Barcelona is teh best city in comparison with the others
I think we all know Italy is a very good Country, so I think the place to go is Rome or Milano (where the business is) the thing is that Summer time are not good place where to stay as for the wheater as is very hot.
congrats…should be some exciting things to come for the industry. Will there be themes like cctld or straight up shows?
No TRAFFIC New York?????
Too TOO EXCITING!
dcmike,
Yes and no. There is TRAFFIC New York this year in October. it’ll probably be the last as the city is too expensive for everyone and my intention is to bring down the prices to attend the show.
Tim,
There will be themes.
I might be wrong, but I think 6 shows is a bit too much. The number of visitors per show will drop, thus the value for the participants will go down.
I like the idea about Hong Kong, 1 hour flight and I am there.
I am really happy to hear this great news
Good luck with the coming events! I wait to see what impact will Rick have on TRAFFIC shows in US 
I would like to see TRAFFIC in St Petersburg but Prague or Barcelona will be OK too!
St Petersburg
hands down.
Since the shows will be around the world, the ccTLD emphasis is going to be very hot. I think BIG attention is coming to ccTLD’s … as well it should. They’re great!
My vote is for Barcelona!!!
I think the lines will blur between gTLD and ccTLD. This is a global industry and these are global shows. Nice to see Toronto. Barcelona for sure!
Rick, Would be nice to have one in India as well. There are high networth investors looking for alternative investments.
Congrats Dual Ricks and a Howie!
Quick notes for free:
• I agree with Ricky that THEMES for domain auctions are a MUST.
• I agree with Mark that any “end user” (non-domainer) who has bid at least the reserve on a domain gets a free ticket to attend.
• Hong Kong would be your most exciting TRAFFIC conference yet. I’m very strong on Asian language domains in .com extensions, and see a huge future in this. I believe your conference in Hong Kong would help boost the values of these domains. That’s not to p*ss on .asia, .cn domains, in fact, your Hong Kong event should elevate the focus on the power of this untapped but huge market.
It sounds like you have an ambitious schedule ahead of you, and I’m sure the whole of the industry is behind your success, as you are supportive of others’ success.
Great to hear you are reducing the price of admission. The price was the only reason I didnt attend the Gold Coast venue. Congrats on the new association. Power on…
[...] Hong Kong. “Together, as a team, we will be presenting six fantastic shows next year,” explained Rick Latona on his blog. “Due to my investment of capital in new auction software (currently under development), [...]
Congratulations Rick, Rick & Howard!
Im sure you shall change the industry for the better!
I would say London has to be on your to do Traffic List!
Also I think if you guys can get it cheaper you shall get more people attending.
Have you thought about getting an airline, bus or train company involved for discounted tickets also for people travelling to the events.
Regards,
Rob
[...] after the announcements yesterday coming out of the TRAFFIC show organizers and Rick Latona, that Rick Latona will be a partner of the TRAFFIC conference in 2010 and beyond, that means 1 [...]
I think 6 shows a year is awesome and maybe we can educate the end users with more shows.Hell there is a car show and gunshow every week somewhere in the world.I say Hell yea.
[...] Filed under Conferences ·Tagged domain conference, TRAFFIC As you probably heard – Rick Latona teams up with Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu to organize TRAFFIC conferences in 2010 and beyond. This [...]
Hi,
Id like to vote for Prague for the July/August conference as location-wise its in the middle of Europe, infrastructure/ conferential facilities quality to price ratio is good and additionally Prague is a beautiful and both historical and entertaining city to visit.
Cheers,
David
After TRAFFIC Amsterdam, I’ll 100% be there in the
European ones
Bring on Prauge, thats all I say
David
A very exciting development for the industry – congratulations. Let’s hope things work out as planned, and that this grows the entire space rather than weakens the TRAFFIC brand. Certainly TRAFFIC CCTLDs was additive for the large part, judging by the attendance, so the precedent is very good.
Perhaps London should be on the list, but like New York, i.e. a must-do venue but one which realistically is going to be too expensive to slot regularly into the rotation.
Barcelona’s a very nice city, and I found a lot of people (relatively speaking) speak good English there, which is a consideration for activities outside the conference proper. Can’t comment on the other cities as I’ve not been there yet.
This is great news Rick! It is great to see some of the greatest minds in the Domaining world coming-together and helping to really grow the industry! If nobody has said it yet I think the three of you could be called the “Domaining Trifecta”!
Looking forward to the conferences and all the awareness it should create for the industry!
Your House is A Very, Very, Very Fine House. With two cats in the yard life used to be so hard.
Now everything will be better ’cause there’s three: The King, Howard and Rick, united cool cats inventing a better mousetrap.
Congrats to the TRAFFIC triumvirate on a brilliant domain industry partnership.
TRAFFIC penetrating Asia via Hongkong? That’s exciting!
“The triangle is a popular building shape because it is not easily deformed.”
So if you want strength, build a triangle.
This newly formed triangle by the three pillars of the domaining industry is a sign of great things to come. If it were a movie for the Oscars, I would like its title to be: “2 Rick’s and a Howard.”
Congrats to all of us!