At many conferences I keep hearing some attendees saying the conferences is overpriced, or a “waste”. Let me make this clear here: Domain conferences, if you don’t know where the value proposition is, are a waste, all of them .Targeted Traffic, Domainfest, Domain Roundtable, and even though I did not yet attend GeoDomain Expo, it is a waste too.
If you are looking for one of the following as your value proposition, I believe you can do better elsewhere.
1. Partying: there are better places to party. Try Internext.
2. Learn from sessions: While some sessions are good you better off buy the DVD. You can pause, rewind, replay.
3. Food: While the food is OK it is not where the value proposition is. Spend a couple of hundred dollars in local restaurants and you will get better food, guaranteed.
So where is the value?
1. Networking: By far the big value of conferences is in networking. This is where you can make things happen, where the sky is truly the limit. The great thing about domain conferences is they are still small enough for major players to attend. You can easily find many top players walking around the conference willing to explore opportunities, share knowledge, and if the right deal presents itself, even do business.
2. Meet the sponsors: Big value there. You can put a face to people you work with, renegotiate contracts, or explore working with new sponsors.
So are domain conferences really a waste? They are if you don’t know what to look for. If you keep your eyes on the ball (networking, sponsors), if you take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to make things happen, I have no doubt at the end of the conference you will walk out highly satisfied, with a feeling of “more”.
Source: Posted on The Conceptualist by Sahar Sahid — Reprinted with permission — Februar 7, 2008
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