A move at the top for ‘best conference’.

For the first time ever, DOMAINfest has been selected as the top domain name industry conference by respondents in the annual Domain Name Wire Survey.

DOMAINfest received 45% of the vote, knocking TRAFFIC off its perch. Here’s how they stacked up:

1. DOMAINfest 45%
2. TRAFFIC 36%
3. Domain Roundtable 7%
4. Domainer Mardi Gras 6%
GEOdomain Expo 6%

DOMAINfest carries an even bigger lead when it comes to the percentage of attendees who rate it best. This is a good measure of a conference’s popularity because it takes into consideration differences in the number of attendees who took the DNW survey:

Of those people who have attended DOMAINfest, 69% selected it as the best conference. 48% of those who have attended TRAFFIC picked it as best. By this measure, Domainer Mardi Gras is a crowd favorite, too, with 43% of people who have attended the conference rating it best.

The domain conference agenda is as busy as ever this year. With more European shows on tap, we’ll expand the survey lineup for next year.

For more survey results, visit DomainNameWire.com/survey.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

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Related posts:

1. Survey Focus: Which Major Domain Conference is Best?
2. Survey: T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Still Top Domain Conference
3. 2009 Domain Name Wire Survey Results

Online domain broker releases updates today.

Based on community feedback, Sedo has introduced several improvements to its user interface.

First, users can log into their account from any page on Sedo. After a recent redesign, users had to click through to a secondary page to login. The new login form is an expanding box.

Second, Sedo now shows “Action Notifications” upon logging into your account. This is a quick look at any actions you need to take, such as transferring a domain.

Finally, bidding on auctions is now easier. Based in part on feedback I provided, you can now quickly increase your auction bids. You can also click a button to automatically increase your bid high enough to set yourself as the high bidder.

Although some domainers have complained about Sedo’s redesigned web site, it appears to be well positioned to bring in end user buyers.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

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Related posts:

1. Sedo Fixes Auction User Interface
2. Free User Interface Advice for Domain Companies
3. Sedo adds new domain name management features

Groups back out of Nairobi meeting over security concerns; will test limits of remote participation systems.

Domain name registrar Go Daddy, registry Neustar, and the Intellectual Property Constituency have all informed ICANN that they will not be attending the upcoming meeting in Nairobi due to security concerns.

Security has been a major concern for the meeting, but was escalated last week after it became known that a suicide bomb attack was planned against the facility where the meeting will be held (although not against the meeting itself).

In a letter to ICANN, Neustar SVP of Gerald J. Kovach of External Affairs wrote:

We had planned to attend the Nairobi meeting, but the latest security update has unfortunately forced us to reconsider. With several key policy issues still unresolved, this wasnot an easy decision for us to make. I am disappointed Neustar had to choose between the safety of its employees and on-site participation in the meeting.

A letter from GoDaddy notes that fewer and fewer people are planning to make the trip, and that it wants ICANN to reconsider postponing the meeting.

The Intellectual Property Constituency was one of the first to raise security concerns, and it is moving forward with plans to hold a separate meeting in New York City. Go Daddy suggested that perhaps a remote participation meeting could be centered in New York.

Fortunately, ICANN has made great progress over recent years enabling remote participation. But it’s not the same as being there.

On the positive side, if a remote pow-wow is held in NYC, it would enable more U.S. domainers to get to know the ICANN process and players.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

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Related posts:

1. ICANN To Hold Pre-Conference Security Calls on Nairobi Meeting
2. VeriSign Joins List of Companies Not Going to Nairobi
3. ICANN Considers Security Concerns for Kenya Meeting