Member Spotlight: NamesCon

Who is NamesCon?

Jothan Frakes and Richard Lau are the co-founders of NamesCon. Richard and Jothan are established participants in the domain name industry, having involved in the industry since the mid-1990s. Each of them have founded registrars, trade in high value domain names, and have done consulting for ICANN.

Richard is involved with many aspects of the business; from starting multiple registrars in the early years, to trading in domain names, and domain name recovery, he is well known both for his relentless efforts to enhance industry sentiment and integrity. He is also known for his charitable work with the Water School.

Jothan has founded and operated registries, registrars, aftermarket and appraisal providers, as well as establishing many domain industry conferences. He is well known by all sectors of the community. He is the interim CEO of Moniker, and he still finds the time to volunteer with the Mozilla Foundation, work with special needs children, and of course drive strategic industry initiatives. Jothan oversees the content and agenda for NamesCon, and leads the DOMAINfest regional events in Asia and Europe.

How does NamesCon serve the Internet infrastructure industry?

NamesCon is the leading industry event and the largest commercial domain name conference. The event is annual, taking place in Las Vegas each January. NamesCon brings together the entire spectrum of participants in the Internet naming space from around the globe.

The event facilitates industry participation with policy discussions from important groups like the i2Coalition. NamesCon also assembles registries and registrars, digital brand managers, intellectual property attorneys, social media, online marketing, venture capitalists, startup/entrepreneurs, professional website owners, domain investors, aftermarket, escrow, appraisal, and other innovators and consumers of domain name services like security, developers, and more. We have many new names and faces. We welcome service providers, financial companies, media and attendees from around the world. Our largest growing contingents are from China, India, Europe and South America.

What makes NamesCon stand apart?

Created by tenured professionals in the domain name industry, NamesCon has always shared a belief in innovation and opportunity within the domain name space. We aim to inspire by assembling a diverse community and facilitating conversation. The conference has a positive energy that focuses on business networking, with the intent to bring parties together to generate beneficial business for everyone. We do include policy and governance updates, but tend to favour more of a commercial focus. The Exhibit Hall at NamesCon is the epicenter of the conference – with large areas to gather, socialize and even play (ping-pong, anyone?) together. Our content stacks a balance of fresh faces and industry leaders. Multiple keynotes, panels and workshops leave attendees with a plethora of choices. We have grown by 50 percent each year, and we make sure to enhance newcomer participation through orientation sessions and topic-focused networking activities.

What drew you to the i2C?

There is a massive overlap between the industry of domains and the industry of hosting and infrastructure; NamesCon participation came up in conversation many times with the existing member base of i2C. The passion, strengths, effectiveness and energy of Christian and Hilary drew us in. The i2C does important work and we wish to be supportive and aligned with such a strong community. This relationship is a perfect fit with the networking focus of NamesCon and our market-leading industry efforts. We see our new relationship with the i2C as beneficial to all and we are looking forward to contributing to the ongoing success of the i2C.

What issues are most important to NamesCon? Why?

Community is at the heart of NamesCon.  For us that means facilitating growth within the industry by connecting people and companies. The goal for our conference is to bring people together from all facets of the industry. This includes ancillary businesses that may not recognize how their service, product or expertise may relate to, or benefit, another group. We believe these relationships manifest through key conversations among those who have like-minded goals. NamesCon aims to bring people together in an open and conducive forum. These are the connections that nurture growth across the entire industry.

NamesCon is also offering special registration for members of i2C: 25% off NamesCon registration using this link!