10 Reasons My Mom is Going to NamesCon

When you take your Mom to a conference, any conference, people notice. When you take her to a second it becomes a label. But for the second time in a year Pam Cultra is coming to a domain conference.   Here are ten reasons why she’s going to NamesCon (in no particular order)

1.  Moms are free at Domain Conferences. It was true at TRAFFIC and it’s true at Namescon.  Any domain conference worth its salt wouldn’t charge a poor elderly woman to attend. Richard was kind enough to extend a free VIP pass to her if she cooked all the meals.  (Just kidding) I figure if she can raise a child smart enough to invest in domain names then she deserves a good meal and a couple glasses of wine on the house.

2.  Actually she’s not old.  But she will become one year older during the conference.  It’s her birthday that Monday and one of the joys of being a very young mother is that later in life you are only a couple years older than your child.  I figured rather than choose between going to the conference and having dinner with my Mom for her birthday,  we would do both.

3.  Domainers treat her like royalty.  It’s not because she’s my Mom but because she is personable and interesting to talk to.  Triple G, Greg McNair, and I have really never sat down and talked, but he and my Mom have a lot in common and talked for over an hour.  She talked to dozens of people and enjoyed all the great personalities in our industry. She has no idea of the history, income, or what domains people own. She judges them from their character and personality when she meets them in person.  That’s more telling that the first three.   So make a good impression

4.  Because families should spend more time together.  Why wait for funerals, weddings, and holidays to do things with your parents and siblings?  Your parents aren’t going to be here for ever so why not do something fun or different together.   A domain conference has a lot of social and is the perfect environment to bring a guest.

5.  She too wants to learn to make more money.  She’s retired and has a nice pension but like everyone, would love to learn how to make more money.  She has the time and with all her skills could probably get a job there but she’s probably more interested in just learning how to build a site and monetize it.  She did work with the learning disabled for 20 years so she will get along with all of you perfectly.

6.  It’s in Vegas.   There’s a reason Vegas is the capital of conferences.  There is plenty to do.  When I’m in meetings or need some free time she isn’t in her room twiddling her thumbs.  Vegas keeps everyone occupied.  She also can drive over.  Even if she had to pay for a ticket, between the cheap rooms at the Tropicana and not having to pay for a flight, there isn’t a cheaper vacation available.

7. Because my Wife will know I’m behaving myself.  How much trouble can someone possibly get with their damn Mom at their side the whole time?

8.  Because she wants to meet all the people that she reads about in my blog and others.  She reads my site every day and many others as well. I can remember here saying “is that so and so”.  She like many new attendees, only see the avatars and pictures on Facebook and had never met anyone in person. With all the new people at Namescon she’ll get to meet a bunch more.

9.  Because she’s proud of me.  I think she enjoys coming and hearing good things about her son. Everyone in the nursery industry knows me or has at least heard of my family but she was blown away how many people know of me in this one.  Good or bad I seem to have made an impression on a lot of people and many of them had very nice things to say about me.  Adam Dicker in particular was extremely gracious. If she said once she said twice, how proud she was of me that I could make such a great name for myself in two industries . I have a lot more to do in domaining but I am happy with what has been accomplished so far.  I also think you guys had to say nice things because you’re talking to my Mom.  Either way, having your Mom say she’s proud of you and what you’ve done and doing never gets old.

10.  She enjoys getting to see me talk.  I’ve given hundreds of speeches across the nation but she’s never heard me give one.  I’m not giving one at Namescon but there’s a chance I may be on a panel or two.  She enjoyed me on the panel at Traffic and may get to see me again.  Everyone knows if there is a microphone that I’m going to pick it up and start talking 🙂

*pure chance that Elliot published his reasons right before this one as I wrote this last week. But it did remind me to publish it.