You can now view information in English about the 2017 Global Domain Industry Summit slated for 7-9 July in Xiamen, China.
The agenda for all three days has been posted, although you won’t find too much detail. The main event IMHO, as at any domain conference, is the opportunity to network. You either plonk down your cash for a ticket (cheap by western standards), book your long-haul flights, and prioritize your time to be in Xiamen and meet people to possibly do business with in China, or you don’t. It’s that simple.
Here’s a screen shot of the ticket prices. You can slum it with a “Common Ticket” for 19 bucks. Or go all out with the bling-bling “Diamond Ticket” for $399.
The website states that the 2017 event is being co-organized by Go Daddy, AliCloud, Baidu Cloud, eName and Bizcn. Since their “Cooperation” page is still up, it also appears they are actively looking for additional sponsors to pony up anywhere from $3,000 for a Bronze sponsorship on up to $100,000 for a Diamond Sponsorship.
For three grand you can cover the reception car with your company’s advertisement and logo tags. Or for $15,000 you can sponsor a “closed-door meeting” and “organizing propaganda.”
Shell out $50,000 or more and you get a “High Class” stand. Anything less and you get an “Ordinary” stand.
There’s still no further information about the auctions as I had mentioned in my previous post. That page remains in a “coming soon…” status. The clock ticks as I think many are interested in this, and it is unfortunate so little information is available to date.
Lots of “guests” photos and names are posted. It’s a wish list, not a confirmed attendee list. This is typical with domain conferences held in China.
I have to chuckle just a bit at the English translation. I see the same mistakes being made from Chinese to English by some of my good Chinese colleagues as I see from English to Chinese by western companies. One cannot simply rely on Google Translate or that intern who understands a bit of Chinese or English. A professional interpreter who understands DNS industry lingo and marketing can add so much more value and benefit.
With the above stated, I do recommend that you consider attending if you are serious about making connections in China. It’s easy to get there via Hong Kong or Beijing.
You don’t need me to tell you that China is a massive country. It is so much larger in scale and complexity than the USA or Europe. It is impossible to describe or even communicate with pictures or words. You have to see it for yourself and meet the people. There are not too many chances to meet a lot of China domain industry movers and shakers in one spot this year. This event in July is a splendid chance.
PINKY BRAND 
Thank you Pinky for this updated and valuable information. As someone who is familiar with Chinese domains and perhaps the Chinese economy, do you believe China is more economically fit than the USA? Or in other words, are products and services more expensive in China than in America? I ask because as someone planning on selling domain names to the Chinese, possibly at this event, I was wondering if I should price domains higher or lower than I would if introducing to Westerners. My theory is, if China pays more money for the same items found in the US, I would price domains higher. Your thoughts on this strategy would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Thanks for your comments. I’m not an economist so I won’t try to say that any one country is more “economically fit” than another at this time. I will say that the PRC is a planned economy. The USA is not.
I will also say that in many ways I find many Chinese much more capitalistic than one would think. Overall in my experience many goods and services in China are far cheaper than in the USA. But all is not as it seems. What most people pay in percentage terms against total income for common items is higher than what we pay. Also quality and luxury (especially western luxury goods) costs big bucks, just like it does elsewhere.
When it comes to domain names, (digital real estate) or land, houses or condos (physical real estate) the Chinese don’t live under rocks. With the exception of inexperienced domain investors entering the market, they know the global markets—and believe me, they rarely overpay, for anything. Good for buyers. Bad for sellers. So if you don’t *need* to sell, then don’t.
Keep in mind at any globally publicized Chinese domain name auction you will likely be competing against several other western sellers and TLDs who are seeing dollar signs in their eyes when it comes to China. In particular I think the new gTLD market in China is in a volatile state as there has been an influx of many new inexperienced folks entering the domain name investment scene over there. All may not be as it seems on the surface.
Good luck with whatever you may decide to sell!
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I will change my strategy and price accordingly, which is lower than I was originally thinking. As usual, great insight! Thank you.
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