Rumors from TRAFFIC New York

I won’t bore you with the details from TRAFFIC New York since Ron will certainly provide a great recap, and there are a few others covering the event. I want to give you inside access to the conference, and share some rumors I’ve heard over the last couple of days that are probably not true.

- Mike and Judi Berkens brought Bandit, their cute, cancer-survivor dog to the show. Conference organizers required Mike and Judi to pay the full General Admission fee of $1,995. Bandit also spoke on two panels.

- Monte Cahn couldn’t make it to the show because he injured his leg during a dance off with Rick Latona. Rick pulled out a sick move, and Monte tore his ACL – ouch! Now Rick Latona Auctions will be the sole auctioneer at TRAFFIC shows in 2010.

- This was the first TRAFFIC sell-out ever. In attendance, there were 75,000 thought leaders (from 32 countries), 4 heads of state, 48 members of the US congress, 178 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, 8 billionaires, 4 media moguls, professors from 60 universities from around the world, and you. (They were all here to see Owen.)

- Representatives from Microsoft and several other large companies were in attendance with some great branded giveaways. They were handing out official cease and desist letters.

- I almost wasn’t permitted entry to the show. Apparently they have a minimum height requirement. I was also carded at the bar, despite my receding hair line.

- Lonnie Borck didn’t have Internet access during one day of the conference, and sales at Snapnames and NameJet were down 39%.