Hi, Hilary. I attended the Domainfest 1-day Networking Event in NY last week, and it was my first domain event. It was totally worth it—not only were the panel discussions and guest speakers informative, but like Mark mentioned, the most valuable thing was the networking.

I met so many interesting people, from veteran domainers and bloggers, to complete newbies like myself, and made some lasting connections and friendships that I'm sure will last well after the conference.

I blogged about the experience, and I think this one-day mini conference was the perfect introductory event for me. I never felt outnumbered or intimidated, like I probably would at TRAFFIC. I'd recommend that anyone try to make it out to Domainfest or something similar if you have the time. It's nice actually meeting the people you've interacted with on Twitter and the forums in person!

I don't know about the other conferences, but I've found DomainFest to be very beneficial.  Whether you're new to the industry or have been around awhile, I think it's hard not to come away with something of value.  As a newbie, you can learn a lot from the presentations and the vendors, not to mention the networking.  You're surrounded by so many brilliant people full of ideas... I think you'd be hard pressed to return to the office and not have more ideas than you know what to do with.  I highly recommend attending at least one conference.

Interesting question. As a general rule and by definition a newbie can only learn from such crowd.  I never attended one yet but i'm sure you can only learn new ideas and concepts.I would love to attend one myself, i will need to find out about the upcoming domaining conferences and if there's any in my area.

Being in India I can only envy the conferences and the DomainFest opportunities.

Putting a face to the usernames and handles makes it more personal and useful for networking. It makes you more legit and gives more credibility to your domaining efforts.

Having a talk with the veterans and learning about the ins and outs of the business makes the industry specific conferences much more valuable.

Great question Hilary. My first conference (and only thus far) was DOMAINFest 2008 in Hollywood and it was certainly an experience I will not forget. I met the people behind the domain businesses and services that I use and eventually used those connections to further DotSauce.

Overall, really great people in the industry that you will enjoy meeting in a casual setting to learn more about their businesses and share your own.

The networking, for me, is what made the event so valuable. Also, take a look at the agendas of the conferences. Many will have timely sessions on selling and monetizing domains and other new trends. This could be very beneficial to newcomers. Hope to see you at a conference in the future sometime!