Corporate 5 Events You Won’t Want to Miss at WHD.usa 2017 By Ciara Noonan | 4 minute read From September 10-12th, more than a thousand web hosting industry insiders will arrive at Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas to partake in one of the industry’s biggest events of the year: WHD.usa. And what better way to get the excitement going than to round up some of the events we are most looking forward to! Let us know on social and in the comments below which events you can’t wait to see at this year’s WHD.usa. 1. SPEAKER: Blake IrvingCEO, GoDaddyMonday, 11th Sept @ 10.30ammain.FORUMMere weeks after the announcement that he plans to retire at the end of the year, GoDaddy’s CEO, Blake Irving, will take to the stage at WHD.usa. Though Irving will remain on the board at GoDaddy until June 2018, his role as CEO will be inherited by Chief Operating Officer, Scott Wagner, at the end of this year. Joined by a panel that includes GoDaddy Senior Vice President of Hosting, Raghu Murthi and Executive Director at Openstack Foundation, Jonathan Bryce; Irving will discuss the importance of the partner-customer relationship, how to build new revenue opportunities and deepen brand loyalty within the context of a partnership model. 2. EVENT: ConneXion Party feat. Lords of Uptime plus special guestsMonday, 11th Sept @ 8pmTropicana’s Havana RoomNot your typical event at a tech conference, the ConneXion party is all about getting to know others in the hosting industry in a relaxed, fun environment—complete with some great music! The all-star rock band of the hosting world, The Lords of Uptime, will be taking to the stage in Tropicana’s Havana Room at 8pm on Monday, Sep 11th. This electrifying line-up includes GoDaddy CEO, Blake Irving on drums; Vice President of OVH, Laurent Allard on bass; Moderator, Claudia Van Veen on vocals; President of WorldHostingDays/Namescon, Soeren Von Varchmin on vocals and guitar; European VP of Dropsuite, Judah Johns on guitar and vocals and CSO at Plesk, Diarmuid Daltún on guitar and keyboard. The Lords of Uptime will be joined by some very special guests (did someone say Thin Lizzy?) so make sure this is one you don’t miss out on. 3. SPEAKER: Ken SimpsonCEO, MailChannelsTuesday, 12th Sept @ 4.20pmmain.FORUM Call us biased, but anything email-related and we’re there — especially when our very own CEO, Ken Simpson, is involved! Despite being presumed dead, the humble email address continues to be the only dependable way of reaching every internet user. In this engaging talk, MailChannels founder and CEO, Ken Simpson, will expose how thoroughly the internet remains addicted to email, and why email still matters to hosting providers more than they might realize. If you missed Ken’s talk, “Five Free Things You Can Do To Stay Off IP Blacklists” at WHD.global in Germany earlier this year, you can watch it here. 4. EVENT: Hosting Fair Meet fellow industry leaders and innovators in the hosting world at the fair that starts at 4pm on Monday, 11th Sept. Over 60 booths will be there to showcase their services and software. It’s a great opportunity to network with industry insiders and rub shoulders with some of tech’s top innovators. MailChannels will be at Booth #42 with our newly designed T-shirts to give away. Make sure to drop by and grab one before they’re gone! 5. SPEAKER: Panel on Net NeutralityVarious Tuesday, 12th Sept @ 5.10pmmain.FORUM This discussion, titled, “War on the Last Mile” is certainly one not to be missed. Net Neutrality expert, Mike Godwin, will be joined on stage by Hostway CEO, Emil Sayegh; SVP, Product and Technology at Dreamhost, Jonathan LeCour and Head of Public Policy at Cloudflare, Michael R. Nelson. This esteemed panel will discuss the fight for net neutrality and how the hosting industry will be impacted if the last mile cable providers are allowed to pick the winners and the losers. BONUS EVENT: The Boulevard Business RunMonday, 11th Sept @ 6.30am Clear the head and free the mind ahead of a busy day at WHD.usa by partaking in The Boulevard Business Run bright and early on Monday morning. Take in the sites and sounds of the famous Las Vegas Strip with fellow WHD-ers. To make this even easier, WHD has advised those interested that they only need to bring their running shoes. Water will be provided! Find the complete WHD.usa agenda here. Can’t make WHD.usa in Las Vegas this year? Check out the other hosting industry events that are on in 2017!