Greetings from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport!
Here I sit, waiting to catch the red eye flight cross-country to New York City where I’ll be speaking at Inman News’ Bloggers Connect — part of a biannual real estate conference hosted by Inman Real Estate News. I’ll be right smack in the middle of Times Square through Friday, so posting may be light.
There’s a small corner of the real estate blogiverse that seems to have a fundamental problem with this particular conference. It’s a curious thing as the main nay sayer has never attended to my knowledge and I know he at least hasn’t been to the last three (including this upcoming one).
Whatever.
I’m not a huge fan of conferences either. Rarely will one attend a conference of any sort and walk away with some stunning revelation on how to be a better agent, broker, father, person, whathaveyou.
This will be my third Inman Connect and in my humble opinion, it is the real estate conference to attend. Granted, I never attended the big annual Century 21 conference when I hung my license at a C21 brokerage. Saw some video though — it was a sea of gold jackets and an awful lot of cheer leading and back slapping. Not really my cup of tea. I did attend the 2007 NAR (National Association of Realtors) Conference and Expo. It was quite interesting to see 30,000 something Realtors converge on Vegas. What struck me as odd about that conference was that even at 47, I felt like I was one of the youngest people there.
Inman is different. It’s not geared only to agents and brokers. A significant portion of those attending are real estate technology vendors, and typically there are a few new product announcements made. Some of these are good, and some not-so-swift.
The best part of the conference, for me, are the hallway and after-hours conversations. There are a bunch o’ smart people that attend Inman, and that smart has a way of wearing off. Talk to enough smart people and something is bound to stick.
The networking opportunities are extraordinary. Agents, brokers, Technology Officers, CEO’s, you name it and they are there. And they are willing to talk. And to listen. It’ll be great to re-connect with old friends, get to know some folks I’ve only previously known online and meet new people.
An added benefit of going to Connect this year will be RE Bar Camp New York — an “unconference”. No set agenda, no hidden agenda. Just lots of mulit-way discussion. I attended an RE Bar Camp prior to Connect San Francisco in July, so this will be my second iteration. We need to get an RE Bar Camp in Phoenix (and it’s been discussed).
Well enough rambling about the conferences. Suffice it to say that I’m pumped about attending. There will be video, photos, and written musings forthcoming.
I’ll post from there if I can. If not, we’ll return to your regularly scheduled programming on Saturday.
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