Note: I’ve asked several people to share their thoughts and experiences about what Real Estate Connect has meant to them with our FOREM readers. Look for these special “Connect Stories” here on FOREM leading up to Real Estate Connect San Francisco, July 27-29, 2011. Our fifth Connect guest post is from our friend Jay Thompson, the Broker and Co-Owner of Thompson’s Realty in Phoenix (@phxREguy on Twitter). Thank you Jay! – Katie
@InmanConnect #ICSF
I’ve attended a half-dozen or so Real Estate Connect events, in both New York City and San Francisco. It’s been an honor to speak at a few of these events, but that isn’t why I attend.
Connecting is the Key
I am admittedly somewhat of a conference junkie. Having attended the National Association of Realtors Annual and Midyear Conferences several times, RE Tech South (a *killer* conference), many local, regional and state conferences, RE Bar Camps, and more, I keep coming back to Real Estate Connect.
Why?
The connections and networking opportunities are amazing. In attendance you will find agents, brokers, Association executives, MLS executives, real estate startup companies, developers and everything from the worker bees to the CEO’s of some of biggest companies inside, and outside, the real estate space.
How valuable is it to meet, speak with and be able to call VP’s, COO’s, CFO’s and CEO’s of companies like Roost, Trulia, Zillow, Move, and Realogy your friend? That’s a difficult ROI to calculate, but believe me, it is significant. How about connecting with visionaries outside of the real estate space like Social Media Megastar and best-selling author Gary Vaynerchuck, Craig Newmark (the Craig in Craig’s List), exec’s from little know sites like Google and minor media players such as the New York Times?
That’s cool stuff. And if you take the time to meet these people, to make a connection with them (and they are all very willing to spend time with the little guys like us), you are just about guaranteed to walk away with all sorts of nuggets of wisdom spinning around your head.
If nothing else, one cannot help but get a swift jolt of energy and motivation to come back home and start kicking butt.
Oh, there are sessions too
You’ll wish you could be three places at once. Picking and choosing which session to attend is not an easy thing to do. The nice thing is you can’t go wrong with whatever session you wind up in. Connect provides a ridiculous variety of speakers and topics.
An aside
San Francisco is one of my favorite cities on the planet. I get to leave the 900 degree heat of Phoenix in July and spend a couple of days in a remarkably diverse city with all sorts of attractions. Connect is held right smack in the middle of downtown San Francisco at a time of year where the weather is perfect. It’s hard to tear yourself away from the event, but take some time to explore San Francisco, you won’t regret it.
I hope to connect with you at Real Estate Connect!
(Here is a video Jay filmed about Real Estate Connect)
Do you have a Connect Story you’d like to share? Did coming to Connect profoundly change you, your outlook, your team or your business? All of the above? If so, I want to hear from you and possibly feature you here on FOREM. Leave me a comment below or email me katie (at) inman (dot) com.
Join the Connect conversation on Facebook and Twitter (#ICSF)
Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News, @katielance
