Whether you are going to an event as a sponsor or an attendee, it is important to identify your objectives before you show up. Doing so will make the event even more of a success for you. With Connect less than a week away, the team here at Atlantic & Pacific Real Estate is focusing on getting the details in place for our time in San Francisco.
Our 3 main objectives are:
1) Brand Building
As a new company on the national real estate scene (we are a toddler at 4 years old!) this is our first sponsorship of Real Estate Connect. Connect represents a gathering of the most talented and forward thinking people in the real estate industry. We are a national residential real estate brokerage with a different and forward thinking business model. We want the thought leaders of the industry to get to know our brand and what we are all about. San Francisco is the perfect place to make that happen.
But, you don’t have to be a large company to capitalize on brand building opportunities at Connect. As an individual attendee it is a great time to promote your brand to other attendees. With this particular group your best way to do this is to leverage social media. Stretch those fingers and thumbs because there will be a lot of Tweeting, Facebooking and blogging going on.
You don’t want to miss out on the action. Listen and engage online and it will contribute to your brand building activities done face to face, during the event.
2) Networking
Network with a purpose at Connect. Take a look at the speaker list and identify whom you want to meet. Do a Twitter search before arriving and note the people who are actively using the #icsf hashtag. Work the show floor and talk to people.
Hang out in the lobby (some of the best connections are made at what we call LobbyCon). This event is a networking mecca. Wear comfortable shoes, drink lots of water, stay caffeinated and get ready for a marathon of networking!
3) Delivering Value and Learning
Each of us has an area of the business that we excel in. Be ready to share that knowledge with the people that you meet. Don’t hold back your ideas and thoughts. They get better when you share them with others.
Atlantic & Pacific Real Estate is a national leader in the disposition of distressed assets. This means our agents sell thousands of REO and short sales each year across the country (perhaps more then any other real estate firm). We decided to host an entire track on Distressed Real Estate as part of our sponsorship. This is the first time this topic (much less an entire afternoon devoted to it) has appeared on the Connect agenda.
We know we will learn so much from the other speakers and attendees at Connect that we wanted to help facilitate learning in this important segment of today’s market (distressed sales represent approximately 25% of all transactions nationally).
The exchange of providing value and learning from one another is one of the reasons Connect is such a successful event and that keeps people coming back year after year.
We are excited to sponsor the event this year and look forward to seeing you in San Francisco.
