It is always the people that make the difference.

I have just returned from a quick trip to Orlando for the National Association of Realtors annual conference.

There are a number of reasons why I felt it was important to leave Western MA to go to this event (my first NARannual):

 Real Estate Training and Education

Networking with other real estate agents

New Real Estate Marketing Ideas

New Efficiency

Tools for REALTORS

New Technology in Real Estate

I am happy to say that I accomplished all of that, but those items were not the thing that made the difference.

It is always the people that make the difference.

On my first day I visited with some old friends and met a couple new ones as they organized the RE BarCamp NAR event that happened immediately before the official conference.  A BarCamp is an un-conference where peers gather to share knowledge in a free flowing, spontaneous manner.  I always learn more at these types of events than at any other.  After helping organizer, Debbie Kirkland, with poster making and planning there was the pre-BarCamp meetup.  I was thrilled to be able to meet so many great agents that I have been online friends with for years.  The crowd was filled with friends that I had yet to officially meet, but those hugs didn’t feel like a first meeting!

 

Day two was the RE BarCamp event and with an estimated 400+ people in attendance, it was a large one!  I loved helping to set up, organize and facilitate sessions.  Right off the bat I got to meet one of my first Twitter friends, Dave Chomitz.  Dave is a Canadian REALTOR and when I started video years ago, he gave me many great tips.  Meeting him was a highlight!  I also got to meet Steve Babbitt, of Rochester NY.  Steve helped a client of mine find their home in Rochester, but this is the first time we officially met!

The first session I facilitated was a discussion on going paperless and we had a great discussion with lots of experience sharing and great input.  This session solidified that one of my top goals on my 2013 business plan will be to complete the process of going paperless (I started this journey two years ago) and to learn to use one of the great new transaction management tools available to me.

I sat in with Todd Carpenter on a Facebook Pages session and got some great reminders on content ideas, shared a few of mine and got the best tip of the conference from Todd (thanks Todd!).  Nope, I won’t tell…you should have come!

Another lively session was a large group discussion about video.  I love to create videos, but haven’t been doing as many lately.  This session confirmed that I need to add more video into my marketing plan for 2013 and gave me some great ideas on what I want to do.

The day wrapped up with a social hour and the discussions continued.  I also continued to meet more people…such an exciting thing to finally hug someone you have been friends with for so long.  The social hour was followed by a gathering of the TwitterQueens for dinner and that was beyond a great time.

The next morning my roomies, Debbie Kirkland, Chris Griffith, Kevin Hattaway and I had our own private BarCamp roundup.  Between running the event, volunteering to keep session on track and the fact that there were 10 rooms going at a time….we had all missed a lot!  This session in our jammies over coffee gave me quite the “to do” list, but was also just a great time with great friends.

Next up was the trade show “Expo” .   After a great visit with Bill Lublin (thanks for everything Bill!), I wandered the aisles of vendors and met more amazing people.   I am always filled with such a feeling of gratitude and sheer luck that I found so many amazing mentors, cheerleaders and friends all over the world.

The Expo gave me a few more 2013 business plan items, along with the requisite bag full of promotional items and sore feet.  I will say that the highlights of the Expo were: seeing Nicole and Reggie Nicolay (way too long since I had) and a wonderful discussion with the sparkly-eyed Brad Anderson of Zillow.  Brad is one of the first people I connected with in social media and he helped me out many times in my early days…he is every bit as sweet in person and I am so glad to have gotten to know him better.

I won’t (continue) to bore you with the fine details of my trip, but I will tell you this:

Certain people are brought into your life for a reason, I think we can all agree upon that.  What you may never have considered is the route that brings you together.  I am here to tell you that the people you meet and befriend via Facebook, Twitter, etc. can be just as big a part of your world as those you meet at the supermarket or school pickup.  I got to spend the entire time with my great friend Debbie Kirkland and she is always telling people how she wouldn’t know half of what she knows now if it weren’t for people like me that she met on Twitter in the early days.  I will tell you that I only know one thing for sure:

It is always the people that make the difference.

So, would I leave Western MA again to attend a future NAR Annual event?  You bet I will…there are more people (and some of the same ones again) to learn from, give hugs to and have fun with!

Here are some of the people I mentioned above:

 

With that, I have some special thank you’s:

Debbie: for organizing, instigating, being real and being loving.

Chris: for making me laugh, being the best roomie, sharing your wealth of ideas and being a wonderful friend.

Kevin: for carting me around, great discussions, riding roller coasters and having fun.

 

 

 

 

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• Headed to National Association of Realtors Conference (westernmahomes.net)