I have kind of a unique perspective for the recently completed REtechSouth. The presenters of the event were Brad Nix of Maxsell Realty and Matt Fagioli of Diamond Dwellings Realty. Matt is my Broker. Si, I had a lot of inside info, as well as access and early knowledge. But at the same time, I was not really a volunteer for the event (except for the Implementation Session on Saturday). So, I wasn't involved in the planning and didn't have a track on much of what was going on...
That also meant that I attended sessions and interacted in the same manner as any other participant.
First, let's talk about the Speaker's Dinner... It was a blast. At my table was the lovely and talented Susie Blackmon, Atlanta Real Estate Forum owner/editor and PR whiz Carol Flammer (I was certainly a thorn among roses...), Bobby and Brad Carroll... otherwise known as Dakno Marketing. The conversation through dinner was excellent. Of course, the pre-dinner conversation was also excellent. I had the opportunity to meet Thom Abbott for the first time... despite several attempts to meet previously... as well as a score of others ranging from Missy Caulk to Rob Hahn (Notorious R.O.B.)... from David Carroll (Founder Dude of SoftRealty... his cards say that) to Pat Kitano.
Is it obvious that I really enjoy the social aspects of these get togethers? There were lots of other conversations and lots of other great people I got to talk with (and drive to the event... and haven't forgotten you).
The main course was the Friday event. And it was certainly an event. Frankly, there is no way I can convey the information presented. Aside from there being more going on that any person could do at once... or twice... the notes would make War & Peace look like a short story. Instead, stay tuned to Brad Carroll and Dakno TV for video from the event. They streamed a lot of it live, and I am sure that some archives will be posted. Matt and Brad Nix are also working towards getting the speaker's presentation loaded at REtechSouth.
For me, much of the event focused around the meetings outside the venues. I overhead someone thinking there was an A|R points vortex when Jim Crawford and I spent a while talking in the hall. I was able to visit with friends that I met at Inman SF Connect last year, as well as NAR Conventions in Orlando and Las Vegas. There were literally dozens of wonderful people that I got to shake hants and chat with or give a hug.
The meeting, greeting and learning went from arrival before 8:00 until I bailed from the Happy Hour at 6:15... and then after the Thrashers v Red Wings game (Thrashers lost 6-2) I was back at Marlow's for a little more socializing until 1:30am...
The new and terribly un-promoted session at this year's event was called Saturday Morning Live. I volunteered to help people implement the technologies that they learned the day before. We had three 'students' and at least twice as many instructors. We were led by Ricardo Bueno of the Real Estate Tomato. It was a blast... as was lunch with Matt Wilkins and the trip down to Marta to drop Ricardo off for his ride to the airport. It was also great to talk about the future of CRM and IDX with Matt, David Carroll and Brad Nix while Ricardo helped the students... I jogged up for about three minutes and built a WordPress blog on a spare domain of mine. They were surprised that a self-hosted WordPress blog was THAT easy to make.
Take a look around. There have been plenty of posts written by folks that went or presented.
And plan now to attend next year... maybe two days... I'm just sayin'...
