On Tuesday, I attended RE Barcamp DC, in Herndon, VA. Industry professionals came from all over to gather at the latest installment of RE Barcamp.
I know that I had a great time, and I'm sure a great time was had by all. There was a lot of sharing, a lot of learning, and plenty of fun had throughout the day.
One the great things about attending RE Barcamps as the Inman Community Manager is that I get the opporunity to give away great prizes. This time, the prize was a Free Pass to Connect NYC '10 in January. Needless to say, it was a coveted prize. That makes me kinda like Santa Claus. It's a good gig.
In order to win the prize, I asked the attendees to write a blog post reviewing their experience at RE Barcamp. Everyone who wrote a post then sent me a link, and the writer of the best blog post would win the free pass. As I told the attendees, it is a highly subjective contest, so they needed to bring their "A" game.
Boy did they.
Below is a run-down of all the RE Barcamp DC blogposts that were submitted. At the end, the winner is revealed. Let's take a look, shall we:
2) The next entry comes from Esther Kelly, of Northern Virginia, who came away realizing that RE Barcamps have a vibe of sharing and cooperation that is sometimes missing from the real estate industry.
8) D'Ann Faught recently broke her ankle skydiving. This did not dampen her spirits for RE Barcamp DC, however. She obviously had a great time "hopping around".
12) Nannette Saunders shares with us an explanation of Lynchburg Squares, an uproariously fun game that everyone enjoyed. I gotta admit, I'm a pit partial towards the picture she chose for her post. ;-)
And the winner is. . .
Of all the great blog post wrap-ups that were submitted, there was one very clear winner. One attendee that answered the call, and brought her "A" game. Part of my promise was that the winner would be reposted here.
So, with out further ado, I present to you the RE Barcamp DC wrap-up, er, I mean, "rap-up." It is an original work (of course), performed by Arlington real estate agent, Jennifer Klaussen. Enjoy!
A new Inman News survey (click here to take the survey) explores the day-to-day challenges facing real estate brokers. Inman News is seeking participation from real estate brokers across the country in this survey. We define brokers, for the purposes of this survey, as those who manage/supervise agents/sales associates in some capacity, or who are sole proprietors who own the brokerage company but do not supervise agents/sales associates. If you are not a broker, please share this survey link with a broker you know: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ww6nM2Vf6Qj1YLwuo_2fpUiw_3d_3d.
Inman News will share the results of this survey in a series of upcoming articles.
Survey participants can enter a drawing for a pair of two tickets to the upcoming Real Estate Connect conference in New York City, which runs from Jan. 13-15, 2010 (new registrants only are eligible for the drawing).
A sampling of survey questions:
--What do you believe is the most important service that your brokerage provides for its agents/sales associates?
--Which of the following currently represent the most rapidly shrinking segment of home sales in your market area? a) Short sales; b) Bank-owned (REO) sales; c) Move-up homes; d) Homes sold to first-time buyers; e) Second-home purchases; f) Other (please specify).
--What is the most beneficial industry rule or policy that impacts your business, and why?
The survey is a companion to the "To Be a Broker" editorial project, which features guest essays and profiles of real estate brokers that highlight the challenges that brokers are facing and their coping strategies for these turbulent times.
Guest essays should not be promotional in nature and are intended to offer brokers' strategies and insight about successfully navigating this economic downturn. These guest pieces should be no less than 300 words in length and can be submitted via e-mail to: future@inman.com.
We are also accepting multimedia contributions, including online video and audio clips, photographs and other media that you feel illustrate and illuminate the daily working life of real estate brokers. These guest works are subject to review and edits by the Inman News editorial department, and Inman News will retain copyright of all published work.
Just got word about a very interesting new idea from Jim Cronin at Real Estate Tomato. Jim is putting together the first ever virtual REbarCamp to be held on Nov 17th (2009) right after the NAR convention in San Diego. A key aspect of most bar camps is the on-the-fly nature of the sessions. Things just develop organically - based on who is there and whatever they want to talk about.
This new bar camp will be a full day of predetermined webinars with unlimited participants. Having the schedule set in advance makes great sense because it would be really hard to manage potentially hundreds of subject/session ideas on event day. Jim is also creating a framework where local agents can plan F2F (face to face) meetups that could happen all over the country - if enough people jump in to make it happen. Should be a really cool day. Can't wait to see how it all comes together. Jim, you can count on Inman to support this cool new concept.
By the way, there's also a "real" REbarCamp happening the day before NAR in San Diego. REbarCamp San Diego is November 12 (2009) and Jim Marks is the organizer there. San Diego looks like it's on pace to be the biggest REbarCamp so far in the 15 month history of the concept.
A new Inman News survey (