By Anand Patel
With conference season in full swing, I have met many new and seasoned real estate professionals debating if conferences are worth attending at all. For newer agents—the conference virgins—they look at the cost and automatically dismiss the events as too expensive to even consider. Some seasoned agents—those that have gotten rusty at it—are “too busy” to waste time at a conference. Is it worth attending conferences, events, and seminars? It all depends on your mindset going into it.
From my experience I have found that, in general, I learn more from fellow attendees than from those speaking on stage. This only happens if you make it a point to meet new people, share ideas with others, pick up tips from them, and then go home and IMPLEMENT something you learned. If you go in with an open mind and a clear intent on learning and sharing, you will find value in attending conferences. You may have heard the quote that “each person we encounter is a teacher,” well that rings true for those you encounter at conferences. Keep an open mind, filter out the bad traits and learn from the good you find in fellow attendees.
I just got back from our Florida REALTORS® Conference and can tell you I made some wonderful new connections (and referral opportunities) that will continue long after the conference ends as long as I work to foster those relationships. If I don’t keep in touch, then yes, it will have all been a waste of time. If I don’t implement anything new I learned, then yes, it was a waste of money. It’s all up to me to make it worthwhile.
Are you a conference virgin? If so, here are some tips for your first time (or if you are getting back into it): Continue reading »
By Nobu Hata
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that we’re living and working in a tenuously linked society right now. Hyper-political-mumbo-jumbo is being thrown around to a jaded audience, and we are more polarized and fractured than ever before.
That same thing could be said for the real estate industry.
Data, IDX, syndication, broker-centric, agent-centric, consumer-centric, lead-generation, third parties, anti-property owner legislation, technological disruption, franchises versus indies versus MLSs versus associations… What does it all mean?
As an industry, we’re changing — we all know that. What’s not so obvious is that these little industry revolutions differ from market to market; and the pace in which these revolutions are happening, the pace in which they’re setting in, is getting faster and faster every day.
But what has been a mainstay in all of this during my time on the YPN Subcommittee, and now as your chairperson, is that regardless of market, MLS, broker and association, we operate for the REALTOR® brand. Y’all said it yourselves. There is not a selfish bone in any of you, and for that I am so proud!
The results of a poll answered by your networks’ chairpersons are telling: Professional development is one of the top priorities in many networks, along with their sponsoring associations. Continue reading »



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