I came a couple days early to the Clareity MLS Executive Workshop. As part of the conference I’m going to be moderating a panel on Thursday at 1PM entitled; “3rd Party Innovation”. The panel includes Michael Hayes from eNeighborhoods, Michael Lane from ShowingTime, Joe Kazzoun of Instanet Solutions and Mike Barnett of Property Panorama.
Should be fun and hoping for some great discussion.
It was a grueling flight back from NYC to Los Angeles on Friday. Not sure if it was because of the long night before (or do you call that an early morning?) in “K-Town” with a notorious cast of characters (did I really sing “Endless Love” at a Karaoke bar…..twice?) or was I just fried. Most likely a bit of both.
The event started with some intrepidpation. The weather had caused a lot of travel related issues and many speakers were calling to say they were unable to make it. I saw the the Inman News crew at the Marriott lobby bar Tuesday evening (the night before everything was set to begin), including the man himself, and they looked a bit blindsided. Mother Nature was not something they planned on. But just like an veteran producer Tim Smith (CEO of Inman News), rallied his talented troupe of performers, because this was Broadway damn it, and as the saying goes “the show must go on!”
While the first day attendance was a bit down most of keynotes were down right packed. I sat in on Dan Woolley’s ConnectTech session and it was wall to wall geeks. Maybe they hacked in to the airline computer systems and took all the early flights!
I really enjoyed Brad’s interview with David Carr, The New York Times‘ Media And Culture Columnist. Mr. Carr reflected on his life, told a few stories. The crowd was drawn in. Magic.
The MLS Session, moderated by the dependable Michael Wurzer was also very good. Highlighted by Bob Hale‘s list of the industry’s lost battles and Curt Beardsley’s original idea of a “dual listing input form”. I sure hope they release the video of this session. Lots of great ideas and commentary.
But this was New York, and the city beckoned. I had dinner the first night in Brooklyn at Peter Lugers (awesome!) and went to the see the new Spiderman musical (nobody got hurt). I was also luckily enough to see a Rangers game (they won!) at Madison Square Garden (my first time there).
Which brings me back to Thursday night at the W lobby bar where it seemed that everyone from Orange County and LA was hanging out. Here’s just a few…
Stacey Harmon, Eric Stegemann, Rachel Rusnak, Jim Marks, Devesh Khare, John Hensley, Prem Luthra, Shiraz Varanian, Laura Buser. And one San Diegan, Julie Han, thrown in the mix.
But isn’t that the point of a good conference? Good content, better conversations and great cocktails?
See in San Francisco!
CMLS is just a couple days away so I thought I would put together a quick check list for those of you attending:
1. Check out http://CouncilofMLS.com. It’s the official website of CMLS and has been recently updated with new content. Plans are to have the discussions at CMLS conference to be continued at the website afterwards.
2. iPad. While I’m still carrying my laptop I’m finding my iPad to be indespensible when attending conferences of this type. It always on, easy to carry, allows me to check my e-mail, as well as an impromptu demo device.
3. If your rocking your iPad than having a Verizon MiFi or something similar is a must. Hotel internet connections in meeting rooms are notoriously flakey. Plus you have the costs of in-room internet access. Trust me, its worth it.
4. Get your Twitter on! Follow the conference at http://Twitter.com/CMLSConference and don’t forget the hashtag #cmls2010
5. Be ready to engage. The best sessions are those that our interactive.
Oh, and an extra liver, if you have one!
I arrive tomorrow. See you there!
gr
It’s no secret we are big fans of 1000watt Consulting. Looking forward to hearing what Brian has to say. Full Press Release below.
Extra Credit: What do you think of MRED’s new logo?
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Sep 13, 2010 14:16 ET
1000watt Consulting’s Brian Boero Speaking at CMLS 2010 Conference
LISLE, IL–(Marketwire – September 13, 2010) – We all look forward to hearing from the speaker who shows us something we have never seen before or do not know about, but should. This year’s CMLS 2010 Conference, hosted by Midwest Real Estate Data, includes a presentation delivered by 1000watt Consulting’s Brian Boero, someone who, coincidentally, is an industry expert in Internet sites we have never seen before or do not know about, but should.
Taking place September 29th through October 1st at the Westin River North in Chicago, CMLS 2010 will be the Multiple Listing Service meeting of the year, with representatives from around the country descending on the Windy City for an agenda packed with the latest industry information. On Friday, September 30th, attendees will be treated to Brian’s presentation, titled “Sites That You Have Never Heard Of, But . . .”
Brian is well qualified to discuss this subject at the Conference. He is a technology evangelist and Internet expert, having spent eight years working at Inman News, where he served as executive producer of ten Real Estate Connect conferences and managed their editorial staff. He was also part of a team that launched Inman’s ClientDirect™ e-Newsletter product. After Inman, he was CEO of VREO, Inc., where he created and marketed Real Estate Dashboard®, a software application that addresses paperless, mobile real estate.
We would like to give a detailed preview of Brian’s presentation, but we do not know about any of the sites he will be talking about — yet. To find out, you will need to attend the CMLS 2010 Conference. Those interested in more information about CMLS 2010 are directed to www.cmls2010.com or to Gayle Ludemann at gayle.ludemann@mredllc.com or 630-955-2768.
Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) is the premier forum and resource for Multiple Listing Service associations.
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service in the country (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
I’m not sure my liver will be able to handled this…
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CMLS 2010 – THE Multiple Listing Service Conference of the Year
LISLE (August 19, 2010) – When the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) scheduled its annual conference for this fall, they had no idea how big a conference it would turn out to be.
A little background first. Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is this year’s host, and CMLS 2010 is being held at the Westin River North in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
Whether it is the attraction of a great city, the central US location, or the number of hot issues in the industry today, registration and sponsor/exhibitor participation has gone through the roof! This will be the largest attended multiple listing service organization conference of the year, and the largest CMLS conference ever.
CMLS 2010 will be held Wednesday, September 29th through Friday, October 1st. Registrations are still being taken, and additional hotel rooms have been blocked. Sponsors and exhibitors stepped up so early that by the end of July all the available slots had been filled.
Headlining the event will be noted speakers such as futurist and prolific real estate trends author Stefan Swanepoel, technology evangelist Brian Boero of 100watt Consulting and Rob Hahn aka blogger extraordinaire Notorious R.O.B. Interspersed throughout the conference will be interactive panels and cutting edge information sharing sure to make the trip to Chicago well worth anybody’s time.
Those interested in more information about CMLS 2010, including registration, are directed to www.cmls2010.com, or please contact Gayle at 630-955-2768.
Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) is the premier forum and resource for Multiple Listing Service associations.
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service in the country (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
Russ Bergeron has taken over the effort of MRED, LLC hosting the CMLS Conference in Chicago this year due to Bud Fogel’s departure. And the event is shaping up to be one of, if not the largest CMLS conferences ever!
Attendance is way, way, up! The conference hotel (The Westin) is sold out of rooms. All sponsorship tables are sold out. And it’s only July!
So if you haven’t already paid your CMLS member dues or signed up for the conference I suggest you do so….now.
Details can be found at the new Council of MLS website.
Hope to see you there!
I’ve been remiss to offer my insights on last week’s Inman Connect SF. Too damn busy. Brian Boero from 1000Watt Consulting summed up things pretty well, you should go read his “fuzzy notions” recap. I have to agree with Brian, it was truly one of the best Inman RE Connect conferences I’ve attended.
And I’m not just saying that because the Premium Member Lounge (Brilliant Tim, brilliant!) : )
I didn’t get to catch too many sessions (see this post) but one I did get a chance to see ( and from the front row) was the “debate” on the main stage titled, “Is the MLS System Broken“.
I’m going to focus on 3 people at that session.
Michael “Invisible Hand” Wurzer. Mike is a good friend, so I might have some bias here (duh!) but I really can’t help but thinking what a great asset he is to our industry and I’m not just talking about vendors. His arguments were clear, concise, and he didn’t pull any punches. I talked to some people that thought the suggestion that the market will decide when to “fix” the MLS industry was “pollyanna”, but Michael lives and breathes these issues everyday. So if you got a better solution, prove it.
Joel “Fail Forward” Singer. I’ve been very critical of Joel’s organization, the California Association of REALTORS®, and their efforts to start a statewide MLS system (calREDD) in California. On stage he was a bit light on details but you just got to respect a guy who goes up there in front of all his industry colleagues, after the rough two years he’s had, and still comes out swinging.
And lastly I come back to where I started. Brian Boero. Brian’s “geek chic” vibe is like Steve Allen and Ira Glass had a baby. Stay with me here… Brian is able to capture the essence of the conversation, ask great follow up questions, shut up when he needs to, and always get the biggest laughs. It’s a remarkable thing to stand in front of 1,000 people and accomplish this, and Brian makes it look effortless. Bravo.
Stay tuned for Part II of my Inman Connect SF recap in which I ask, “Inman Innovator Awards WTF?”
I’m still buzzing from Inman’s Connect Conference last week. I’ve got a lot of take aways that I’ll be writing about but, I did want to comment on a common thread I heard from a lot of vendors. The conversation goes something like this…
Me: How did you like the conference this year?
V: Great, but I didn’t get to see hardly any of the sessions.
Me: Why?
V: Too damn busy with all the meetings I booked!
This doesn’t mean nobody attended the sessions. Quite the contrary, every time I tried get in to the General Session it was standing room only.
It seems to me that Inman has turned the corner and has become more than an industry “networking event”, and now is a great place to meet and clients and get some business done.
This trend is far from new, but what many vendors are beginning to realize is that it’s far easier to conduct business at an event like Inman Connect than it is at NAR Midyear. I’ve written about this before, but it seems like NAR puts up so many barriers to vendors to actually conduct business at their events. For example: You must have a booth to get a Suite, if you want a Suite in the hotel or a good booth location you have to have spent money with NAR for the past 20 years or so. And if you don’t follow these rules you’ll get thrown out of the hotel/event.
Will there be a day when vendors stop playing NAR’s “reindeer games” and take their ball somewhere else to play?
Is July the new May? Is San Francisco the new Washington D.C.? Only time will tell.
Not sure about you but I’m getting excited about the upcoming Inman Real Estate Connect conference coming up in San Francisco! It starts next month on July 12.
First off is new leadership. Tim Smith recently took the CEO position at Inman News and I’m looking forward to see what personal stamp Tim puts on the event. Also lots of exciting stuff going on in the industry. The competition is heating up and nothing like Inman Connect to catch up with all the players.
Not sure if there are any hotels rooms left but check here to register for the event.
But two things are radically different this year.
1. The venue has changed from the Palace Hotel to the Union Square Hilton.
2. The dates have shifted from ending on Friday to ending on Thursday.
I’m not sure about number 2 but I think I may have found out why Inman has switched venues.
Turns out the beloved House of Shields is closing down. “Oh the hummanity of it all!!!”
The red glow of the House of Shields was a beacon to Inman attendees as the truly “last call” of the evening. Godspeed HoS!
For more about the HoS closing click here.
I had a chance to stop by Russ Bergeron‘s farewell party last Friday. I was just coming back from a week long trip in Jacksonville, FL. It was well attended by Orange County real estate big wigs. I told Russ he would be sorely missed. Looks like he is ready for a new challenge. Here are a couple pics from the event.
Good luck Russ and Godspeed!
