Back to Scottsdale – It’s Good to be Home

I planned to keep on blogging while I attended RE Barcamp and Inman Connect in San Francisco last week.  After all, I was going there to connect with blogging Realtors, and get all the latest information I could find on the ever evolving role of Social Media in the buying and selling of real estate, so it was only safe to assume that I’d be blogging about it too.

Barcamp was fabulous.  Truly an event to be remembered as it was the first time I’d attended an un-conference. Imagine a room of 100-120 people deciding what sessions and breakouts we were going to have in the next 8 hours.  And to do it in a matter of 20-30 minutes.  And for participants at the end of the day, to say it was the best conference they’d been to.  I was fascinated by the process, and besides learning how my peers use technology in their businesses to create a better client experience, I finally met and connected with people that I’d only known on-line.  I volunteered to lead a session on blog comment policy, and the session combined with two other groups on-the-fly, and we had a standing room only crowd.  (You’ll notice my simple policy updated below the comment box below, courtesy of the perspective that Zillow shared in the session.)

Blogger Connect and the Inman Conference were a continuation in learning.  Hearing from experts in many different aspects of real estate, technology, social media, and much, much more.  Craig Newmark (customer service rep and founder! of www.craigslist.org) was a real hoot, and if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, go!  Listening to Merlin Mann talk about mastering the email Inbox was extremely motivating…. as of right now, I really have zero emails in my Inbox, and it feels Great!

What was discussed and I confirmed by experience is that techonology is wonderful, but it is only a tool.  I spent my time face to face with people, talking, exploring, and discussing.   And what folks were sharing as the bottom line of this conference was that technology helps us meet people who we connect with, but it is the face to face contact that creates the longer, deeper relationships that business is built on.  So, no, I didn’t blog last week, but I did connect with a bunch of very forward looking people who have their eyes on the horizon and their feet on the ground.

And for those of you who were sweating in Scottsdale, San Francisco was lovely, but it almost seemed like winter when compared to our weather.  50-65 degrees.  Overcast skies.  Breezy. My hotel was just off Market Street and the walk to the conference took about 15 minutes.    Quite a nice change to be outside with a jacket on.

Yet, as always, it’s good to be back home…. in Scottsdale.