The Proper Thank Yous, But…
I wrote my final wrap up post of REBarcamp Houston over at my blog yesterday. It’s full of the proper thanks yous, attaboys, and pats on the back.
Was it a success? Absolutely. Am I glad I jumped in with all I had to make it happen? Absolutely. Will I do it again? You bet. Did it achieve it’s best potential? No. Far, far from it.
Luminaries of Web 2.0, social media, and more flew in from around the country to give of themselves in a transparent, non promotional way and we couldn’t get more 70 real estate professionals to show up in a market with 10’s of thousands? Puhleeeeeeze. We had at a high point about 85 people in attendance. No matter how you spin it, that just plain sucks. Granted, we should have promoted it in a more traditional sense. I underestimated the number of agents who don’t bother to check e-mail, keep up with industry news outside of their trade publications or how many generally just live outside of any kind of digital sphere of influence other than their local association mls gateway.
It’s my mistake and I accept full responsibility. The depressing fact is, the people that need to participate in these type of events will most likely not see these words either. Do me a favor, print it, copy it and stick it in the in-box of every agent in your brokerage. Pick up the phone and call them and ask them what they did today to further their professional growth that wasn’t required of them to maintain a license.
A Time & A Place
Conferences have their place and ROI for a specific purpose. Barcamps are not conferences. I’m not going to go into the explanation of a BarCamp in this post. If you have a genuine interest in the format you can take the time to find out everything you want to know at Barcamp.org, REBarcamp.Com, RebarcampHouston.Com or just go to google and do a general search. Better yet, call someone that attended either of the first two events and ask what they thought. I promise you that you will hear nothing but praise and a desire to experience it all over again.
I love my friends in the RE.Net dearly and I would be lying if I said I didn’t crave all the attention and adulation of each and every one of them (especially from Jeff Turner :), however, it’s time for us to stop talking to each other. We’ve hit a critical mass of RE.Net digerati that are spending a great deal of time interacting with one another, but it’s not enough. It’s time to use some dead trees, wear down a bunch of shoe leather, smile when we dial and generally get out in front of the folks that need to hear what’s been being preached to the choir.
That said, I will be joining a conference call with some brave souls that are about to undertake this endeavor in another REALLY big market. Like always, I will be telling it like it is and hoping to do my part to shape the experience of the first two events into something that EVERYONE is talking about afterward. After all, isn’t that the real goal?
Carpe Diem People!
