Today I attended a local tech event sponsored by REALTOR.com. I go to pretty much any local tech/marketing event I can go to even when I expect to learn very little.
For instance, today I learned that the brightness of a digital photo is directly related to the megapixels of the camera. I thought the presenter spoke incorrectly, but when it was repeated a few more times, I realized I heard correctly. I’m kind of a decent photographer, have studied the mechanics of cameras and have received underwater photography training from a National Geographic photographer, so I thought brightness was a function of aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation and lighting, but apparently not.
The “class” very quickly turned into a sales pitch as many of these events tend to do. One of my most recent favorite charts was thrown up explaining how vastly superior REALTOR.com was as a search web site. Now I’ll admit, I didn’t read the numbers the last few times I saw this chart, but take a look:
6.68% of the total US real estate search market share. Google has over 90% of search market share. Less than 7% isn’t much. If we combine Yahoo!, Zillow and Trulia (all free for basic listings last I checked), we get 7.77%, more than a percent more traffic than REALTOR.com.
So misinformation and propoganda, why do I go?
- I am a public speaker. I learn good and bad habits by watching other public speakers.
- The room was FULL of people who were interested in using technology for their marketing. They’re the few people I haven’t met. The people I’ve worked with left halfway through from boredom. So it was a great networking event.
- I am the local expert. It makes me look like an expert when I’m able to answer the questions that come up from attending these events. If I attend also, it allows me to have all the answers before someone asks.
Do you force yourself to attend events even when you know you are more knowledgable than the presenter and if so, what are your reasons?
See you at REBarCamp Seattle, where I won’t be the smartest person in the room!
