Bigger Conferences Are Not Better

The real estate industry is going strong. It's healthy and vibrant, full of bloom and exciting change. As agents, brokers, MLSs, franchises, and tech firms explore a deeper understanding of the industry's best practices, they look to conferences to gain insights and meet the people that are powering new ideas.

Conferences are good, and we attend a lot of them. Our annual conference tour includes two NAR conventions, two Inman Connects, CMLS, two RESO conferences, T3, RISMedia, and a variety of franchise, state AOR, LeadingRE, The Realty Alliance, 1000Watt, Clareity, and large AOR or MLS events. Yup – that is a lot of travel. If you add up the flight costs, hotel costs, convention fees, etc., it's expensive, especially when you have multiple people attending.

I remember a conversation with the event manager at Trulia a few years ago before the Zillow deal. They were attending over 450 events a year at the time. Yikes! It's old school business development – belly to belly, burnin' shoe leather.

With the economic rebound, these conferences have become overwhelming. When you have thousands attending a conference, it gets out of control. Hotels are sold out, restaurants are impossible, service everywhere is stressed out. But most importantly, you can go to conferences without seeing or meeting many of the people that you want to see. It's a struggle, not fun.

I remember a few years ago when conference guru Brad Inman expanded ConnectSF to New York, London, and Miami. New York stuck, Miami and London did not. I think that Inman must feel the same as I do regarding conferences. His conferences have always had tracks, but he is building micro events at his Connect conferences now. This year, he is launching the Indie Broker Summit – a meeting for independent brokerage firms that will examine how they can pursue success and excellence in the wake of franchise domination. Also, Inman is returning to his roots for CEO Summit by returning to the site in Sonoma where it all started.