This week I will be in San Francisco attending Real Estate Connect which is put on by Inman Real Estate News. I attended two other Connect conventions and I have fond memories of both.
I remember sitting in an audience of at least a thousand Realtors listening to our keynote speaker who was none other than Larry Page. I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I was seeing some sort of rising star in person and nobody sitting near me had any clue how important Larry’s company already was and would become. I tried to express my excitement, “Do you guys REALIZE WHO HE IS????” Larry talked about how he was actually looking for a Realtor and he flashed his email address up on the screen for just three seconds and then asked anyone in the audience to email him. I’m not sure how many Realtors were actually paying attention at that moment. We’d have to ask Larry if anyone besides me emailed him. I don’t remember what my email said but I believe I complimented him on his keynote, using my Palm PDA, sitting right there in the audience. He talked about all kinds of things but here’s what I remember: He said he wishes someone would invent a way to eat without stopping the car or getting off the freeway and in his future world, we would have IN-OUT Burger restaurants that would shoot hamburgers down a long, narrow tube directly in to our cars. Right after the speech, I immediately went right up to the front to meet him. I’m sure he thought I was a groupie of some sort.
My second Connect memory was hearing and seeing John Seely Brown deliver his keynote. Because I do a lot of public speaking, I am always impressed when a presenter uses a creative, unique presentation style. JSB used old-fashioned overheads, BUT he DREW pictures on the blank overheads while he was delivering his speech. Very different, very memorable. I highly recommend his book, The Social Life of Information.
Going to Connect in the past was about collecting as much information as possible about real estate technology trends. I knew very few people. I had emailed Brad Inman back and forth during this time and he would occasionally publish articles I had co-written about ethics in mortgage lending. I felt like I could introduce myself to Brad and find a friendly face, however, I didn’t really know anyone else other than the First American corporate employees who would be there.
This time I feel like I’m going to meet up with lots of people who I’ve only met while interacting with them on raincityguide and other blogs. Some of these folks I’ve never met face to face and I’m really looking forward to meeting them. Oh, yes, and I’m also attending for the education. However, not so much technology education….instead, I’ve signed up for the Foreclosure sessions.