The Road to Raleigh

As I headed up I-85 to Raleigh on Thursday, I debated whether I was more excited to see or meet Active Rain members or that I was about to gain powerful knowledge that would prove beneficial to add to my business plan.  My heart screamed that I couldn't WAIT to get there to see my buddy Thom Abbott and many others that I had heard were attending the camp.  My mind yearned for more social media tips and tricks that would streamline my business into a more manageable plan for 2010.  The closer I got, the more my heart ruled!

REBar Camps are popular because of their free style--the topics covered are selected by the attendees and it could be as late as a 'last minute' decision or something that most every REBar Camp has historically had attendees request.  The Raleigh / Durham camp was no different--WELL, maybe it was!

As a member of the planning committee for the Charlotte REBar Camp (the first in North Caronlina!), I took everything in so that I could bring back ideas for tweaking our camp for 2010.  Let me just say this, Eleanor Thorne and Pamela St. Peter, along with several other committee members did an AMAZING job of planning this event.  The team was most hospitable--from the hotel 'discount' arrangements to the lunch provided during the camp, their southern hospitality mark was on every aspect of the camp.  

Beer for Bloggers, the night-before-networking event, was held at a spot that was within walking distance to our hotel (how nice is that?!).  There, I met up with other Bar Camp attendees, organizers,  Active Rain members (and thanks for the Rock-Star-Entrance guys!) and the shortest 24-hour period in my life, began!  My buddy, Thom Abbott, met me in the parking lot and escorted me inside to applause from many other Active Rain members--how awesome is THAT?!  I first had to stop at the door and tell Eleanor Thorne that I was SO looking forward to the event and that her online information had been absolutely wonderful.  Pamela St. Peter grabbed me and took me around the first table, where I met the Zillow rep, Diane Tuman and several Active Rain members who are dear to me--Debbie Malone, Kathy Carson, Carol Smith & Penny Hull, Bobby & Brad Carroll (Dakno) were there too!  Then, Thom exhuberently took me to another table to show me that he had (really, it was Lane Bailey who 'had!') brought Patty Keller and Connie Harvey had come in from Nashville as well.  I found Lori Bee, who lives not too far at all from me, was able to make the trip--what a PLEASANT surprise!  Jim Crawford from ATL had brought his lovely wife with him also attended, as did Susie Blackmon. And, everyone's fav, Nannette Saunders was there too!  Ann Allen flew in from Birmingham to attend--and, yes, she is perfectly lovely, just like she seems in the Rain!

I met many others at Beer for Bloggers on Thursday evening--it was a nice beginning to the 24-hour madness of RE Bar Camp!

So, the heart has been taken care of, now the mind...

A very organized opening to the camp with introductions and guest gifts (which I left in Lane's car!), a bite to eat, surveys from the organizers to see what we wanted to learn, and we were on our way.

David Patterson, our very OWN, David Patterson, did the 'preamble' to the camp!  His presentation was absolutely flawless--I think he shoud be in radio!  OH, WAIT--he IS!  David was a dynamic and engaging speaker and did a wonderful overview of social media and things that we were about to learn.  During his presentation, the organizers compiled their surveys and with a pre-determined list of presenters or 'thought leaders,' set the schedule for the day.

We had 5 opportunities on each of 5 time frames to move from room to room to listen and learn about 5 topics that we thought best fit our personal / business needs at the time.  My first class was with, no other than our OWN C-Tann-Starr!  This was her first time speaking at one of these camps and she did a fabulous job!  She shared her passion for writing and getting out there socially, front and CENTER!  The icing on the cake for her class for me was that I won one of her door prizes:  an autographed copy of Margaret Rome's book, Real Estate the Right Rome Way!

I then had to teach a class on--what else but, BLOGGING!  This was a blogging 101 course and of course, I used my Active Rain blog as an example of how I blog and what I blog about.  Our very OWN  Jeremy Blanton was in attendance as well (WOOHOO!) and shared some of his awesome pointers with the group!  I can't tell you how many of those agents had never blogged before and were truly afraid to get started!  They asked great questions and afterwards, for the remainder of the day, they were asking if they could contact me for assistance if needed and many have already 'friended' me on Facebook to get more acquainted.  What a powerful thing social media is!

One of my favorite classes was by Bobby & Brad Carroll and our OWN Susie Blackmon on Posterous.  I am working on a post to share with you how wonderful this site is!  I've started my own photo blog now and had to contact their help line and actually got a response from one of the founders of Posterous himself!  Now, THAT is customer service!

My next class was with Wayne Sutton, North Carolina's KING of social media and a panel of other social media experts, including our OWN Lori Bee!  I learned that my 5 minutes a day that I designate to each Facebook and Twitter need to be adjusted significantly!  I'm ALL about real estate but, I do need to be more transparent on other sites as I am here in the Rain. I've been commited to posting my listings and other real estate topics there but, need to stop doing that and get into relationship-building more than I have been.

From there, I went to a LinkedIn class, also taught by one of our OWN, Nannette Saunders and coaching guru, Martin Brossman!  Once again, I learned that I need to really set forth working on my relationship-building opportunities that LinkedIn has to offer.  Connecting with other agents is all well and good but, working with my sphere and their sphere are imperative as you use LinkedIn.  One example sited was while working with a like-minded business woman, a double sale and a referral came from the relationship.  That relationship took FOUR years to build but, what a pay-off, huh?!  Both Nannette & Martin were great speakers and answered our questions clearly and in great detail.  

All-in-all, it was an awesome 'non-conference' and a great time was had by all!  I can't tell you how valuable the information was for my business and yes, my heart was satisfied by being able to spend time with all of my Active Rain buddies who were in attendance also!  (If you're an AR member and I left you off the list, I sincerely apologize).

Stay tuned for more detail on each of these classes!