I've been playing around with the idea of a "Boot Camp for Real Estate Web Marketers" for a few months, now. Many of you know that I've tried to bridge the digital divide by calling or meeting as many people as I can from Active Rain. I made it a goal to meet 100 people from Active Rain, at the beginning of this year. I lost track but I know I was up around 70 this summer.
I started the year off with the First Arizona Bloggers Conference in Phoenix. We had 20 people show up and share ideas in a roundtable format. I was overwhelmed by the willingness people exhibited to meet and greet. Clearly, two hours wasn't enough.
It appeared that we needed a hands-on, how-to seminar format for people to share how they have spread their marketing message on the Web. Bloggers are like a bunch of guerillas; using the big guys' strengths against them and to their advantage.
I kept at this idea with Greg Swann; he embraced the idea and announced it to the world.
We’re thinking Sunday, May 18, and Monday, May 19, 2008. After that, things get nebulous. But: All work and no play makes for a boring Bloodhound, so we’ll do something fun Saturday night, May 17, if you fly in early. Then maybe a networking/cocktail party Sunday night. There will be time for a round of golf on Monday morning. We might also set up real estate tours at that time, so you can get some product knowledge while you’re here. Or you can swim and sunbathe while the weather in Phoenix is still ideal — hot and dry.
But keep in mind that we’re only leaving time for leisure because we plan to work very hard. This is an event for people who already understand why we’re doing this stuff and want to learn how to do it better. We always want to push things farther and faster than anyone else. We always want to be at the head of the pack. I wouldn’t be surprised if our instructors assigned homework, and I am certain that more than one brand new Black Pearl will come out of the event.
We had an overwhelming initial response to the trial balloon. We checked into conference facilities and had serious discussions with companies who want to sponsor such an event. Greg offered an "interested parties" link- the e-mail was jumping today.
Some of the things our faculty wants to cover include:
1- SEO
2- Viral Marketing
3- Web brand promotion
4- Writing for Expertise
5- Building an e-Rolodex through social media
6- Podcasting
7- Vidcasting
8- Integrating mash-up tech sites
It will be a busy two days in the desert. We'll have general sessions and breakout classes, all designed to teach you, the real estate practitioner, how to capitalize on the budding opportunity that is interactive marketing on the Web. If you're thirsty, we'll turn on a firehose and invite you to take a sip. If that's too much, we'll send you home with a DVD collection to recap what happened so you have it for posterity.
Any suggestions for topics you want covered?
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