Imagine being in a room with more than 200 motivated Women's Council of Realtors members at 8:45 in the morning. Now put yourself and three others on a panel at the front of the room, there to talk about business development. That's a recipe for enthusiasm, fun, and information sharing.

When Joeann Fossland  (center of the photo with me and Kristal) asked me to be on the panel a couple of months ago, I said "Of course!" without really knowing what was involved. Later I learned that I would be sharing the panel with the remarkable Kristal Kraft and Liz Callihan, and that the moderator would be the national WCR president in 2005, Betty Kincaid.

We had less than two hours that flew by like two minutes. Lots of questions and hours of information to pass on, but so little time before it was over and it was on to the next session. Some of the highlights:

• Liz talked about technology and how everyone is trying to sell us something. She said agents are buying gadgets and wasting money. Liz quoted that famous line, "A fool and his money are soon parted," only in her version it was "A Realtor…" She suggested using free sites like Craig's List for our listings.

• About marketing, Kristal commented that "We real estate agents are in charge of marketing, the seller is in charge of marketability."

• Social networking was brought up, and of course Active Rain as a good example. Kristal and I "met" through The Rain and then at the CyberPros meeting.  Kristal finds Twitter to be very useful for staying in touch and for getting business. But Liz commented: "Twitter - a tremendous time suck."

• We talked about an IDX site and whether to have people sign in to get information. I do not require a sign up anymore than I  insist on getting information over the phone. I will give any and all information about my properties without a name or phone number. Kristal disagrees and does require a sign up. She says this is a good way to capture "real" buyers and to pass them on to other agents.

• We were asked what percentage of our budget we spent on advertising. I had that question first, and said something like, "You are assuming I have a budget! I know my income and purchase items to make me better with clients. " As an example, I demonstrated the new flip video camera that Joanne suggested in one of her newsletters. I bought it as a Mother's Day gift for myself and was taking a video of the audience as I was speaking.

• Another question: "What are you doing to attract buyers to your listings?" In recent months, what's working for me is accelerated marketing through TRAC (The Realtor's Auction Company). It started with the auction of that historic church last year, and now I'm able to offer clients both a traditional listing and an option of taking their home to auction.

• I was ready for this question: "What are you doing to promote yourself?" I just happened to have some postcard-sized handouts for my book, Real Estate the Rome Way,  that will be published in the fall. Stay tuned for more on that exciting project!

It was a fantastic panel and the response from our audience was so enthusiastic. (That's Betty at the podium, with Liz, Kristal, and me from left to right in the photo.) I believe the energy in that room could have powered the entire city of Washington for the whole day!

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