Since I have been in real estate I have been to lots of seminars.  You go and take a ton of notes, pick up a bunch of business cards and then...forget about it.  Sometimes you don't even read through your notes ever again!

Then, last year I joined ActiveRain.  It was overwhelming.  You actually learn, retain what you learn and want to learn more-continually.  Then, you seem to be drawn to the same people everyday.  You like their style of writing, relate to their success and sometimes failure, happiness and sadness.  You even email them to wish them Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary.  You build a relationship with the people here, and it brings business at the same time.

A few months ago when I heard from Mike Price that Houston would be hosting an RE BarCamp, I was so pumped!  It would be one day to gather social media people in the Real Estate Industry from all around and others that wanted to learn about it.  It would be a learning experience that I would actually remember a year from now or even 10.

Well, it was absolutely a blast!  We had a great time, learned a lot, bumped some ideas off of each other and discussed what we can do to help our blogging and business. We even got some cool stuff to take home.

First I would like to say Thank You to ActiveRich and ActiveBrad for flying in to represent AR.  What a hoot  these guys are!  Paul Chaney hopped over to Houston to give and AWESOME keynote!  We also had Jeff Turner, Drew Meyers from Zillow, Frances from Truila, and Scott Sambucci from Altos Research fly in. 

ActiveRain members that attended were Lisa Heindel, Amanda Hall, Jason Crouch, Marchel Peterson, Pippa Mac, Kathi Frank, Erion Shehaj, Greg Nino, Russell Lewis, Deb Brooks, Ken Brand...I know I'm missing a bunch too!

Throughout the sessions and throughout the day it all came back to one topic.  It's about the people!  It is about the consumers that we put information out for and talk to on AR and Twitter, it's about the people that you know as soon as they walked in the door but had never met in person.  It's about connecting.  I enjoyed meeting everyone there that I have talked to for so long and never met before and those that I have met.

If you have not been to an RE BarCamp and ever have an opportunity to go, GO!  It's worth the drive or plane flight!  I'm thinking about flying out to the one that is being rumored for next year!  :)

Special Thanks to Mike for doing an awesome job getting it together!! Laurie Price for taking awesome pictures and doing so much!  Thank You to Carson Coots for an awesome web design and logo!  I'm so glad I could be surrounded by so many awesome people in one day! 

Below are some pictures to share with all of you.  Hope you enjoy.  How many ActiveRain members can you point out?