I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend this event yesterday in Charlotte. I've been to a lot of conferences over the years, but this one was different. After a little time for networking and light breakfast, everyone was gathered into one large room and after some introductions of the volunteer staff and thanks to all the sponsors, the organizers got right to it.
They asked members of the audience to come to the front and write down topics they thought would be of interest to the group as a whole. I offered up the benefits of full motion real estate video and wondered if anyone would be interested.
Other topics were heavily technology oriented such as several offerings on Blogging, Social Media How To's including Facebook, several on Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. Meetup.com, Branding Yourself, IDX, Market Data, Measuring ROI with your online/offline dollars. I know there was more - I'm going from memory.
Anyway, they encouraged everyone from the audience to come up front and place hash marks for the topics they would be interested in discussing.
The topics with the most audience interest would be placed on the schedule and break out sessions for topics were scheduled. I felt good about the fact that there was enough interest in full motion real estate video for it to be selected as a discussion topic. I had a great time leading the discussion and want to thank everyone who came.
More importantly (for me) were the sessions I attended. In the morning, I attended a session on Blogging led by two ActiveRain super bloggers, Debe Maxwell and Jeremy Blanton. To no fault of their own, the room was huge, hot, and loud and there were not enough microphones for audience participation, but they did a great job of educating the group on blogging basics, the importance of blogging, and where to blog. I also attended a later session led by Brett Fritz who took the blogging discussion further including topics such as blogging and SEO. 
But it was the afternoon sessions that really blew me away. I attended an "201 level" Twitter class and I felt like the dumbest guy in the room. My head was spinning from all the Tweeting going on around me with Twitter Pros like Nannette Saunders - @BrokerSaunders , Jeremy Blanton - @myrtlebeachblog, Lyell Petersen - @93octane, Nick -@nicku989, Jeff Turner - @ResPres, Lori Bee - @BeeRealty, and so many others.
I never really "got Twitter" until attending this discussion. I still don't really get it, but at least, my eyes have been opened to what is "social" about twitter. Use of 3rd party sites such as www.tweetdeck.com and www.tweetgrid.com/irc make the whole Twitter experience a bit more personal, and enjoyable.
Next on my schedule was a discussion, "Voice of the Customer". It was in this discussion that I developed a true respect for Jeff Turner - @ResPres. The guy is simply brilliant, and his opinions and insight as to the future of social media and how to use it are far beyond my comprehension. Also in the group was Wayne Sutton - @waynesutton who is a proven Social Media Guru in his own right.
All in all, this "un-conference" was a complete success. My only wish is that I could have attended more sessions. With 3 sessions going at once, it's hard to decide which one to go to - but that's part of the fun!
A very special thanks to Chad Huck - @ChadHuck and all the "Pink Shirts" for all the hard work that must have gone on behind the scenes to get sponsors, and put on such a great event!
Keep an eye on http://rebarcamp.com for info on future events
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