I had the privilege of attending RainCamp New York in January. It was a room full of people where you 
could actually feel the energy in the air. At breaks people were literally buzzing with information they'd just learned. This is on top of the awesome networking opportunity to meet fellow Rainers.
Because we were so impressed with the event, Zillow wanted to be involved in a bigger way. I am happy to announce that we will be a sponsor at the Dallas event. (I am unhappy to say that I won't personally be there, but we'll send someone else you'll be sure to love and I am going to do my best to be at the next one).
What I learned at the New York Camp to get you ready for the Dallas Camp:
1) Bring your lap top and get a seat up front. There are tables and power outlets to ensure that you'll be juiced the whole day. There will be wireless access available, so you can surf with the Speaker. I think this greatly enhances one's ability to digest what is being said when you can play along.
2) Bring lots of business cards. I think it would cool to have cards specially made for the event with the same picture on them that is on your Active Rain profile and an URL for your blog with your blog title. You may know someone very well online, and this would help make the connection IRL (in real life).
3) Get signed up with Internet services ahead of time. Even if you don't know (YET) how to use them, you want to at least set them up, so you'll be ready to go when the speakers start talking about them day of. Start with: Twitter, Facebook, ActiveRain, Zillow, LinkedIn.
4) Twitter - I know a lot of you don't get Twitter - or don't want to. But do at least do this - I think it'll help Twitter click for you and will enhance your enjoyment of Raincamp. Get your account set up at Twitter.com. Download TweetDeck (free). In the left upper corner, click the magnify glass to open a Search box. In this box type #raincamp and enter. This will launch a column where you can monitor what people are saying throughout the day. You can even check this out before the show, to start meeting people pre-event. (If you don't want to download Tweetdeck, go to search.twitter.com and enter #raincamp.)
Have fun at the Dallas event! If you can't make it, I'd at least encourage you to follow the #raincamp tag on Twitter, so you'll be in the know when Raincamp makes it to your town!
Comments(29)