After having some time off, I began teaching about staging again last week. Our local Realtor's Association had a trade show including for-credit classes for agents ,and I was fortunate enough to be approved by the Virginia Association of Realtors as a qualified instructor. I had my power point, I had the handouts, I had a great room with the projector to use with the laptop and with everything perfectly in place but I also had plenty of jitters.(There was no time for me to learn to use my laser pointer, but maybe next time.)
What if nobody came? The classes were set up "first come-first served." What if I couldn't present effectively? What if I couldn't answer a question? What if they (the Realtors) didn't think they were learning anything new? After all, this bunch was savvy , educated and experienced. And worst of all what if they left the nearly 1 hour presentation and did not get a very clear picture of why stagers were absolutely necessary and that realtors could only benefit from such a strategic marketing tool? The idea was to teach them about staging, but I also wanted to make the case for "hiring" an actual stager. Because this was an actual class and not a marketing presentation I was not allowed to hand out any promotional materials soooo I brought my portfolio folders so everyone would have a place to put all of the loose page handouts given out in all of the classes. It was a useful and informative way of keeping my name out there past the class event.
As it turns out there were 30 agents and affiliates and as many turned away for lack of room in the classroom I had been assigned. I offered a drawing of business cards for a FREE DIY consultation for the winner of any one of their listings under 2100 square feet. The drawing will take place at the association office and hopefully the winner and I will be photographed for the local weekly real estate magazine. (Any chance to get some press as a news item.)
I was also invited to do another, more extensive class. My anxiety over teaching, rather informing ,about staging, rivals any night before a staging. Since the first of 2007 I have been blogging about educating Realtors and homeowners about the absolute monetary worth of staging in all forms however small ,or extensive ,the job.
All the worry was for naught. The class went really well, I got a lot of really good questions, and a few laughs and a question asking if I had a DVD of my presentation. WOW! Its my next project! The presentation was just right for the time allowed and the feedback was very positive. When I came home and told my husband I didn't know why I was so rung up over the presentation. He said, "you wanted to do a very good job and part of getting ready for the presentation was working hard to do that so thats why being "rung up," actually helped you do a better job." Oh, ok.
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