In January of 2008, my friend Andy Kaufman announced an idea to bring the unconference to the real estate industry. RE BarCamp was born. I didn't quite understand what it was, I just know I wanted to ba a part of it. Months later, after a lot of work, I started having serious doubts. I mean, it's a conference with no schedule. No pre-determined speakers. NO RULES. It was anarchy. I bit my toungue and trusted Andy that it wouldn't be a complete disaster. In the end, Andy was right. The event was a huge hit. Soon the attendees of the first RE BarCamp decided to host their own REBC's. First in Houston, then in New York, then all across the world. This was a big lesson in working outside my comfort zome.
What makes them great is that the content was sourced from the crowd. They are collaborative, hands on, and outside the comfort zone of a passive audiance. They are the opposite of a typical conference. But for all the reasons they're great, sometimes, it makes them kind of suck. They are also an opportunity for bad actors to steal the stage. They fall flat when the facilitator in the room doesn't know how to engage the crowd. Finally, they can feel disjointed. There's no overall strategy you can walk away with no overal conference content strategy to make the sessions fit together.
Please understand, I helped create the RE BarCamp movement. I love it, and I'll participate in them in the future. But what if you could capture power of crowd collaboration and FOCUS it? That's what RETSO REFOCUS is all about to me. Attending RETSO REFOCUS means you will be part of the collective brainpower that enables the audiance to walk away with a gameplan for the future. But instead of the anarchy of the unconference, RETSO is building the infrastructure that allows guides tha audiance through the event.
I'm excited to be a part of this by coordinating RETSO's Robot Teams.
Each team is an independent group of 3 to 5 people seeking to challenge the status quo by creating extremely innovative business models. Each Robot Team will be assigned a specific niche within the industry. In addition to working on their individual business model, they will work together to design a second business model for their niche that will inspire the audience. Speakers will randomly request a Robot Team Leader to stand up and present the current work from their team throughout the day on Thursday. Each team's work will be highlighted during the RETSO Recap on Friday.
Here's a list of teams and their leaders:
Agent Robot Team - Maura Neil
Broker Robot Team - Heather Elias
MLS Robot Team - Sara Bonert
Association Robot Team - Nick Kremydas
Lender Robot Team - Sarah Stelmok
That makes you the perfect candidate to join a team. We're recruiting team members over the next week. Let us know in the comments if you want in.
Register for REFOCUS here.
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