Last week hundreds of real estate professionals congregated in San Francisco for the annual Inman Connect Conference (#icsf) and the first year anniversary of Real Estate Bar Camp (#rebcsf). Although, both events have passed the exchange of ideas and information continues on through the network of people who were in attendance. It is wonderful to see such collaboration between colleagues. As Kris Berg so eloquently said “Sometimes you hear about the negative image of the real estate agent, but all you have to do is go to an event like this to be reminded of the professionals that are committed to this industry.”

REBarcamp kicked the week off on Tuesday. If you haven’t had the opportunity to participate in a bar camp and want to learn more about these types of events check out this great explanation given by Dave Savage. These informal events consist of a series of sessions all led by attendees and there are so many ideas and concepts discussed your fingers get cramps just trying to write or type your thoughts. Thanks to the generous efforts of organizers and sponsors (I’m proud to say we were one) these events are free to attendees. You can see if there is an upcoming #rebc in your area at www.rebarcamp.com.

After #rebcsf we headed off to Beer with Bloggers. We meant some great friends and well, there was Beer with Bloggers… need I say more!

On Wednesday morning Bloggers Connect started. Thanks to Amanda McMillan, Eric Stegemann and Ian Watt for making our panel on the Web 2.0 agent rock! You three are truly leaders and innovators in our industry.

Here are some of my notes from the sessions:

• Most of us are convinced of the power of blogs over a static website, however for many the idea of writing regular posts is a strong deterrent to entering the blogosphere. What about a photo blog? Works the same way as a blog but all you do is upload photos and write a brief caption to go along with the photo. The caption gets you the SEO juice you are looking for. Think of the fun you could have with this. For some reason since the second I heard this I can’t get the images on interesting mail boxes and front doors out of my mind. To find out more about photo blogs visit www.photoblogdirectory.net. To see a real one in action check out photos.livingonthehudson.com.
• Favorite new IPhone app — Bump. It lets you bump your hand while holding your IPhone with someone else’s hand holding their IPhone and your contact info is instantly exchanged.
• Some clarity on how to use a Facebook profile page and fan page. A profile page is where you build relationship and interact with friends on a more personal level. A fan page is better suited for business related updates and information. Agents, promote your professional self, your listings, etc. on a fan page. Thanks Mike Mueller.
• www.allfacebook.com is a good Facebook learning resource.
• An important stat agents should know on the tip of their tongue– the cost of owning versus the cost of renting in their market place. Very important when working with first time home buyers.
• Favorite quote: “If you suck at networking in real life, you are probably going to suck at it online.” Jeff Turner adapted from Linda Davis
• www.blogsigs.com Links your latest blog post to your email signature.
• www.talkshoe.com Community calling for your online groups.
• www.copyblogger.com Copy writing tips for online writing.
• www.localtweeps.com Allows you to find local people using Twitter. You can get notified whenever someone from your zip code joins.

There were two events that were of particular interest. The first one was watching Kris Berg and Rob Hahn debate whether big brokerages or small brokerages would be the way of the future. I’ll tell you about that in an upcoming blog post.

The second event was Sherry Chris launching the discussion on the Next Generation Brokerage. We collectively have the power and the opportunity to shape and redefine our industry. I hope you’ll join in the discussion.

You can see lots of great photos on our Flickr page. Thanks to everyone involved in organizing and everyone who attended #rebcsf and #icsf.

(Photo courtesy of EvanFuchs@Flickr)