At the dawn of the new year, more than 75 speakers will highlight technology trends in the real estate industry at Inman News’ Real Estate Connect event in New York City.
The real estate conference will be held Jan. 12-14, 2011, at the New York Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square. About 1,500 industry notables — agents, brokers, executives, marketers and techies — are expected to attend. Inman News marks its 15th year of Real Estate Connect conferences in 2011.
Inman News publisher Bradley Inman will open the conference in a session with Cyan Banister, co-founder of Zivity.com, called "Baring It All. Lessons In Personal Branding, Buzz Building and Making a Scene." Zivity offers a platform for artists to connect directly with their fans online.
The conference’s keynote speakers will include Warren Webster, president of AOL’s hyperlocal news platform, Patch.com; Adam Hirsch, chief operating officer of social media news blog Mashable, and Seth Priebatsch, "chief ninja" and CEO of mobile Google Ventures-backed gaming platform SCVNGR.
Among the new features this year is "Real Estate Rorschach — How Real People See Real Estate," a panel of local consumers who offer their reactions to real estate marketing, including brands, sites and advertising. Other sessions will include "Inside Realogy," "Online Real Estate Endgame," and "Secrets from the Mega-Agents."
Meetups, informal discussions for attendees that made their debut at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco in July, will be a part of the New York City’s Connect event for the first time. There will be discussions for multiple listing service operators, agents, broker-owners, real estate application developers (aka "geeks"), and startup leaders.
This year’s "Innovation Tracks" will focus on the MLS, brokers and agents, and media and technology. In the MLS track, the Houston Association of Realtors’ Bob Hale will talk about his experience with agent ratings and other MLS executives will share their own survival strategies.
In the brokers and agents track, panelists will talk about using technology for short-sale success and avoiding costly technology mistakes. The media and technology track will cover marketing tips in a world where media platforms blur together and recommendations to achieve Facebook engagement, among other topics. These sessions include a mix of presentations, panel discussions, and question-and-answer periods.
A "New Kids on the Block" session will feature real estate tech entrepreneurs that will vie for attendees’ favor in a popular vote live from the show floor.
As in previous conferences, dozens of real estate startups will also show off their wares in "Startup Alley." These will include some startups familiar from this year’s Real Estate Connect in San Francisco — Gist, SpatialMatch, and Neybor.com — but also brand-new contenders: home valuation site Sweetworth, customer relationship management platform Propertybase, real estate tech product store RETechnology, and QR ("Quick Response") code-based content provider Qonnect.
The day before the conference is officially scheduled to start — Tuesday, Jan. 11 — a one-day event exclusively for real estate agents, Agent Reboot, will kick off its 2011 24-city tour. Hundreds of agents are expected to attend.
Agent Reboot just completed its 12-city 2010 tour at the end of October. Next year’s tour will include events in Atlanta, Ga.; Vancouver, British Columbia; Boston; Chicago; and Minneapolis, among others.
