Leaders for tech firms including note-synching apps creator Evernote, augmented reality provider Layar, and social marketing specialist Hearsay Social are among a cast of 70 speakers who will take the stage at the Real Estate Connect conference in New York City, which will run from Jan. 11-13, 2012, at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square.
The annual event will feature 40 breakout sessions, including "Social SEO: How Social is Affecting the Way Agents are Ranked Online," and "Dissecting the Data," where the chief economists of CoreLogic, Zillow and Trulia will discuss in a panel format how to understand, use, and avoid being duped by the plethora of real estate trends out there.
The theme for this year’s conference is "Leading the Way: Innovation in Action." Accordingly, this Big Apple conference will focus on the cutting-edge social and mobile technologies like Google Plus, Facebook Timeline, the iPad and the iPhone 4S that are fast reshaping the real estate world.
A day before the Connect conference, and at the same hotel site, Inman News is offering the first in a series of 2012 Agent Reboot events. Agent Reboot events offer a one-day agent-focused immersion into real estate technologies and trends.
Like previous Connect conferences, there will be ample opportunities to engage in networking and hands-on learning. The event unites technologists and real estate professionals, from innovators to executives and industry thought leaders.
Keynote speakers will include:
- Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, which has built a line of apps that sync notes, images and other media across multiple devices via cloud computing;
- Clara Shih, CEO of Hearsay Social and author of bestseller "The Facebook Era"
- Claire Boonstra, co-founder of augmented reality browser Layar;
- Jason Baptiste, founder and CEO of OnSwipe, which works with publishers to enhance the appearance of news and advertising content on touch-enabled devices; and
- New York University Journalism School professor and "What Would Google Do?" author Jeff Jarvis, who will participate in a fireside chat with a conference emcee.
After the general sessions for the first two days, conference attendees will choose from one of four concurrent afternoon sessions. Workshops on Wednesday include The Broker Summit, ConnectTech, Brand Management, and MLS (multiple listing service); on Thursday the innovation tracks will include Brokerage 3.0, Consumer Insights, Digital Marketing, and Mastering Video.
Workshop speakers and panelists will include:
- Grier Allen, president and CEO of BoomTown, a company that helps real estate professionals maximize their use of technology;
- Austin Allison, president and CEO of electronic documents company DotLoop;
- Margaret Kelly, CEO of global real estate franchisor RE/MAX;
- Timothy Burke, Founder and CEO of the intrafamily loan company National Family Mortgage;
- Matthew Daimier, founder and CEO of Buyfolio.com, a company dedicated to streamling buying and selling a home in New York City; among many others.
For the first time this year, Real Estate Connect will transform its New Kids on the Block segment, which features a panel of tech startup entrepreneurs, into a live demonstration of the five real estate tech startup entrepreneur winners. Each winner, not unveiled until the conference, will provide a five-minute live demonstration of their new technology onstage.
The high-energy conference is designed to highlight important new trends at the intersection of technology and real estate, provide an opportunity to network with industry experts, and empower attendees to excel in 2012.
