Beverly Hills mega luxury broker Mauricio Umansky delivered an impressive talk at Inman Connect New York in January. But he had another trick up his sleeve: He used the event to network like mad and build scads of new relationships. He humbly used his star power, going booth to booth, meeting the young entrepreneurs who were peddling their products, and spent the day networking with many of the participants from around the world, willingly taking a selfie with anyone who asked. Many did.
After the event, Umansky told me, “Your event is one-of-a-kind, Brad. It is a diverse crowd from everywhere that I could not meet anywhere else.” He will be at Inman Connect San Francisco Aug. 4-7 — on the stage and in the hallways. You can’t miss him.
Along with 150 speakers on a wide range of important and interesting topics, Connect is a trifecta: Best practices, new connections and more referrals equal new business.
Inman Connect has become the home to captains of industry, sparkling new agents, top producers, tech legends and entrepreneurs. The diversity of the Connect crowd is unmistakable — with success as the one common denominator, whether through innovation, persistence, aspiration, technology, best practices or connections.
New York top producer Dolly Lenz joined me on stage with News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch in New York, but she also worked the show like a rookie agent, hanging out in the speakers lounge, the hallways and the Inman staff room.
Just last week, she listed Murdoch’s $72 million penthouse in New York’s Madison Park, demonstrating her pre-eminent role in the industry.
Look for Lenz in the halls at the San Francisco Hilton in August. I will introduce you.
Again: success, connection, networking, innovation and persistence.
Connect has its roots in showing off the latest and greatest technology (and it still does just that), but it has also become a powerful networking happening for the best and the brightest around the world. It does not represent the same old people chatting it up with the same old people, but instead represents the new industry: an excitable and fresh crowd of innovation, aspiration and success.
An agent with just three years in the business, Sarah Scheper made a big investment to travel from Orange County, California, to Connect New York in January, fighting a blizzard to get there. It paid off in more ways than she could have imagined.
“It is the best training I get anywhere, plus the networking is unsurpassed,” she said. “Look who I get to meet: so many super successful agents.” The bonus for Scheper is a connection she made with a lender at Connect, who introduced her to a New York couple who want to buy a home in Newport Beach. She has already showed them four homes, and she expects to land a sale. “I met folks like Dolly Lenz; what could be better than that?”
With an expected turnout of 2,500 people from around the globe, Connect San Francisco this summer is about creating and fortifying relationships, making sure that all of the attendees get connected and stay connected. It is about meeting the winners, not the whiners.
The Connect theme, “Get Connected,” is not just buzzwords. We have speakers outside the industry who will address the chemistry of human connection along with dating-site executives who will explain the algorithms and dynamics of connecting with people.
Our Inman Ambassadors and Inman staff will be in high gear with the mission of introducing you to anyone at Connect you want to meet. Count on us to be your personal matchmaker at Connect.
Look for someone with the badge, shirt or banner that reads “Who do you want to meet?” and we will jump into action.
Before the event, you can tweet #ICSF and identify who you want to meet, and our team and Inman Ambassadors will make the connection.
We will be hosting more networking events than ever, and in each session, we are presenting a cool new networking introduction plan, ensuring you make new connections during the actual program.
We will give special attention to Select members, exhibitors and sponsors to make sure we make those introductions and connections. Emily has the details; find her at emily@inman.com.
My mission at Connect is to meet every single person who attends the event. I look at this as a triathlon, so I am training now.
I am challenging others to join me in stepping out of their comfort zone and meeting as many new people as possible. How about the CEO of the largest real estate company in Europe, a digital maven from Australia or the top Canadian brokerage executive? Or the chief revenue officer of Zillow, executives from News Corp., the largest broker in Northern California, the top five producing agents in the U.S. — or the editor of Inman?
Don’t even think of not being there. I cannot wait to meet you personally. See you at Inman Connect, Aug. 4-7, 2015!
